Re: Availability of PM caps

["Aaron J. Hicks" <ahicks51@COX.NET>]

Alas, the much-vaunted PM caps are no more. Once roaming the plains 
in great herds, they were hunted nearly to extinction by bands of roving 
liberal media. A few were left in a captive breeding facility in Montana, 
until the liberal media found them, snuck in under the fence, and 
disemboweled them one cold February night. It was horrible. Who can 
forget that cover of "Time," with Morley Safer eating the last PM cap calf?

Now we're left with a couple of related species, including _Polypropylene
_ cv. 'Magenta,' and P. cv. 'Kim-cap,' both of which leave air gaps large 
enough to allow horseflies to breed freely in your tubes. Little memo to 
whomever designed these polymer atrocities: you're wrong. Very, very 
wrong. Just... stop it.

I remember PM caps all the way back to 1982. Back in the good old days, 
when we made plants by banging rocks together. Yep, those were the 
days. Uphill. In the snow. With barbed wire wrapped around our feet for 
traction. And we loved it.

PM caps appear to have been manufactured by the Kimble company, if 
my (very dated and now very old) collection of glassware and plasticware 
reads correctly. In more recent times, they removed the company logo, 
so it's possible Kimble sold the molds to a third party. Calling up 
Kimble-Kontes and demanding they reinstate the production line 
immediately will probably get you nowhere, but if they have a minimum 
order, let me know and I'll go in on a production run provided the cost isn't 
astronomical.

I think the whole "permeable" part of "PM" is an inside joke of some sort; 
it was thin, water-clear polypropylene, but by no means does it appear to 
be capable of facilitating diffusion. If anyone has any data to contradict 
this, I'd love to read it.

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

> From: "Mercure, Eric" <EricM@PARAMOUNTFARMING.COM>
> Date: 2005/10/25 Tue PM 06:25:29 EDT
> To: PLANT-TC@LISTS.UMN.EDU
> Subject:  Availability of PM caps
>
> Dear all,
>
> I was wondering if anyone had a source for PM caps.  These are plastic
> caps with a semi-permeable membrane going across the top.  They have the
> number "25" on the side and the words "P.M. CAP" running vertically next
> to the number.  I looked at Phytotech Labs but I didn't see them in
> their catalog.
>
> Thank you,
> Eric
>
> Dr. Eric W. Mercure
> Propagation Laboratory Manager
> Paramount Farming Company
> 33141 E. Lerdo Hwy
> Bakersfield, CA  93308
>
> Phone: Office:  661-399-4456
>
>      Lab:  661-392-9043
>
>      Mobile:  661-332-3415
>
> email:  EricM@paramountfarming.com