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 YidakiMan
Stranger
 
Registered: 09/29/02
Posts: 2,023
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 Standing water on agar 
#1804985 - 08/12/03 11:03 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I just tried my first agar agar with a wild Oyster print that I had made myself. The problem is the condensation has found it's way onto the surface of the agar. It isn't much, you can only see the water if you swirl the jar. I can't think of a way to drain it cleanly, should I just leave it and cross my fingers?
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MushMushi
Registered: 08/23/02
Posts: 480
Loc: Canada
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: YidakiMan]
#1805446 - 08/12/03 02:14 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I have that problem too. Well, I usually pc the agar jars/test tubes or dishes and when it cools down, it creates condensation. This is because I don't have to pour the liquid agar in front of a flowbox or in a glovebox. (you save some time by doing it this way, but you gain condensation)
now, if you pour the liquid agar on the plates, you should stack them!
usually, I don't have any condensation problems when done that way.
I don't worry about a few drops of water because it's sterile.
Hope this helps!
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YidakiMan
Stranger
Registered: 09/29/02
Posts: 2,023
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: MushMushi]
#1805571 - 08/12/03 02:42 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I'm working on a Poor Man's/Simple Minds/beginner agar tek; details and entire tek to be released later. This is a problem in all my plates. I noticed that the spores are remaining in one place today. So at the very least, I know that my spores aren't swishing around.
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psyconaut
NASA trainedpsychonaut
Registered: 05/22/02
Posts: 617
Loc: The Great White North
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: YidakiMan]
#1823216 - 08/17/03 05:18 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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And what's wrong with turning the plate upside down?!
-psy
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It may look like a button mushroom right now, but wait until you see how it grows!
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 r05c03
The Slug Scourge
Registered: 01/06/02
Posts: 383
Loc: Indiana, US
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: psyconaut]
#1823309 - 08/17/03 05:49 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I do not turn mine over because then spores and stuff can settle on the inide of the top dish.
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Listen! Do you smell something?
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psyconaut
NASA trainedpsychonaut
Registered: 05/22/02
Posts: 617
Loc: The Great White North
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: r05c03]
#1823446 - 08/17/03 06:37 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I find that unlikely if your agar is a good consistency. But that's just my opinion :-)
-psy
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It may look like a button mushroom right now, but wait until you see how it grows!
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r05c03
The Slug Scourge
Registered: 01/06/02
Posts: 383
Loc: Indiana, US
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: psyconaut]
#1823556 - 08/17/03 07:17 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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The primary reason that labs put them upside down is so that the two sides of the dished do not separate and therefore open up the potential for contams, it also makes getting them out of sleaves a little easier. I would certainly store plates upside downn, and do so. Bacterial labs usually place theirs upside down, but then again, labs are pretty clean. I would not put mine upside down in my conditions primarily because I think that there are enough potential contams that they could settle in the space between the bottom and top dish, which they could not do if the plates were right side up. If I had a cleaner lab-type set up I might not fear that. Contam control is all about prevention
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Listen! Do you smell something?
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Zildjian
human
Registered: 09/11/02
Posts: 208
Loc: new zealand
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: r05c03]
#1825352 - 08/18/03 08:36 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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dude, you can wrap a strip of plastic wrap (cling film, glad wrap...etc) around the outside of your petri to stop the lid falling off and prevent contams getting in. then you could store your dishes upside down. i've heard plastic wrap is semi-permeable* so the mycelium can breathe, but hell even if it isn't, they still grow on the agar, I do it all the time. I agree with psyconaut, your spores shouldn't be falling off your agar unless its really bung agar. Your not using a oyster spore syringe on the agar are you? if you are, then you should try smearing the spores on with a knife/innoculation tool of some kind instead.
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r05c03
The Slug Scourge
Registered: 01/06/02
Posts: 383
Loc: Indiana, US
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: Zildjian]
#1825361 - 08/18/03 08:45 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Ummm, dude, I am not having problems with my spore falling off agar. I am just trying to help, with some things that I have observed. You are absolutely right, you can use plastic wrap.
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Listen! Do you smell something?
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YidakiMan
Stranger
Registered: 09/29/02
Posts: 2,023
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: r05c03]
#1825412 - 08/18/03 09:34 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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To date, only two of the agar plates have begun growing.
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Suntzu
Geek
Registered: 10/15/99
Posts: 1,396
Last seen: 7 days, 21 hours
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Re: Standing water on agar [Re: r05c03]
#1825457 - 08/18/03 10:14 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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r05c03, I never thought about there being a benefit to having the plates 'right side up' as far as contam control. . .that's an interesting thought. At one of my previous jobs we grew fungi 'imperfecti' and those plates we kept 'right side up' as a means to discourage possibly pathogenic spores [conidia] from being flipped around inside the dish and onto the lids when we went to look at them.
I never thought about the inner lip being a catch reservoir for crap.
On the subject at hand, temperature changes and temperature differences between the inside of the dish and the outside environment are the main causes of pre-growth condensation. And it can be a problem, because condensing air is a sign of outside air having to be sucked in to replace the air volume lost through condensation. A few drops is no problem usually, and proper temperature control will often make them disappear. Anno had some great pics of a stack of petris cooling with a mug of ?coffee on the very top. Very cool.
Post-colonization, the mycelium is producing water vapor. . .a completely colonized dish will often have loads of condensing water. Not sealing up the dish help a little, but there is no real way [that I've found] to combat this. . . .just use the petri in a timely manner  or find a way to pour it off cleanly. This is the main reason why I've always kept my petris upside down; so that I can slowly lift the top part [with agar] and slide the wet lid out and dump the liquid. . .then carefully slide it back under.
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