Re: Microwave Sterilisation

@Cathal: There is both sugar and nitrogen in the media. Orchid seeds
have no nutrients of their own so you have to supplement everything.

@Ethan: The lid usually fit on snug so there is no boil over and if it
appears like there will be I usually stop the microwave for a few
seconds.

On Jan 18, 7:38 pm, Dakota Hamill <dko...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I just made up 12 cupcake tin gelatin (5g/500mL) dishes with some sugar
> (messed up adding this to only a few of them...so no real concentration to
> give) + yeast extract (2.5g/500mL) +NaCl (1g/500mL) that I microwaved for 6
> minutes.
>
> 1 min = 30C
> 2 min = 53C
> 3 min = 65C
> 4 min = 80C
> 5 min = 90C
> 6 min = 100C and boiling
>
> Poured them into the cupcake tin with the liners, let chill for 4 hours,
> just took them out and split them up, some sealed in plastic bags, some
> open, some I rubbed some saliva on (best inoculation tool I could find).
>
> What I've learned -
>
> 1.  1% gelatine solution is still too fragile, the disks of gelatin
> basically crumble and melt apart in my hand.
> 2.  Cupcake/Muffin liners are horrible holding containers for media- no
> rigidity
> 3. Yeast Extract smells bad, but doesn't smell at all once dissolved
> 4. Microwave sterilization offers a fast way to get temperatures high,
> dissolves media fast, but boil over could be a concern.  I should have gone
> past 6 mins and watched as it passed 100C up to maybe 120 and see how rough
> the boil was.  Nothing really new here as it seems a bunch of people have
> had real success with it.
>
> The gelatin does hold it's basic structure even when taken out of the metal
> container, but you couldn't even streak anything on it or it'd stick to the
> inoculation loop or just break apart and rip.
>
> Didn't have agar but I found some old gelatin in the cabinet
>
> Here are a few pictures, I know the plates suck but now I'm just interested
> to see if anything grows when I leave them out for a week
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/66689393@N02/sets/72157628932839789/

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