The tissue culture process involves the micro-propagation of a sucker growing point under sterile conditions. A sucker is detached from the nursery parent plant and brought to a laboratory where the outside tissue is pared away until only the growing point remains inside a plug of 10 mm³. This is placed in a jar on agar containing a nutrient solution in a sterile environment and under controlled conditions of temperature and light. The growing point subdivides into several shoots, which are subdivided and re-established on fresh agar. This process, called sub-culturing, continues about five or six times (one month per sub-culture) until approximately 1000 plants are produced from one original growing point. These plants are then transferred to a rooting medium and when fully rooted they are transferred from in-vitro conditions (sterile under glass) to in-vivo conditions (seedling trays in a greenhouse environment).

After 6 to 8 weeks the 5cm plants are relocated from the greenhouse trays to nursery bags in a netted shadehouse. After another 6 to 8 weeks the 20cm plants are ready for planting out in the field. The entire process from excavating the original sucker to planting out 200 mm plants in the field takes
about 10 months.

The process of tissue culture

Laboratory
    
Laboratory: Laminar flow room Preparing the meristem Multiplication medium
     
Splitting the plants Split plants ready for transfer Growth Room
     
 
Plants in rooting medium   Rooting
Weaning
    
Weaning house with microclimate control Planting into seedtrays Rooted plants in seedtrays
     
Rooted plants planted into seedtrays 5cm plants Inside weaning tunnel
     
Inside weaning tunnel Growing phase in weaning Mature plants ready for delivery
     
   
  Mature rooted plants extracted from tray  
Nursery
    
Nursery shadehouse Weaned plants in nursery bags Mature 20cm plants inside shadehouse
     
   
  20cm plants ready for field transfer