bonanzaman said:

nektar61 said:

bonanzaman said:

Comments welcome about agar

Any Thoughts?

Thanks
BM

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Hard to tell but you're probably right, probably sucking up food coloring, since the edges don't have it.

I'd skip food coloring at first, at least green, since it will make it hard to see if it's got contam. At first glance I actually thought this was algae. haha.

If you have to use colors, a tip: don't try red, it's known to be anti-fungal. But I recommend to try black. It's charcoal, so it's also a nutrient.  I know rhizo isn't needed, but I've had nothing since rhizo since I started using it. Rhizo looks cool, but it's also easier to tell from common molds, which look more like fluffy mycelium. Rhizo on black agar:

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Thanks, that's what i wanted to hear. I hope it's true! All the green is at the centers of the myc and the edges are distinct.

I bought these agar plates, but like what you said about black showing things better.

I've got a jar of WBS that was inoculated that didn't take so I may put this in when it gets bigger to see what happens. Nothing to lose.

Cheers

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nektar61 said:

bonanzaman said:

I've got a jar of WBS that was inoculated that didn't take so I may put this in when it gets bigger to see what happens. Nothing to lose.

Cheers

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If the WBS didn't grow anything, it's both possible that it was nocked with nothing alive, or that it has invisible or hard to see contams that out-competed it. If the latter, will probably smell sweet or moldy when you open it, instead of just smelling like grain.

Do you have a pressure cooker and and an SAB? What's your process with them?

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The strain I used for the WBS didn't take in PF tek nor direct to agar. Each one of them shows no activity.
I'll smell it before I throw in the agar slices.

Yes, i have a SAB and a pressure cooker. I do the normal things I guess. Clean the SAB with chlorine let it sit and then with alcohol just prior to use. then letting it sit for a bit to allow the contams to settle. I also use the pressure cooker like any normal pressure cooker.
I've got a "Hen of the Woods" waiting to be birthed. Probably going to use hardwood pellets for that.

I've been going to the supermarket to find clone material. Waiting for spring to hit the woods.

Thanks for the tip.
BM

bonanzaman said:

nektar61 said:

bonanzaman said:

I've got a jar of WBS that was inoculated that didn't take so I may put this in when it gets bigger to see what happens. Nothing to lose.

Cheers

---

If the WBS didn't grow anything, it's both possible that it was nocked with nothing alive, or that it has invisible or hard to see contams that out-competed it. If the latter, will probably smell sweet or moldy when you open it, instead of just smelling like grain.

Do you have a pressure cooker and and an SAB? What's your process with them?

---

The strain I used for the WBS didn't take in PF tek nor direct to agar. Each one of them shows no activity.
I'll smell it before I throw in the agar slices.

Yes, i have a SAB and a pressure cooker. I do the normal things I guess. Clean the SAB with chlorine let it sit and then with alcohol just prior to use. then letting it sit for a bit to allow the contams to settle. I also use the pressure cooker like any normal pressure cooker.
I've got a "Hen of the Woods" waiting to be birthed. Probably going to use hardwood pellets for that.

I've been going to the supermarket to find clone material. Waiting for spring to hit the woods.

Thanks for the tip.
BM

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Wall.E said:

I wouldn’t mix bleach and iso. Pretty sure that creates some toxic fumes, but I could be wrong. A lot of people spray soapy water because the dish soap binds to particles and brings them down to the floor

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I can't confirm or deny any reaction between the two but I have sprayed iso over the top of bleach before with no reaction or release of fumes. Just smells like bleach and iso and I would know as my wife has breathing issues and the bleach smell all the way from other end of house gives her a fit but when working with iso she has no issues. Would be interesting chem research to see if those two are reactive in any way but in my experience they are not. Now you start adding ammonia or acids to the mix and things will get nasty real quick.


First flask of agar to ketchup cups. (yes I know it's ghetto but for lagm I need lots of plates for cleaning up spore cultures and the turn around/re-pour time on glass plates is just too long) Nice, clear, and super easy to pour so as long as they are still clean looking after about a week I am happy. I think I did ok for first time with anything but a petri dish.

PsyloFreak said:

I just replied to same thing but I have never had any issues with iso+bleach although I do not mix them together directly but I keep paper towels sprayed with bleach solution covering the bottom of my SAB to catch and kill falling contams and then I spray and wipe it all down on inside with iso before use and have never smelled any strong or irritating fumes. If I am wrong please correct me since I do not claim to be a chemist or an expert on these things. Apologies to the group if I was talking out of my ass or giving bad advice.

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PsyloFreak said:

I keep paper towels sprayed with bleach solution covering the bottom of my SAB to catch and kill falling contams
and then I spray and wipe it all down on inside with iso before use and have never smelled any strong or irritating fumes.

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Inthepit said:

PsyloFreak said:

I keep paper towels sprayed with bleach solution covering the bottom of my SAB to catch and kill falling contams
and then I spray and wipe it all down on inside with iso before use and have never smelled any strong or irritating fumes.

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I get a towel wet and add some bleach, wring it out, wipe the inside of the
SAB and rack, then lay the towel down under the rack.

So PsyloFreak we should compare our lungs eh?

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Wall.E said:

Genes play more of a role in growth than variety.

I've never grown PE but I've heard it's slower than other cubensis and takes on a different look, but cube myc generally looks like cube myc, whether tomentose or rhizo. Other species look different, like pan myc almost never looks like cube myc, tamp myc is whispy and takes on a brown tinge as it ages. Reishi myc is really thin and then plaques up as it ages and then starts to turn funky colors

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Laurabelle1546 said:

Wall.E said:

Genes play more of a role in growth than variety.

I've never grown PE but I've heard it's slower than other cubensis and takes on a different look, but cube myc generally looks like cube myc, whether tomentose or rhizo. Other species look different, like pan myc almost never looks like cube myc, tamp myc is whispy and takes on a brown tinge as it ages. Reishi myc is really thin and then plaques up as it ages and then starts to turn funky colors

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Okay, Thank you!

Do y'all use different agar recipes for the different strains you are going to grow? Once again, mainly referring to PE, GT, B+, Burma....

What are the pros and cons of adding increased nutrients? ie... for last pour I uesed 10g MLE/8-9g agar. What would happen If I used 14-15g MLE/8-9g agar?

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Yeah, PE is slow. Supposedly why it's stronger.
A lot of cube mycelium looks the same for me, except PE grows slower and RustyWhyte tends to be tomentose (fluffy) for me and some other people, while everything else for me is Rhizo (ropey, like below). Non-cube species can look a little different. This is my Pslio Cyan. P-Nat is very ropey and grows fast. Here's one of mine.

This is my pic for today, several different varieties of cube at different stages. Alacabenzi, Z-Strain, a couple x7x stipe clone, some x7x plin T4, BBM, and Burmese PE. The BBM I transferred some away from a while back, forgot about, and it kept growing, strong. (far right plate) I only use one agar recipe for everything, all cube varieties plus other species. Here's how I do agar. It's basically D3's mix with potato flakes instead of malt, and a few things tweaked a little bit.


There is a dental mirror in this pic, I use that to check under shrooms to see if they're ready to drop spores when making prints. I have a bigger one too, this one is a little small, but it does have a built-in light, which helps.