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Mycosperiment
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Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
Last seen: 1 year, 11 months
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polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes
#25021223 - 02/25/18 03:53 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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I have recently found some nice little polypropylene containers with attached hinged lids that seem to be working real good and can be sterilized in a pressure cooker or autoclave.
https://freundcontainer.com/pp-plastic-hinged-lid-containers/
There are various sizes and colors available. I got the 0.2 oz (6 ml) clear ones. I got samples of slightly larger/deeper ones but liked the cheaper and shorter ones better. It was a little easier to get the agar wedges into them and easier to cut wedges back out or remove the whole disc of media.
These are not very big but they take very little media to fill them and the whole disc of mycelium can be cut out and used to inoculate grain or sawdust or you can squirt some sterile water or liquid culture media into them and use the dislodged mycelium for growing more liquid culture or to directly inoculate jars or bags.
Shipping was not real cheap so you need to buy a bunch of them at once to make it worth the cost but they should be reusable many times if you are careful not to cut or melt them cooling off tools in them.
They are probably not the best for starting from spores or anything needing more room but work good for multiplying clean cultures or experimenting with different media recipes.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021281 - 02/25/18 04:23 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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sounds good how big are they
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021293 - 02/25/18 04:28 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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nevermind found the info on the site. with the flip caps do fill easy or do the open caps make them tilt?
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021324 - 02/25/18 04:41 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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The ones I got that I like the most are 0.2 oz or 6 ml capacity.
The size is 1.6 inch (40.64 mm) diameter and 0.4 inch (10.16 mm) deep.
They are not as clear as normal petri dishes but good enough to see inside.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021349 - 02/25/18 04:58 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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with the snap close lids they must keep contams out and prevent agar from drying out?
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021390 - 02/25/18 05:16 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sromes1 said: with the flip caps do fill easy or do the open caps make them tilt?
I sterilized them inside a polypropylene food storage container with the caps open. When I fill them, I carefully pick them up trying not to touch any inside surface. I usually fill them while holding onto them and then close them and place of a level surface to cool and solidify.
The caps are lighter than the bottom so they don't tilt over if the lid is either fully open or half or less open. Over half way open they will tip over when empty. When filled the cap can be in any position without tipping over.
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021407 - 02/25/18 05:20 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sromes1 said: with the snap close lids they must keep contams out and prevent agar from drying out?
Yes, they close tight and I haven't had any trouble with contamination or the agar drying out yet. I was a little worried about them sealing too tight but the mycelium grows fast enough that running out of air hasn't been a problem.
One nice benefit is they don't need Parafilm or anything to keep them closed.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021428 - 02/25/18 05:27 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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cool, I see they send samples , how much is shipping for samples
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Mycosperiment
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Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021472 - 02/25/18 05:43 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sromes1 said: cool, I see they send samples , how much is shipping for samples
Shipping for samples is normally a flat rate of $7. They have lots of other stuff so you might want to search the site. I think they will send up to 5 different samples with a total value of less than $10 for that flat rate fee.
I ordered 200 of them and I picked the cheapest shipping method which added a little over $20 to the cost. Shipping basically doubled the cost of them so you might want to play around with quantities and shipping methods to get the best total price if you order any.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021486 - 02/25/18 05:48 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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so it would cost me $7 to get a few petri plate samples?
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021531 - 02/25/18 06:01 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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The site says You are required to pay a flat rate shipping fee of $7.00.
They didn't charge me because I was only getting very small items but it came FedEx in a rather large box with a lot of paper packing. It probably cost them a fair amount to ship a few pieces. I figured they might just stick them in a padded envelope and ship them regular mail but they didn't.
That was why I suggested looking for other items you might be interested in to get close to the $10 limit on the value of the 5 sample items to make it worth the $7 it is likely to cost you. $10 worth of stuff for $7 isn't a bad deal. $7 shipping for less than $1 worth of items wouldn't really be worth it.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021532 - 02/25/18 06:02 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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seems not worth the price to get any sample plates
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021534 - 02/25/18 06:03 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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must have missed your response...free is good
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021541 - 02/25/18 06:06 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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the reason I'm interested is I use millipore 47mm plates..nice but would rather use reusable ones. I agree the smaller plates are good for storing but not cleaning a culture...nice to ship in though...pretty sturdy
Edited by sromes1 (02/25/18 06:07 PM)
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021565 - 02/25/18 06:19 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sromes1 said: the reason I'm interested is I use millipore 47mm plates..nice but would rather use reusable ones. I agree the smaller plates are good for storing but not cleaning a culture...nice to ship in though...pretty sturdy
I use the same plates but am getting low on them and wanted to find something reusable. I had bought 2 cases of the Millipore 47mm plates and thought they would last me a long time. They didn't last as long as I expected.
I did get some 100mm plates from ebay and have some glass ones for jobs needing a larger surface area but I really prefer the smaller size.
I also tried real tiny 35mm plates and they worked but dried up real fast and were very thin and easily broken. I think these polypropylene containers I just got are the smallest size I would want to go.
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25021605 - 02/25/18 06:38 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Did you ever try reusing the 47mm plates? They are much thicker than normal plates so could be washed up without breaking them. Just need a way to re-sterilize them.
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sromes1

Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 94
Loc: boston area
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25021639 - 02/25/18 06:50 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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I do reuse them , soak in bleach then rinse in sterile water and wipe the inside lid with oh
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99.99
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: sromes1]
#25022265 - 02/26/18 12:22 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Mycosperiment
Stranger

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 198
Loc: USA
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: 99.99]
#25022681 - 02/26/18 07:13 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
99.99 said: Two options ive found https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F142485192370
And these from big lots that I'm currently using

Thanks for the link. I ordered some of the 1 oz ones. Bigger than the tiny ones I recently started using but a better price especially with free shipping.
I have been using food storage containers from the Dollar store mostly to put things in for pressure cooking but they seem to work for grain spawn too with a filter glued onto the lids.
I also have some thin Deli containers in a couple sizes. The smallest ones have polypropylene bottoms but the lids are a different plastic so the lids have to be cleaned in bleach and not sterilized in the pressure cooker.
I check every plastic container I see for the recycle code. Most are not #5 but many are. Even some disposable drinking cups are #5 although I never tried pressure cooking them yet. I assume with a foil covering they might be useful for sterilizing bulk substrate and maybe even grain/sawdust spawn if you can keep them from drying out while colonizing.
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Spindlymass
wafer thin.



Registered: 09/25/17
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Re: polypropylene containers for use as petri dishes [Re: Mycosperiment]
#25022834 - 02/26/18 08:59 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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I found some myself a few weeks ago.
The ones I found were at a surplus store but here is the link to them on the makers website.
And a photo of them in use:

I cut the hinges off mine. I found pressure cooking and working with flopping lids a real PITA. For example, you can't pick up a stack and pour agar one after the other as usual.
Also, I stack them (with lids resting but not snapped on) in a large mouth mason to sterilize in PC. Then invert jar in SAB which leaves then in nice stack and pour the agar.
I've found they won't crush in the PC if you snap the lids closed but (again with the PITA) I don't like having to snap open each one individually when pouring agar.
As you can see in the photo they aren't perfectly clear, as you well know, but work well enough. Especially for expanding clean samples.
You still can't beat the clear polystyrene for seeing contams, or the wispy mycelium of lion's mane though.
But I do like the advantages mentioned in previous posts and I hate buying cases of polystyrene to throw away, and I don't like trying to reuse them.
Just thought I would share my experience (at great length apparently )
-------------------- enough knowledge to get into trouble. Not nearly enough to get out again.
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