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Acquario
Experience is Wisdom


Registered: 11/09/14
Posts: 811
Loc: EU
Last seen: 11 months, 21 days
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Re: Pasty Agar Tek [Re: Fivel]
#20848164 - 11/16/14 09:56 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Next up on my "things-to-do!"
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Amateur Mycologists United [AMU Q&A Thread] - Ask any question here!
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Quote:
Pastywhyte said: Not long ago I made the mistake of making agar with tapeoca starch (never use that). It was terrible, so little nutes in it for the myc that the myc actually grew threw it, not on top. I think it was living off the food coloring and the drop of honey I put in as well. All the color was completely leached, it was totally clear. I didn't know what the hell was going on until I transferred it. The nutes (and food coloring) from the receiving plate were actually absorbed into the transferred wedge. When it finally recovered and leapt off it was quite aggressive. Later it became this;

I have some plates going right now with pretty dark blue food coloring, and 1 of them has done this. It completely sucked the color out of the agar. But only 1. I was kind of dumbfounded and remembered this post. What's going on? I would think if the myc was consuming the coloring it would somewhat turn that color, but obviously this is wrong...it just disappears. What things are happening at the cellular level that cause this?
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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The myc is actually breaking down the color, digesting it. Its one of the main differences between fungi and plants.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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That's so crazy. Would this mean that the plate that was leached would be better to use?
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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It could be. I have had mixed results with monocultures from that round of agar. Some did excellent, others not so much. They were all proven but I can't be sure if the low nute agar had any effect for sure due to the varied results. More tests are planned with the same cultures and I have older slants as well as newer ones to play with to narrow it down.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Interesting. I look forward to seeing your results! Do you know why this only happened to 1 plate out of 16?
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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It was more than one plate. Multiple clones were used some did well some not so much. More tests need to be done before I can say anything. If I come up with anything conclusive a thread will be made. But it will not be for some time so don't hold yer breath
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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I was talking about my plates, lol sorry. I made 16 and only 1 was leeched. They were all from the same batch...not sure what was different.
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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Most likely an aggressive culture. It happens with mine so often I rarely take notice.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Yeah I just checked my jars I dropped the plates in and they all went from blue to colorless in 12 hours. They must really like the food coloring. I wonder what would happen if you used more? Maybe you could include that in your experiments
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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When using a wedge to inoculate the myc needs to really draw upon the nutes in the wedge to leap off. It will leach out the color very quick when put in a grain jar.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Okay, that makes sense. It first eats the color and then the nutes in the agar, which actually causes it to leap off. Is that correct?
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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Close. It needs energy to leap off. So it consumes every thing it can in the wedge including the coloring to get a good leap.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Awesome thanks for explaining. It doesn't actually leap UNTIL it consumes everything to gain the energy for the leap.
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Inocuole
Scalpel of Evil's Bane



Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 24,863
Loc: ★
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Well, I mean, it depends on how much energy it had before you transferred it and whether it had already consumed any of what was in the agar prior. Some cultures leap faster than others. All mine really love the grain once it hits it so far.
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Elf_on_a_Log
Elf

Registered: 07/13/14
Posts: 610
Loc: On a log
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Re: Pasty Agar Tek [Re: Inocuole]
#20848596 - 11/17/14 12:03 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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I've encountered quite a bit of the color leaching myself. Most of my cultures grow across the top like normal, but the phoenix oyster I've got likes to dig in and leach the color. It's not that noticable before the growth reaches the edge of the plate, but as soon as it gets to the edge it takes about two days before all the color on the plate is gone. I've seen several types of contaminates do the same thing and they begin leaching the color almost right away.
One other thing I've noticed is that once the color is leached it becomes very difficult to cut a wedge out of the agar. It becomes soft and mushy and falls apart when I try to remove the wedge. I'm guessing this is due to the mycelium partially digesting the agar.
-------------------- "I was strolling through the woods one day when I came upon an elf sitting on a log. He offered me a strange-looking mushroom to eat. As soon as I ate it, I realized that I was the elf on the log and that my human life had been but a dream." - Elf_on_a_Log
LAGM 2.022 Grow Log
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MudaFuka
Poppin bottles



Registered: 12/14/13
Posts: 18,648
Loc: Canada
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Re: Pasty Agar Tek [Re: Inocuole]
#20848600 - 11/17/14 12:04 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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I use the amount of colour left in my refrigerated plates to judge how much nutrition is left in them when deciding which ones to use and which ones to leave in storage.
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wowimflabbergasted
supercalifragilistic



Registered: 07/16/12
Posts: 18,918
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Re: Pasty Agar Tek [Re: MudaFuka]
#20848613 - 11/17/14 12:08 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
MudaFuka said: I use the amount of colour left in my refrigerated plates to judge how much nutrition is left in them when deciding which ones to use and which ones to leave in storage.
Has that been pretty reliable for you?
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stareatclouds
star eat clouds?



Registered: 09/29/14
Posts: 9,959
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When I'm dropping an agar wedge into sterile water for an LI, how long am I waiting for the water to break it down? I've had some wedges sitting in jars for like 2 weeks now, I think.
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Inocuole
Scalpel of Evil's Bane



Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 24,863
Loc: ★
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Since we were discussing tools in here earlier, check this out.
I just made an "inoculation loop" with a guitar string and the base of my x-acto knife. I just screwed in a bent G string (lol) where the blade goes and it holds it really tight and gives it the tension it lacked as just a guitar string. I tested it on a contaminated plate that I was going to throw out anyway and I was able to easily hook a little bit of clean mycelium and take it away with very little effort. The thing glows red hot so easily too, I can use a regular lighter on it without issue.
I love ghetto rigging stuff. This thing will probably serve me better than one I paid money for. The way it feels on the mycelium is kind of an instant confidence boost to my agar work. Also probably won't have to worry about it getting hot like this.
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