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superwhitedolemite
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Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing?
#26427890 - 01/11/20 10:57 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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My first cloning attempt went horribly wrong and I ran out of fresh ones to try again. So, I grabbed the weakest spore print I had and tried a direct transfer to some of my agar plates, last Saturday.
It's looking pretty good on 2 (or 3?) out of 5 of them, but wanted some feedback from the lot of ya's.
I was super careful...worked in SAB that was vigorously wiped down, in a super clean room, wore gloves, wiped everything down thoroughly with alcohol, etc. I made a small copper loop and flame sterilized between each spore swab (touching the agar to cool, first.)
Still managed to get a significant amount of contamination, but at least two of these plates are looking very strong. Still, I'm surprised at the amount of bacteria here. Seems most likely that the print itself carried some from the cap?
One seems to be thriving so well that it may actually be killing the bacteria? The mycelium is fattening up and the contam seems to be shrinking.
So, the question is; should I attempt to transfer healthy samples to new plates? Is it smarter just to toss the bad ones entirely?
Another question is; how long can I store a fully colonized plate? How do I do this? If even two of these succeed, I'll have way more than I'll know what to do with. I can manage maybe a few tubs in what little spare time I have.
UPDATE 1-19-20:
Wiped out all the crappy pics and got some decent ones. The warm glass of water on the lid to clear the condensation was genius!
Edited by superwhitedolemite (01/19/20 09:18 AM)
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LadysKnight
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Registered: 10/09/15
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If those are lit from above, I don't see anything useful here.
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: LadysKnight]
#26427902 - 01/11/20 11:07 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Lit from underneath. That's a ceiling fan/light behind the plates.
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LadysKnight
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More difficult to see without light on top.
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WeavieWonder
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Quote:
superwhitedolemite said: So, the question is; should I attempt to transfer healthy samples to new plates? Is it smarter just to toss the bad ones entirely?
Thats whats ya do. Taking some normal pics of your petris would help us. We dont want an artful representation of your work. Here's an example of a pic that would be considered helpful....

Gotta be able to see! See?
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: LadysKnight]
#26427924 - 01/11/20 11:24 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
LadysKnight said: More difficult to see without light on top.
Fair enough, apologies. I figured it'd be easier to see detail that way but I suppose discoloration would just confuse more than anything.
Here are some w/ no backlight, from above - though this is the underside of the plates. I'm keeping them this way so condensation doesn't drip into the agar, from the lid. I've heard this is smart...seems to make sense for contam prevention.
The two on the left (full pic) are looking great. The three on the right are clearly contaminated - the one w/ the fried-egg-looking contam in the center is the one I asked about maybe pulling through and fending off the bad stuff. Circled the trouble spots in red.
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LadysKnight
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Although it would be easier to tell you something if you'd take pics of the top of the plates, with light, it looks like you have some transferrable edges in the first pic. I still have to wonder what the top of the plate looks like.
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WeavieWonder
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Trash the really shitty ones, and take transfers from those which have mycelium that aren't covered in contamination. I find having to do about 10 transfers from spore until I end up with something that is clean, and grows in an organized and predictable manner.
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SpunkyMonkey88
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: WeavieWonder] 1
#26427950 - 01/11/20 11:45 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
WeavieWonder said: Trash the really shitty ones, and take transfers from those which have mycelium that aren't covered in contamination. I find having to do about 10 transfers from spore until I end up with something that is clean, and grows in an organized and predictable manner.
I guess I'm just lucky.. I can usually get some nice looking T3's worthy of grains... I mean they're nowhere near a monoculture (not even sure I know what that is) but I've definitely gotten clean plates from spores 3 transfers in.
I'm new to this so take my opinion with a big grain of salt. But those plates all look contaminated AF to me.
OP how did you inoculate them, apologizes if you said in your OP I'm kinda rushing through the forums
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rido



