Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.
I am a medical caregiver in Illinois. Illinois law states that a person with a medical card can grow up to 5 plants that are more than 5 inches tall. (Which is as grey of an area that there ever has been, but I digress)
I have a background in mushroom cultivation and I am familiar with working in sterile conditions growing fungus cultures on agar plates and using test tubes / slants for long term storage of certain genetics/cultures.
Was wondering if the same thing was possible for cannabis, and sure enough after doing some googling I came across the topic of micropropagation of cannabis to separate the cultivar from any contams or viruses and for long term storage of certain genetics.
This all makes sense to me and is really intriguing, because now I can save genetics pre-flower, grow them out, keep the ones I like and ditch the rest all while staying under the "5 inch" rule while at the same time not having to keep a 5 inch tall clone which would count against my total plant count.
Does anyone here have any experience in this practice?
I would really be interested in an advanced discussion like this.
Pictures like this one I found on google are just amazing to me.
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I just remembered I should admit something. While I normally grow my plants organically in living soil without PGRs, tissue culture is way easier with something like Super Thrive (NAA).
You can do that for sure. Its clearly easier to do this by taking cuttings but given your states barbaric plant count this would seem like a good option. I leave tissue culture under 50ppfd and growth is enemic. You can go a few months before having copy it again.
I understand that it still has a lifespan but can't I just make a transfer to a new plate and start that process over? I understand eventually the culture will reach some sort of state of senescence.
How long do you think it's possible to keep a sample alive for if you just keep making transfers?
I have a small tissue culture set up in my home. I use Agar and a plastic tub to try to keep things sterile (very cheap, very labor intensive). This is done as part of a marker assisted breeding project I am working on. More than happy to share details if anyone is interested.
As far as using it to preserve genetics, your tissue culture still has a lifespan.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing
So I found this website
Then this video on their YouTube channel
I will be buying their media starter kit and building a mini lab in my grow room.
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Section 410 ILCS 705/10-5 - Personal use of cannabis; restrictions on cultivation; penalties
(1) An Illinois resident 21 years of age or older who is a registered qualifying patient under the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act may cultivate cannabis plants, with a limit of 5 plants that are more than 5 inches tall, per household
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llinois lawmakes think their arbitrary number of plants over 5 inches tall is going to stop me from taking clones and pheno hunting. In my book it just got a whole lot better for me. I WIN!
The lawmakers who came up with that number need to smoke a joint and then rewrite the bill lol.