Prolific Koi said:

I use sauce pan, pour into pouring jar, then pc. After 60 minutes I pour from jar to cups to cool. Inoculate same day. My first pour was horrible, switched jars and am good to go now.

---

Horsewithnoname said:

sprocket said:

It seems to have reduced the condensation as compared to my last batch. Next time I'll use hotter water and maybe a deeper pan to reduce it even more. As is everything in this hobby, it's a work in progress

---

For no-pours, I do batches of 10 at a time. To "fix" condensation what I've been doing is boiling water once the cycle is close to ending. I take the no pours out of the PC while still hot and I take other no pour containers that are unused, put one on top of each of the ones with agar and pour boiling water on top.

It works super well and relatively easy for small amounts of no pour containers. Easier to handle than the pan full of water 😅

---

vandelay said:

Hi, Grain to malt yeast Agar 12 days ago. Temperature has been around 66 - 72 degrees fahrenheit. How are my plates looking?  Plate A has shown some quick growth and has expanded fuzzy / fluffing upward. Is it healthy?  This is my first time using agar and attempting to grow mushrooms. Grain came out of a grain bag I inoculated with spore syringe.  Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

---

Chamo said:

You can see how the mycelium uniformly changes. It is not “fuzzy” in patches or in only one area. It’s never 100% with pictures, as a contam can easily be hiding in there. But your plates look good.

The great thing about agar is that it can be forgiving. If you happen to transfer a contam, isolate the plate and then carefully transfer the mycelium away from said contam.

For plate A I would take transfers from the edge that does not touch the side of the Petri dish. You can take as different transfers from that single plate as you have room for. They will all become mother plates with which you can use to continue transferring or to inoculate grains.

When I inoculate grains I allow the plates to grow out more time than for transferring, and cut it into sections like a pizza.

It all looks healthy. No way to find out except keepin on…

Also, I don’t know if someone mentioned it already, but try to put your grain piece or your transfer in the middle of the plate.

---

TonyCanoli said:

X posted cause I’m curious.

These are unused agar plates that were prepared 5/24. Took them off the shelf to get some transfers done this morning and this is what I found. These are the last 3 plates out of 20 and none of them ended up with uninvited contam except for these.

I’m wondering what this is. Especially that sandy looking one.

Also how did happen? Should I be storing my agar plates a specific way? Right now they’re just in the closet on a shelf.
I tried refrigerating a batch once and they all ended up contaminated and with a ton of condensation so haven’t tried that again.

Anyone??

---

TonyCanoli said:

Will do. I can’t imagine I could be any cleaner but who knows. I’m going to notate all of my steps and post them maybe I’m missing something.

---

Chamo said:

Desensitize yourself to the culling of the mother plates

---

Chamo said:

Your 8 plates that you transferred look great. I don’t know why you are talking badly about them. The sectors are more distinct  than the mother plate. I think those are impressive transfers.

---

Really? You like those?  Maybe I'm just being unreasonable here then.
When you say they are great, you mean great for more transfers or great as in good enough for grain?

That's the mother plate bottom right, I was hoping to get something uniform like that.