Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
Agar, bitches, is how I roll. There's not enough threads around here about growing shrooms and way too many about really bad drugs most people shouldn't even fuck around with. I have yet to see one that even mentions agar work. Agar is a great way to start a mushroom grow because you separate potential contaminants before trying to spawn to a substrate. Let us dive right in....
Agar is an ez way to ensure you have a clean culture before trying to spawn to grains. Its a form of gelatin sold in many Asian food stores. The idea is to place mushroom spores onto a 2-D surface and let it grow out. The agar allows the mycelium to grow only on the surface; exposing any present contaminants visually. You can then extract a clean culture from a dirty plate with an exacto knife or scalpel and transfer only the clean mycelium onto another agar plate. Allow this culture to grow all the way out to the edge and if it stays nice and white you've got yourself a clean culture to spawn grains with or transfer further to keep a desired culture in play.
Agar is traditionally done using lab equipment like Petri dishes but I found methods using common household items found in any store thanks to the experts at sites like shroomery. We use glad mini rounds instead and sterilize in a pressure cooker. You need to drill 1/4" holes in the lids for gas exchange and then use a small piece of micro pore medical tape over it as a filter.
The potato dextrose agar recipe we use is really as simple as it gets:
2.5g agar powder
2 tsp dry potato flakes
1/2 cup water
Drop or two of raw honey or corn syrup
Adding a few optional drops of red food coloring in the agar recipe makes any contaminants present stand out. Heat up the water on a stove just below boil and slowly mix in the agar and potato flake until fully dissolved. Add in a few drops of honey or Karo and optional food coloring. Stir to dissolve & pour about 1/4 inch of the agar mix into the mini rounds. Should make about 10 agar plates. Allow to cool until a solid gel and place the lids on. Wrap each lid with foil. Sterilize in a pressure cooker for 90 mins. Allow to cool to room temp overnight.
Next step is to streak the plates. I use a sterilized cotton swab for this. Start by flaming a spore syringe and squirting a bit of spore juice onto the swab inside a still air box. Open the lid a crack; just enough to get the swab in there and lightly streak diagonally across the agar plate in one fast motion. Seal and continue streaking each plate with a new sterile swab; flaming the needle again each time. Start by inoculating only 5 or 6 plates; save the rest in the fridge wrapped in foil for doing transfers later on. They will remain sterile in the fridge as long as they are not opened.
This thread will be periodically updated with pics of my technique and results as they occur. This will be a long term project. In the meantime feel free to post anything shroom related.
Agar is an ez way to ensure you have a clean culture before trying to spawn to grains. Its a form of gelatin sold in many Asian food stores. The idea is to place mushroom spores onto a 2-D surface and let it grow out. The agar allows the mycelium to grow only on the surface; exposing any present contaminants visually. You can then extract a clean culture from a dirty plate with an exacto knife or scalpel and transfer only the clean mycelium onto another agar plate. Allow this culture to grow all the way out to the edge and if it stays nice and white you've got yourself a clean culture to spawn grains with or transfer further to keep a desired culture in play.
Agar is traditionally done using lab equipment like Petri dishes but I found methods using common household items found in any store thanks to the experts at sites like shroomery. We use glad mini rounds instead and sterilize in a pressure cooker. You need to drill 1/4" holes in the lids for gas exchange and then use a small piece of micro pore medical tape over it as a filter.
The potato dextrose agar recipe we use is really as simple as it gets:
2.5g agar powder
2 tsp dry potato flakes
1/2 cup water
Drop or two of raw honey or corn syrup
Adding a few optional drops of red food coloring in the agar recipe makes any contaminants present stand out. Heat up the water on a stove just below boil and slowly mix in the agar and potato flake until fully dissolved. Add in a few drops of honey or Karo and optional food coloring. Stir to dissolve & pour about 1/4 inch of the agar mix into the mini rounds. Should make about 10 agar plates. Allow to cool until a solid gel and place the lids on. Wrap each lid with foil. Sterilize in a pressure cooker for 90 mins. Allow to cool to room temp overnight.
Next step is to streak the plates. I use a sterilized cotton swab for this. Start by flaming a spore syringe and squirting a bit of spore juice onto the swab inside a still air box. Open the lid a crack; just enough to get the swab in there and lightly streak diagonally across the agar plate in one fast motion. Seal and continue streaking each plate with a new sterile swab; flaming the needle again each time. Start by inoculating only 5 or 6 plates; save the rest in the fridge wrapped in foil for doing transfers later on. They will remain sterile in the fridge as long as they are not opened.
This thread will be periodically updated with pics of my technique and results as they occur. This will be a long term project. In the meantime feel free to post anything shroom related.
