Update 1
I'm going to consider 8/31 day 0 for this log since that's when most of the dishes were inoculated. The only outlier is Ps. Allenii which along with Ps. Azurescens is really in its own category time-wise.
Days 0-7
Day -4
Ps. Allenii arrives on it's own and a petri dish is inoculated.
Day 0
All other species arrive and spores are placed on dishes the same day.
-P. Cambodginiensis
-Day 3 Faint growth
-Day 5 Solid growth slow but steady.
-Ps. Natalensis
-Day 2 Faint growth
-Day 5 Aggressive growth. Very dense and rhizomorphic from the start,
lots of aerial mycelium as well as what's growing against the plate.
-Ps. Tampanensis
-Day 2 Fast but somewhat wispy mycelium.
-Day 5 Slowed down for a day or two but is back up to speed now. Less
dense than Ps. Natalensis, but probably the fastest growing of the
bunch.
-Ps. Allenii
-Day 4 Faint growth
-Day 8 Growth is dense and steady but not especially fast or
aggressive.
-Ps. Azurescens
*Crickets*
Next Week
Transfers of the following were taken to agar and LC. LCs are being stored at 75F~ and stirred twice a day using the magnetic stir bar. Hoping to have usable LC in about a week.
-P. Cambodginiensis
-Ps. Natalensis
-Ps. Tampanensis
-Ps. Allenii
I meant to take pictures before I took transfers, but that didn't happen. Here's what the plates looked like after I took my wedges and a picture of the new baby plates(sorry for the picture quality, I'm looking for a light table that should help with that quite a bit.)
Plans for next week are to hopefully inoculate some jars! I should test my LC's on agar first, but I'll probably just inoculate a few jars and petri dishes all at once. I don't mind chucking a few grain jars if it comes down to it.


MethodsI'm going to save this methods section
after the updates each week. There is nothing special about these methods and I don't recommend anyone copying them. However, if one or more of these grows fails I'll have a good record of what might have gone wrong.
Grain Water PrepBoth my petri dishes & LCs are made using left over grain soak water in place of malt extract. Normally using grain water results in some funky looking LC(hazy with lots of sediment.) It works just fine, but these steps make for a much more transparent LC/Petri dish.
1.PC Grain water for 15 minutes. PSI is not important and no 10 minute purge.
2.Allow the grain water to sit in a large measuring glass or pitcher for about an hour
3.Pour grain water through a coffee filter being careful not to let any sediment leave the measuring cup.
4.Use right away or freeze in an ice cube tray and store forever.
Liquid Culture-50% processed grain water
-50% water
-1 Magnetic Stir Bar(optional)
1.Combine all ingredients in a canning jar with a suitable lid(picture below)
2.PC at 10 PSI for 35minutes
3.Inoculate within 2 weeks
AgarThis recipe should make about 30 60mm petri dishes
-125ml processed grain water
-125ml water
-5g agar
-1 magnetic stir bar
1.Funnel agar into a 375ml Bombay Sapphire bottle with a hole drilled in the lid and a filter disk sticker over the top.
2.Add magnetic stir bar
3.Add 125ml very hot water and stir on high speed until agar is dissolved
4.Add 125ml of hot, processed grain water
5.Screw the cap on, cover with foil, and PC at 10PSI for 35 minutes
6.Cool to 135F and pour plates inside SAB
7.Once cooled to room temp, inoculate and bag petri dishes individually or store several unused plates per Ziplock bag at room temperature for weeks~