Tissue Culture Info | Metamorphic Farms

Tissue Culture Plants

Click the sections below to find out more about Tissue Culture Plants!

Caring for Your Cultures

Keep your tissue culture cup sealed before you are ready to use your plants. Once opened, the plants must immediately be planted and the culture will not continue to grow. Bacteria will readily feed on the media that the plants have been grown in, please ensure all media has been rinsed off your plants before placing into your habitat.

If not using your cultures right away, or if cultures have not grown in completely yet, you can set your cultures in a brightly lit area to continue multiplying before using your plants.

Examples of brightly lit areas: 6-12" under an LED aquarium light (even beside a current habitat where the cup is gently illuminated is great!) on a windowsill that does not get direct sunlight, or 12" under a desk lamp (beware of fire hazards).

There are several ways to tell if your culture will continue producing more plants:

If the plants have filled up the entire cup, the media has discolored, or contamination is seen, please follow planting instructions below and use your plants as soon as possible for best results.

Planting / Deflasking

Planting your tissue culture plants is very simple! Follow these easy steps below:

You may use gloves for this step if you do not want to get your hands dirty: Open the culture cup (also called "deflasking") and rinse out the liquid or solid media using cold tap water. You can gently squish the roots or leaves with agar attached to remove it from the plants.
Using tweezers or your fingers, gently separate plantlets apart and place them onto a wet paper towel to keep them moist before planting.
Plant your plantlets as desired! If planting submerged aquarium plants there is no need to acclimate them as they will be underwater. If using plants terrestrially, ensure humidity levels are above 80%, otherwise we recommend rooting and acclimating before planting directly into your habitat. See "Rooting and Acclimating."

Note: It is normal for newly submerged plants to melt slightly during the first 1-2 weeks after planting. Ensure water and light levels are correct for your species and they will regrow with the appropriate leaf type for their new environment.

Rooting and Acclimating

We recommend the mini greenhouse method for rooting tissue culture plants. To make a mini greenhouse, use any clear plastic cup and lid. Poke drainage holes in the bottom being careful if handling sharp objects. Add the soil mix of your choice (potting soil works great or any well draining tropical mix). Thoroughly moisten the soil.
Prepare and clean your plantlets using the steps from the above section "Planting / Deflasking."
Plant your plantlets so that any roots are beneath the soil line.
Lightly water to settle in any loose soil.
Cover with your lid and place under lights where the inside of the container hovers around 75-85F. Plants will root and establish within 2-3 weeks.

When roots are seen circling the bottom of your mini greenhouse, it is time to acclimate them to your habitat! Simply open the lid of the greenhouse slightly and let the plants adjust to the lowered humidity level. Allow plants to adjust for 3-4 days. Water during this time if soil is seen drying out.
Open the lid a bit more after the 3-4 days and repeat for another 3-4 days. Remember to water if necessary.
After this period your plants are ready to be planted in your habitat! They should have adjusted to about 40-50% indoor humidity. Most plants are ok going from lower to higher moisture levels but struggle the other way around. We use this method to acclimate most of our tissue culture plants!