24 Aug 2025

New Starter Kit (Step by Step Instructions For Beginners)

Anjali Singh, MS

As a content and community manager, I leverage my expertise in plant biotechnology, passion for tissue culture, and writing skills to create compelling articles, simplifying intricate scientific concepts, and address your inquiries. As a dedicated science communicator, I strive to spark curiosity and foster a love for science in my audience.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Have you ever looked at a favorite houseplant, a rare orchid, or a plant with sentimental value and wished you could create a perfect, identical copy?

Traditional propagation methods like cuttings or seeds are wonderful, but they can be slow, unpredictable, and susceptible to diseases. Cuttings can fail to root, and seeds don't always grow true to the parent plant.

For a plant enthusiast, this can be a frustrating barrier to expanding a collection or preserving a special plant.

What if there was a way to bypass these challenges?

A scientific method that allows you to create hundreds of genetically identical, disease-free clones from just a tiny piece of your original plant?

This is the power of plant tissue culture.

 It’s a revolutionary technique used by commercial growers, researchers, and conservationists to produce perfect plant replicas in a sterile, controlled laboratory environment.

For years, this incredible technology has seemed out of reach for the home hobbyist or small-scale grower, shrouded in the complexity of sourcing dozens of individual chemicals, specialized tools, and the right kind of labware.

The barrier to entry felt high, leaving many passionate plant lovers on the sidelines.

Until now.

We believe that everyone should have the chance to explore the cutting edge of plant propagation.

That’s why we have enhanced our original starter kit, including more items, creating the Ultimate Plant Tissue Culture Starter Kit. 

We’ve taken the guesswork and the frustration out of the equation by assembling everything you need to begin your journey.

This isn’t just a collection of items; it’s a complete, guided system designed to take you from curious beginner to confident practitioner.

This is your all-in-one launchpad into the fascinating world of micropropagation.

What’s Inside the Box?

The Ultimate Plant Tissue Culture Starter Kit is thoughtfully curated, having each professional-quality component to ensure you have the essential building blocks for success.

Let’s break down what you’ll find inside and the critical role each item plays.

Media & Additives:

These are the core nutritional and protective components that will form the sterile environment where your plants will thrive.

• Murashige & Skoog (MS) Basal Medium with Vitamins, MSP09 (10L)

This is the standardized nutrient and vitamin formula for your plants. MS Medium is the gold standard in tissue culture, containing a precisely balanced blend of all the macronutrients, micronutrients, and vitamins a plant needs to grow.

This powder is the foundation upon which you will build your custom growth formulas. It’s a versatile and trusted choice for a massive range of plants, from common houseplants to complex woody species.

• Supreme Tissue Culture Grade Agar (60g)

This is the solidifying agent that provides physical support for your plant tissue. This premium gelling agent, derived from seaweed, is mixed into your liquid medium by heating before sterilization. As it cools, it solidifies into a firm, clear, Jell-O-like substance.

This provides a stable, nutrient-rich surface that physically supports the plant tissue (explant) and allows it to grow upwards while its base absorbs the nutrients it needs. Its clarity and strength help roots develop effectively and give you clean visibility of your cultures.

• PPM™ - Plant Preservative Mixture, 30 mL)

This is a broad-spectrum biocide that prevents microbial contamination. In tissue culture, your biggest enemies are invisible bacteria and fungal spores.

PPM™, when added directly to your growth medium, effectively eliminates airborne, waterborne, and endogenous (internal) contaminants without harming your plant tissue. A cherry on top is that it’s generally required only in 0.5-2ml/Liters of media. 

Furthermore, unlike antibiotics, PPM™ is heat-stable. You can autoclave it with your media, simplifying the entire process and giving your cultures a powerful shield against infection.

• Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs, 30 mL each)

These are the chemical messengers—the hormones—that you will use to direct your plant’s development.

By changing the type and concentration of these PGRs in your media, you can tell the plant tissue whether to multiply into more shoots, form roots, or create an undifferentiated mass of cells called a callus.

