Have You Seen Roses in Test-tubes?

Invitroplant Co., Ltd.
Currently in Korea a special kind of rose called a ¡®finger rose¡¯ is attracting a lot of attention. Young lovers are fond of buying the flowers to offer when proposing to their partner, and couples like to give them on their wedding anniversaries.

¡®Finger roses¡¯ are cultivated in sealed glass test-tubes, without roots and without exposure to the air. A specially made culture fluid keeps the plants alive and some of them survive for even up to 6 months. This means that there is now no need to worry about roses wilting shortly after they have been given as a gift.

The ¡®finger roses¡¯ are produced by a Korean company called Invitroplant Co., Ltd. (ICL), which was first founded about one year ago.

Most of the staff are quite young and full of ambition. The president, Mr. Kim Tai-hyun, 33, originally studied architectural engineering when he was younger, but he became bored with that subject and switched to agriculture in 1993. In 1998, he went to America to study how to obtain anti-cancerous substances from plants. And, during an experiment culturing rose plants in test-tubes, he saw a rose open in one of the hundreds of the test-tubes.

This experience gave him the basic idea for his ¡®finger rose¡¯ business.

Culture Fluid Enables Roses to Survive in Test-tubes

To produce ¡®finger roses¡¯, a growing point from a rose plant is put into a 5-to 7-centimeter-long test-tube filled with germ-free culture fluid. Composed of 98% water, sugar and 20 kinds of chemical elements, this culture fluid provides all the nutrients needed to enable the growing point of the plant to develop.

Thus, without a root, and without any extra nutrients or carbon dioxide (for photosynthesis), the growing point thrives sufficiently well for a flower to open. When it has fully grown, the rose branch becomes as long as the test tube (5 to 7 cm), and it develops a charming rose which is smaller than 1 centimeter in diameter.

In the test-tubes the flowers of ¡®finger roses¡¯ survive on average for 3 weeks. Even after that, the branch and leaves survive until the nutrients of the culture fluid have been completely exhausted. And, if the branch is transplanted into a pot, it continues to grow. To keep the plant in a pot, it is recommended that the culture fluid be washed off the branch and the leaves first, and after planting the branch in a pot, it is also recommended that the plant be covered with a transparent plastic bag or with glass for 7 to 15 days. This helps the plant to adapt itself to the air.

Actually, many different kinds of tissue culture methods have been developed, and they are widely used in propagating plants. But not many such methods can facilitate the development of flowers.

Other Plants To Be Cultivated in Test-tubes

Invitroplant Co., Ltd. has also succeeded in cultivating kalanchoe in test-tubes.

And the product has already been released onto the market. Kalanchoe propagates itself in a unique way: unlike many other plants which reproduce themselves through seeds or roots, new kalanchoe plants are created on the end of fully developed leaves.

Its reproduction process can therefore be observed, while it is being cultivated in a test-tube.

At present, experiments are also being conducted to cultivate carnations, strawberries and grapes in test-tubes. Furthermore, it is planned to develop tissue culture methods for endangered plants(specially wild ones) and to reproduce them on a large-scale.

Also ICL has an ambitious plan of offering FPMS(Foundation Plant Materials Services) to those involved in agriculture. FPMS includes producing good quality saplings through tissue culture, and inspecting insects and diseases on plants.


Interview

Kim Tai-hyun President of ICL
¡°Now you can keep flowers longer.¡±

What motivated you to develop ¡®finger roses¡¯?
Many people like to grow and watch plants. But some people can¡¯t be bothered to water them sufficiently and regularly. So, I wanted to help those people.

We noticed that the test-tubes for cultivating the plants are sealed. Would you explain how the plants can grow in them?
Normally plants use carbon dioxide from the air as an important source of energy, for conducting photosynthesis. But, our ¡®finger rose¡¯ plants obtain their energy mainly from sugar dissolved in the culture fluid. And, actually, even in a sealed test-tube, plants can continue to conduct photosynthesis.

How long can the plants survive in your test-tubes?
They can survive until the nutrients of the culture fluid are completely used up. In the case of roses plants, they survive for a total period of 6 months, which includes 3 weeks when they are actually in bloom. And, kalanchoe can survive longer than this, because they constantly self-propagate.

Do you have any special plans for the future, if so, what are they?
We are very concerned about saving endangered plants. So we have set up a project for propagating them in large numbers. Also, we are planning to make our tissue-culture methods available on actual farms.






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