Orchid See Germination Media: A Compendium of Formulations gives a well-researched and detailed look at the culture media used for the germination and propagation of orchid seeds in sterile culture.

The book starts with an interesting historical overview of in vitro plant culture, particularly in relation to the culture of orchids. Hicks then covers some chemistry useful to those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of sterile culture media, and some useful pointers on how to work with solutions in the laboratory. The book goes on to cover some basic equipment and its correct use.

A particularly interesting chapter, notably for those unfamiliar with plant nutrition, covers the mineral nutrition requirements of orchids in depth, incorporating the current state of scientific knowledge in this area; from this, it goes on to examine the substances most often incorporated in orchid culture media.

A subsequent chapter covers what is known about the culture media requirements of most common orchid genera and Alliances.

The remaining half of the book is an exceptionally well researched treatise on all the known orchid culture media and provides "recipes" for preparation of each of the formulations, and brief comments on each, particularly with reference to what plants they best support.

A comprehensive reference section completes this work.

In summary, this book provides an absolutely invaluable resource to anyone interested in mixing up their own in vitro orchid culture media show more and better understanding this complicated topic. Whilst other works may be more useful in the laboratory techniques of sterile orchid culture, this is perhaps the most significant reference for culture media and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go beyond mixing up pre-made media to culture orchids from seed. I suspect it will become a well-thumbed addition to the library of any laboratory which works with orchid culture from seed for many years to come. Highly recommended. show less