Your kit includes the three most essential PGRs:

• BAP (6-Benzylaminopurine): This is a cytokinin, the primary hormone responsible for cell division and shoot proliferation. Think of it as the "multiply" signal. It’s the key to turning a single shoot into a cluster of many.

• IBA (Indole-3-butyric acid): This is a powerful auxin, a class of hormones that primarily governs root development. IBA is the "grow roots" signal, essential for preparing your new plantlets for life outside the sterile container.

• NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid): Another versatile auxin, NAA can be used to stimulate root formation like IBA, but it’s also frequently used to induce callus formation and somatic embryogenesis, making it a flexible tool for various culture goals.

Culture Vessels & Tools:

• Culture Vessels (10 Round Snap-lock Containers & 5 Vented Test Tubes): These vessels provide a sterile environment for plant growth. The test tubes are perfect for initiating small cultures, while the larger snap-lock containers provide more space for plantlets to multiply and grow before they are ready to be moved to soil.

• 1 Scalpel & 1 Forceps: These are your sterile hands. Precision and cleanliness are paramount in tissue culture. The sterile, sharp scalpel allows you to make clean cuts when preparing your explant, minimizing tissue damage. The long forceps allow you to handle and place the explant onto the medium without introducing contaminants (ensure the forceps are properly sterilized before use).

• 4 Plastic Pipettes & pH Adjusters: Accuracy is key. The plastic pipettes allow you to measure and add small, precise amounts of liquids like PPM™ and your PGRs. The pH+ (potassium hydroxide) and pH- (hydrochloric acid) solutions are used to fine-tune the acidity of your growth medium, ensuring it’s at the perfect level for your plants to absorb all the available nutrients.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Your Kit

With your kit unpacked, it’s time to begin.

This step-by-step process will walk you through creating your first batch of tissue culture medium and initiating a culture.

Remember, cleanliness is the most important rule of the game.

Step 1: Prepare Your Workspace

Before you mix anything, ensure you have a clean, draft-free area to work. For beginners, a Still Air Box (a clear tote on its side) is a great way to create a sterile workspace. Thoroughly wipe down your work surface and all your tools with 70% isopropyl alcohol.

Step 2: Mix Heat-Stable Ingredients

1. Start with a clean glass beaker or flask. Using distilled water, measure out slightly less than the final volume you want to make (e.g., 950 mL for a 1 L batch).

2. Add the Murashige & Skoog powder (MSP09) and stir until it is completely dissolved.

3. Add a carbon source, typically sucrose (regular table sugar works well). A standard concentration is 30 grams per liter.

4. Add your PPM™ to the media now (typically 0.5-2 mL per liter). Because PPM™ is heat-stable, it can be safely autoclaved with the rest of your medium.

Step 3: Adjust the pH

The ability of your plant to absorb nutrients is directly affected by the pH of the medium. The ideal range is typically between 5.6 and 5.8. Use a pH meter to test your solution. Add the pH- solution drop-by-drop to lower the pH, or the pH+ solution to raise it, until you reach the target range.

Bring the solution up to the final volume (1 L) with distilled water.

Step 4: Add the Gelling Agent

Slowly add the Supreme Tissue Culture Grade Agar to your liquid medium while stirring. A typical concentration is 6-8 grams per liter.

Step 5: Heat and Dispense

Heat the solution in a microwave or on a hot plate, stirring frequently, until the agar is completely dissolved and the liquid is clear. Be careful not to let it boil over. Once dissolved, carefully pour the hot medium into yourculture vessels (test tubes and snap-lock containers), filling them to about one-third of their capacity.

Step 6: Sterilization

Loosely place the lids on your vessels and cover them with aluminum foil. Sterilize the media-filled vessels in a pressure cooker or autoclave at 15 psi for 20 minutes.

Step 7: Add Heat-Sensitive Growth Regulators

After autoclaving, allow the media to cool to about 45-50°C (warm to the touch, but not hot). In your sterile workspace, add your chosen Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs). Because hormones like BAP, IBA, and NAA can be degraded by high heat, the best practice is to filter-sterilize them and add them to the cooled, sterile medium. Gently swirl the vessels to mix the hormones in before the agar solidifies completely.

