• grill
• cooking pod
• alcohol burner
• gloves
• replating tool
• forceps
• scalpel
• kitchen stove

• flasks (e.g. test tubes) containing media
• kitchen paper
• cotton pads
• 70% ethanol
• 3% hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)
• screwable flask (e.g. babyfood jar)
• sterile distilled water

We us the steam above a pot with boilding water to provide sterile conditions. To minimize the risk of contaminations you should reduce draft in your room as much as possible. Close all windows and doors while you are flasking. In the picture below you can see our preferred arrangement of tools (for right-handed person).

To reduce the high concentration of your hydrogen peroxide to the required 3 %, distilled water has to be added. The following formula can be used to calculate the required quantity of high concentrated H₂O₂ to prepare a given amount of 3% desinfection solution.

Example:

In this example you have to put 10ml 30% H₂O₂ into a beaker and add distilled water till you reach a total quantity of 100ml. This 100ml will have a concetration of 3% H₂O₂.

Open the bottle with 70% ethanol and place you forceps or replating tool into it. Fill about 3cm water in your pot and turn on your kitchen stove. The temperature of the boilding water must be high enough to produce a steady flow of steam. As soon as the water starts to boil, take a kitchen paper, soak it with 70% ethanol and use it to clean the grill. When you finished cleaning place the grill on the pod.

Pack your seeds in a small filter paper envelope like the pictures below show.

Fill about 1cm 3% hydrogen peroxide in a screwable flask and put the filter paper envelope into the flask. Screw down the lid and agitate the flask for 10 minutes to make sure that the envelope has as much contact with the sterilization solution as possible.

The following steps must be done in the sterile area (steam). Open test tubes and their cotton plugs have to stay in the steam till the test tube is closed again.

Take a cotton pad, soak it with 70% ethanol and place it on the grill. Put on your gloves, take the flask containing sterile distilled water and open it in the steam. Put down the flask on the grill.

Now take the flask where the seed envelope is swimming in and open it in the steam. Flame your forceps and transfer the envelope to the sterile distilled water.

After rinsing the envelope for some seconds in sterile distilled water, move the envelope with a flamed forceps to the ethanol soaked kitchen paper (on the grill). Flame a scalpel and open the envelope.

Hold your scalpel and the forceps for a short moment in the boiling water and bring them back into 70% ethanol. Take a test tube and remove the aluminium foil cap. Place the cap close to the pod on a kitchen paper which is soaked with 70% ethanol.

Take the forceps out of the 70% ethanol and flame it. Remove the cotton plug with the flamed forceps and place the plug on the grill.

Flame your replating tool and pick up some seeds with it. Transfer the seeds directly into the test tube on the media. After bringing the seeds on the media, hold the replating tool for a short moment in the boiling water and bring it back into 70% ethanol.

Pick up the forceps, which is holding the cotton plug, and put the plug back into the test tube. Hold the forceps for a short moment in the boiling water and bring it back into 70% ethanol.

Flame the cotton plug.

Put the aluminium foil cap on the test tube. To make shure that the foil cap does not move around we put a rubber band around it.

• open flasks and their lids have to stay in the steam till they are closed again
• don´t move around to fast while open flasks are lying in the steam
• don´t speak while open flasks are lying on the grill

You should keep your flasks in a bright and warm (20 - 25°) place. It is very important to prevent direct sun, because the seeds in the flasks will become to hot if they get direct sun. Beside nature light, artificial light can be used as well. We prefer T5 fluorescent tubes with light color 865. T5 tubes need less power and they do not get that warm as T8 tubes do.