That PPM sounds interesting. I’ve tried several other materials and none seem to stop something from growing after a long time. 5 months is great. Thanks for that information. --Lee Poulsen San Gabriel Valley, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a Latitude 34°N, Altitude 340 ft/100 m > On Jan 9, 2026, at 05:30, Tim Eck via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > Bob, > The only nuance you are missing is the fact that the gel medium contains *Plant > Cell Technologies*' nearly magical concoction "*PPM*" as well as sugar. > PPM (plant propagation medium?) is a mixture of two chemicals that are > persistent over time and temperature and prevent *anything *except plants > from growing. It kills fungi, bacteria, chromista, animalia, etc., which > means no mold or mildew will develop. > But you are otherwise correct. No direct connection to an energy source, > so it will start slowly and need exposure to light, but it doesn't need a > sterile environment but can be directly planted in a seed tray. I assume > the PPM will eventually leach out with watering. > I bought some PPM once to protect chestnut seeds from mold while > overwintering and I can tell you two things from that experiment - it is > expensive to make five gallons of solution and those were the only bags > that had zero mold after five months in the cooler. I also tried hydrogen > peroxide, bleach, povidone iodine (betadine), benzalkonium chloride, Star > San, etc. > It may be worth some members buying some to try on seed or cuttings that > are prone to mold or mildew. > Good Luck, > Tim > > > On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 12:43 AM Robert Lauf via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > >> If I understand this correctly, the synthetic seeds might be larger and a >> bit easier to handle, but "treating them like seeds" is in many ways >> problematic. Treating them like orchid seeds might be a better analogy, >> for two reasons:1. Normal seeds have a seed coat to prevent dehydration of >> the embryo.2. Normal seeds contain endosperm, which the embryo lives on >> until it makes leaves and starts photosynthesizing. >> So it would seem that the synthetic seed is roughly analogous to a >> germinating orchid seed at the protocorm stage, and you couldn't take that >> and plant it in dirt. It still needs to be in sterile medium containing >> sugar. If these bodies are somehow encapsulated and removed from the >> culture medium just for shipping, I would think they would be difficult to >> sterilize, and if not sterilized, they would immediately contaminate the >> new medium and you'd have a jar full of mold. Maybe I'm missing something >> here. If you already have successful propagules of the desired plant in a >> flask, why not leave them in the flask until they are little plants with >> leaves and capable of living in the open? >> Embryo rescue, which I have done, starts with a seed from two parents that >> are dissimilar enough that the pod parent doesn't recognize it as her >> offspring and doesn't make any endosperm. But the embryo is in fact alive >> and viable, but just like an orchid seed (except usually bigger). Imagine >> a Hipp seed but with practically no "yolk" in it. So you surface sterilize >> in diluted bleach or hydrogen peroxide, and sow on orchid medium to supply >> the sugar, and voila. This is probably why it's so easy to make >> intergeneric orchid hybrids, because orchid seeds have all been germinated >> by this method anyway. >> Full disclosure: I'm not a botanist, nor do I play one on TV (apologies >> to Marcus Welby...) If you don't get that joke, you are probably less than >> 70 years old. >> Bob Zone 7 warm with rain on the way; daffs and hyacinths starting to >> sprout >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net >> https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… >> Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> >> PBS Forum latest: >> https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… >> > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > PBS Forum https://… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…