Step 8: Prepare and Inoculate the Explant

An explant is the small piece of plant tissue you will be culturing. This could be a node from a stem, a piece of a leaf, or a shoot tip. This piece must be surface-sterilized to remove any microbes. Once sterilized, bring it into your sterile workspace. Using your sterile scalpel and forceps, trim the explant to the desired size and carefully place it onto the surface of your solidified, sterile medium.

Step 9: Incubation and Growth

Seal your vessels and place them in a clean area with adequate light (a simple fluorescent shop light works well) and a stable, warm temperature.

Now, you watch and wait as your tiny piece of tissue begins to grow and develop into a new plant!

A Guide to Using Hormones

The magic of tissue culture lies in your ability to control development using the PGRs in your kit. The ratio of auxins to cytokinins is the primary switch that dictates what your explant will do.

• For Shoot Multiplication (More BAP): If your goal is to create a large number of shoots from a single explant, you will use a medium with a higher concentration of a cytokinin like BAP. This suppresses apical dominance and encourages axillary buds to break, resulting in a dense cluster of shoots. This is ideal for rapidly increasing your stock of a plant.

• Examples: Orchids, African violets, many ornamental houseplants like Syngonium and Philodendron.

• For Rooting (More Auxin): Once you have a healthy shoot or a cluster of shoots, the next step is to prepare them for life in the real world. You will subculture them onto a new medium that has little or no cytokinin, but contains a rooting auxin like IBA or NAA. This signals the plantlet to stop producing shoots and instead focus its energy on developing a robust root system.

• Examples: Rooting micro cuttings of fruit trees (apples, pears), woody ornamentals (roses, hydrangeas), and virtually any plantlet you’ve multiplied in the previous stage.

• For Callus and Somatic Embryogenesis (Balanced Auxin & Cytokinin): Sometimes, the goal isn't to grow a shoot directly, but to first create a callus—an undifferentiated mass of cells. From this callus, you can then regenerate whole plants. This is often achieved using a balanced ratio of an auxin (like NAA) and a cytokinin (like BAP).

• Examples: Used in advanced applications for regenerating plants from single cells or for creating somatic embryos in species like carrots, coffee, or certain conifers.

Who is This Kit For?

The Ultimate Plant Tissue Culture Starter Kit is designed to empower a wide range of plant enthusiasts and aspiring scientists.

• Home-Based Hobbyists: Finally, an easy and affordable way to clone your rare and valuable houseplants, orchids, carnivorous plants, or succulents with professional-level success.

• Educators and Students: This kit is a complete, hands-on laboratory for the classroom. It’s the perfect tool for demonstrating concepts in botany, genetics, and sterile technique in an engaging and unforgettable way.

• Small-Scale and Specialty Growers: If you’re looking to level up your propagation game, this kit provides a streamlined and cost-effective method for producing clean, healthy, and uniform stock of your specialty plants, whether they are fruit trees, ornamental flowers, or medicinal herbs.

• The Curious Plant Lover: For anyone who has ever been fascinated by the science of plants, this kit is your invitation to explore one of the most exciting fields of modern horticulture.

Your Adventure Awaits

The journey of plant tissue culture is one of precision, patience, and profound reward. It transforms your relationship with plants, giving you a deeper understanding of the incredible biological processes that drive life.

The Ultimate Plant Tissue Culture Starter Kit  was created to be your trusted companion on this adventure. We’ve removed the obstacles of sourcing and guesswork, providing you with a complete, professional-quality system in one box, all supported by our detailed guides. You no longer have to wonder if it’s possible; you just have to decide which plant you want to start with.

Take the Next Step in Your Plant Journey

Ready to unlock the future of plant propagation? The Ultimate Plant Tissue Culture Starter Kit is waiting for you. It contains everything you need to move from enthusiast to practitioner.

And your journey with Plant Cell Technology doesn’t end there. As you grow, we’re here to support you with a full range of supplies, including individual media formulations, a wider variety of plant growth regulators, and advanced educational resources to help you master even the most complex techniques.

Explore our full catalog and join a community of passionate growers today!