"But, I suppose a maturing plant that is more or less fully albino could also be kept indefinitely on a sugar-nitrate regimen?"
Yes.
I can offer the same sort of suggestion that is made for students who would like to try tissue culturing some plants. I have never tried it and I don't know whether it works.
Using weak fertilizer solutions should help. The ones that are in water soluble form would be needed and they would need to include more than the normal 10-10-10 - they need the micronutrients. The gelling agent should be made from plants so not normal gelatin but agar or some of the other plant gels. They can be bought in health food stores. The hardest part would be keeping the gels free of contamination. A pressure cooker would help with that.
Since the piece of plant has its growing point no plant hormones or growth regulator chemicals are needed. Since the plant does not have roots nor does it need them again no rooting chemicals would be needed.
I have grown a fan of the ditch lily 'Europa' in nothing but water with only natural light from a window and cool temperatures in the basement from Oct 18 until it bloomed in late January. I think that home micropropagation should work without dangerous chemicals.
I have more detailed instructions and ingredients. If you would like them I can post them here (a bit long) or privately.
