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 https://…