How to Make Your Own Agar for Orchids

Orchids, prized for their attractive and exotic flowers, are generally considered difficult for amateur growers to propagate from seed. Orchid seeds contain essentially no food reserves and in nature rely on a symbiotic relationship with a fungus that provides them with nutrients. Home growers imitate this relationship by sowing orchid seeds on a gelled agar nutrient solution. Because the agar and seeds are generally kept in a flask, this process is referred to as flasking. Agar or nutrient agar mixtures can be purchased or ordered. Alternatively, a home grower can attempt to make an orchid flasking medium using gelatin or store-bought agar, sugar and bouillon.

Saucepan
Water
Plain gelatin or agar
Sugar
Beef bouillon cubes or granules
Sterilized flasks

Instructions

- 1
  Mix water, gelatin, sugar and beef bouillon cubes or granules together in a saucepan. The amount of each used will depend on the amount of growing medium desired, but a sample mixture would have the following ingredient proportions: 4 cups of water, four packets of plain gelatin or a substitutable amount of agar, 8 teaspoons of sugar and four bouillon cubes or 4 teaspoons of bouillon granules.
- 2
  Boil this mixture, stirring constantly.
- 3
  Cool the mixture once it has been brought to a boil and all of the ingredients have dissolved. Keep the mixture sterile. Avoid exposing it to any surfaces, skin or other materials that may harbor any amount of bacteria. Keep it covered to prevent contamination and let it cool for no more than eight minutes.
- 4
  Pour the mixture into sterilized flasks. Purchase sterilized flasks and avoid opening them and exposing them to microorganisms until immediately before they will be filled with the growing medium, or sterilize the flasks in a pressure cooker or oven. In a pressure cooker, sterilize the flasks for 15 minutes at 15 psi (pounds per square inch). For oven sterilization, put glassware in the oven for two to three hours at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 5
  Cover the flasks and let them cool until the gelatin has set. The flasks may be refrigerated to encourage setting.
- 6
  Keep the flasks cool, ideally refrigerated, until the orchid seeds are ready to sow. For best results, the medium should be put to use within three days after you have made it.

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