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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: LadysKnight] 1
#26427962 - 01/11/20 11:53 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
LadysKnight said: Although it would be easier to tell you something if you'd take pics of the top of the plates, with light, it looks like you have some transferrable edges in the first pic. I still have to wonder what the top of the plate looks like.
I agree. Take some photos from above the plates. If they have condensation you can heat up some water in a cup and put it on top of the plate to dissipate the condensation.
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: WeavieWonder]
#26427989 - 01/11/20 12:10 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
WeavieWonder said: Trash the really shitty ones, and take transfers from those which have mycelium that aren't covered in contamination. I find having to do about 10 transfers from spore until I end up with something that is clean, and grows in an organized and predictable manner.
Yikes! That's fairly time and labor-intensive. This is a fascinating hobby but maybe agar, cloning, etc. is maybe a little too deep for the amount of time I can invest. Perhaps it's straight to syringe with new prints, from now on.
What's the advantage of it growing in an "organized and predictable manner"? I personally don't care if they're pretty or not, just if I'm able to extract samples for inoculating jars.
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: rido]
#26427991 - 01/11/20 12:12 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
rido said:
Quote:
LadysKnight said: Although it would be easier to tell you something if you'd take pics of the top of the plates, with light, it looks like you have some transferrable edges in the first pic. I still have to wonder what the top of the plate looks like.
I agree. Take some photos from above the plates. If they have condensation you can heat up some water in a cup and put it on top of the plate to dissipate the condensation.
First I'm hearing of that. Have a quick link for reference? OK, will look at doing this over the weekend and will try to come back w/ better pics.
Thanks!
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A.k.a
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10 transfers is pretty extreme, I think most people drop to grain at t2-t3.
Plus with agar you can just wait til you have a bunch of plates you want to do then take transfers in one session and you’re done for a week or two. I can usually set everything up do 5-10 transfers and wrap the plates in under 30 mins.
The heat on the plate thing works great, sometimes just heating up the room a little will do it too.
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LAGM2020     
Edited by A.k.a (01/11/20 12:17 PM)
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WeavieWonder
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Quote:
superwhitedolemite said:
Quote:
WeavieWonder said: Trash the really shitty ones, and take transfers from those which have mycelium that aren't covered in contamination. I find having to do about 10 transfers from spore until I end up with something that is clean, and grows in an organized and predictable manner.
Yikes! That's fairly time and labor-intensive. This is a fascinating hobby but maybe agar, cloning, etc. is maybe a little too deep for the amount of time I can invest. Perhaps it's straight to syringe with new prints, from now on.
What's the advantage of it growing in an "organized and predictable manner"? I personally don't care if they're pretty or not, just if I'm able to extract samples for inoculating jars.
Contamination is REALLY good at hiding. If there are a bunch of mycelium strains dog-piled on top of each other, contams can hide in between the layers, making them hard to see.
It doesnt always take ten transfers. Sometimes you get a clean print, and you only gotta do a few transfers. It also helps if you start out with as little spores as possible.
If you're looking for easy, just do the pf tek. It's known for its unpredictability and low yields. Have fun.
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A.k.a
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: WeavieWonder] 1
#26428028 - 01/11/20 12:31 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Lol pf tek is the worst. Takes forever, yields shit, and takes way more maintenance than a tub.
I think coir shoeboxes should be the default entry grow. Much simpler than cakes ime, not to mention the much larger yield.
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LAGM2020     
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: A.k.a]
#26428041 - 01/11/20 12:39 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
A.k.a said: Lol pf tek is the worst. Takes forever, yields shit, and takes way more maintenance than a tub.
I think coir shoeboxes should be the default entry grow. Much simpler than cakes ime, not to mention the much larger yield.
Yeah, I agree. So far, all I have under my belt is one (seemingly) successful pf tek grow. Did 11 cakes and got around 2 oz, dried. Zero contam of any kind and it was fairly easy...EXCEPT...yes, it was super labor-intensive. Picking a few cakes here-and-there, re-dunking, etc. It was eating up a lot of hours I didn't have.
My thoughts exactly - a tub is just a big cake. I'm only producing for my own use, so I don't need massive yields and giant grows. I bought a bunch of small tubs - larger than shoeboxes but not by much. Pure part-time hobbyist here.
You're not the first to point me toward shoeboxes so if you've got a set of instructions to follow for a simple tek, to point me in the right direction, I'd love to see.
Thanks!
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A.k.a
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Lol yeah I started as a part time hobbyist so I’d have a stash for myself also...three months later I’ve got a whole agar station with hundreds of plates and half gallon mason jars full of mushrooms with stacks of shoeboxes growing.
It’s just what happens.
There’s a few shoebox threads but really you don’t need them. The important thing is grainspawn threads. All a shoebox is is a quart of spawn mixed with a quart or two of coir then you snap the lid on and that’s it.
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LAGM2020     
Edited by A.k.a (01/11/20 01:20 PM)
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superwhitedolemite
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: A.k.a]
#26428152 - 01/11/20 01:45 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
A.k.a said: Lol yeah I started as a part time hobbyist so I’d have a stash for myself also...three months later I’ve got a whole agar station with hundreds of plates and half gallon mason jars full of mushrooms with stacks of shoeboxes growing.
It’s just what happens.
There’s a few shoebox threads but really you don’t need them. The important thing is grainspawn threads. All a shoebox is is a quart of spawn mixed with a quart or two of coir then you snap the lid on and that’s it.
Ha! I'm trying to be careful not to get sucked into it like that. I could! But, I just don't have the bandwidth for that right now.
I've watched a couple vids on both and it all seems pretty simple. I thought I'd go for the gusto and try Bod's Unmodified Tek in my "shoeboxes":
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/22337800
Thanks for the info!
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rido



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Quote:
superwhitedolemite said: Ha! I'm trying to be careful not to get sucked into it like that. I could! But, I just don't have the bandwidth for that right now.
I've watched a couple vids on both and it all seems pretty simple. I thought I'd go for the gusto and try Bod's Unmodified Tek in my "shoeboxes":
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/22337800
Thanks for the info!
I wouldn't recommend that, especially just starting out. If you want to do a shoebox, follow Bod's shoebox tek.
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A.k.a
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Re: Agar Spore Transfer: How am I doing? [Re: rido] 1
#26428393 - 01/11/20 03:43 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Personally I’d say you’d be much better off running multiple shoeboxes instead of a mono. That way all your eggs aren’t in one basket, and you’ll get to see three different grows at once so you could try adding more/less water to one or whatever.
Idk what your goal is but each shoebox could very easily put out two ounces, the worst I’ve ever had was around 18g dry and it was super bad spawn and went moldy at the end of the first flush.
Like I said I started out initially just wanting a stash of shrooms and it sounds so difficult reading about it I started 7 quarts of seeds expecting them to not all make it.
Well they all did fine and all of a sudden I was harvesting a half ounce to an ounce every other day for a couple weeks lol.
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LAGM2020     
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