Silwet L-77 alternatives

[Linda Robles]

Here are the responses I received responding to my question regarding
buying Silwet L77 in large quantities. Many thanks for all the help. Have
a wonderful weekend.


Linda



We buy it in large quantities and Silwet L-77 is the same in a large amount
or a small expensive bottle. We typically share with other labs so that it
is not sitting around for years, but it also seems to have a good shelf
life. Jerry Cohen



Hi Linda,
I am working in with Arabidopsis here in Brazil and was impossible for me
to get the VAC-IN-STUFF so instead I found from a local seller the
Momentive Silwett L77 Ag (
http://www.momentive.com/Products/home.aspx?id=21471). I bought a 250 mls
bottle for less than the equivalent of 20$ (they have liter bottles too).
It look slightly less dense than the VAC-IN-STUFF, but we have used in
floral dip dozens of times, same concentration as the VAC-IN-STUFF, and
have always gotten good results.

Let me know if you have any more questions about it, Hopefully this will
help

Best,
Armando Casas



Hi Linda,



We bought ridiculously large quantities in my past two labs for dirt cheap
prices - both from different companies and both have worked great for
dipping Arabidopsis. The one we have now is an absurd 1/2 gallon, which is
enough Silwet for 1,000 years. Here’s a picture if the server will accept
it:



Ben Holt







There are heaps. Buy from farmer suppliers. We use Brushwet from Farmcraft.
Same as Silwet... buy it by the litre!

Josh Mylne







Dear Linda,

I posted this four years ago, and it still applies; hope it helps.

"Dear Curators,

Because Silwet L-77 is no longer available in small quantities through GE
(GE Silicones has been bought by Momentive, and they do not distribute to
Canada or sell small amounts of Silwet L-77), and in our opinion the cost
of the Vac-In-Stuff sold by Lehle Seeds is ridiculous, we explored
alternatives. We now routinely use Dow Corning's Sylgard 309 (distributed
by Norac Concepts, Inc. in Canada), which slightly outperforms Silwet L-77
in our hands. We would like to make this piece of information available to
the entire Arabidopsis community, and I was wondering whether you could
help with that. With many thanks in anticipation."

All the best.
Enrico Scarpella





Hi Linda,

as far as I know this would be fine, in fact that is what Lehle Seeds is
doing to my knowledge: just refilling such a big shipment into lab
quantities. So, of course, if several labs in a region team up, they could
do the same without having Silwet around for the next centuries,

Good luck,
Tony Schaeffner, Germany





Linda,

I've been using silwet from rosecare.com for years now. It's always seemed
to work just fine for me, hundreds of successful transformations. You have
to buy quite a lot, but it's certainly cheaper per mL than what Lehle seeds
sells. It is quite literally a lifetime supply, though.
http://rosecare1.stores.yahoo.net/silwetl77.html
When I bought it years ago, the shipping was almost $15 for a total cost of
$175, FYI.

-Joseph Lee Hill Jr.