Orchid Propogating Newbie

[tlf47]

Hello Orchid growers world wide.
I am an Australian, I live on the east coast in Queensland, we do not get frosts, we have a relative high humidity, I am going to try my green thumbs at growing from seed.

I have read countless pages on many different but same in like pages of where to start.

My first question is, will simple old home made Gelatin do the job. Or does it have to be Agar?

I understand the principle of how sterile everything has to be, and once I reach the stage of boiling jars with the AGAR or Gelatin in it for 30 minutes, what is the difference in Gelatin and Agar?
I'm grateful for all input and instruction as I d love to be able to grow my own. Ive done may fascinating things to do with the garden but this is the biggest to date

Thank you all for all advice and instruction.

[RosieC]

Hi and welcome to Orchid Board

I've not done propagation so can't really help, but I've heard there are homemade recipes some people use, including ones using banana.

I've moved your post to the propagation section of our forum in the hope more people who can help will see it there. Hopefully someone will know the answer and/or know a recipe you can use.

[PaphMadMan]

It is possible to use gelatin instead of agar, but I have no direct experience with it. There is some information on the web; make sure you look for it before getting in too deep. Is there a reason you don't want to use agar?

[tlf47]

Thankyou for the Warm Welcome Rosie thankyou for the better location for my question.

Paphmadman,
I suppose it is mainly the cost involved with Agar that has stopped me, and the way of finding it for sale.
I'm not very clever in using forums ive had little experience in finding a good home recipe for Agar.
But now that I have been placed in the right area I will read all your members recipes and advice to get me started.
Thank you once again for your reply.
Cheers

[ThePinkCucumber]

There is a good thread on flasking media here - The best homemade orchid flasking medium

I usually get agar at Asian food markets, for very cheap - they come in little tiny packets, but you really don't need more than that

[tlf47]

oh thankyou ThePinkCucumber that's great to know ill see if we hav any Asian food stores here, thank you.

[bil]

You can buy agar online. I remember getting some once.

[tlf47]

Hello bil, thankyou for that ill look into that again. cheers

[estación seca]

Gelatin mixtures are typically liquid at the temperatures orchid seeds prefer, a problem unless you want liquid media.

[ollypolly]

My Spathoglottis happily self seeds and I have a few pods at the moment so I'm going to do some experiments with assorted soil and bark. I have't tried the sterilizing and placing in Agar, I'll be trying that next if this fails.