The Tao said:

Shoeboxes are tubs with a volume of about 6 litres. The label on the tub sometimes shows a pair of shoes. Some shoeboxes have vent holes under the handle.
4 PF cakes fit nicely in a 6 litre shoebox. Old picture with perlite.

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callmehippie said:

Searching all my local feed stores. Which aren't a lot cuz I live in big city texas.

But they do have them out on the outskirts. However so far I can't find any millet. Only milo.

And unfortunately the prices are not as good as what I've seen some of you guys say. at least I think. It's looking like 50 lb for 50 something dollars.

But it seems like this may be my only option. So the question is does it make a difference I don't know what Milo is?  Does it work?


I haven't even considered looking at any other grains at these places. Because I've only ever worked with millet. But if I'm struggling finding Millet and it's this expensive. Any opinions on the next best cheapest and easiest grain to work with? That I should be able to find at these feed stores

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ThurmanMurman said:

What you guys think about this jar? I wont share my thoughts, to avoid planting ideas. Lol

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Smellyhobbit said:

ThurmanMurman said:

What you guys think about this jar? I wont share my thoughts, to avoid planting ideas. Lol

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This is WBS? Id send that. Millet never looks colonized in WBS jars. And it may not be super colonized here, but it is healthy. If you want to give it another week to consolidate to be sure I’d support it, but when it comes to millet I say fuck it more often than not.

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Smellyhobbit said:

Nah I think it’s fine. The closer you are to “optimal” grain hydration the thinner and sometimes grayer it’s going to look.

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mush_monkey said:

When you make transfers, how do you manage to drop the agar bit in the center of the new plate?

I've tried shaking the scalpel, tapping it with the finger, tapping it against the container (I went no pour almost immediately) to nonavail, so I end up pusshing the agar with the container lid and it invariably bounces to random locations. Then I have to drag it to the center.

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mush_monkey said:

When you make transfers, how do you manage to drop the agar bit in the center of the new plate?

I've tried shaking the scalpel, tapping it with the finger, tapping it against the container (I went no pour almost immediately) to nonavail, so I end up pusshing the agar with the container lid and it invariably bounces to random locations. Then I have to drag it to the center.

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Feltigami said:

Two questions that are kind of in the same vein of thought.

How long can you store/keep agar that has a good specimen on it - in other words, do the mycelium eventually die since they don't have anything to consume, or do they just stay in a suspended state on the agar for quite awhile? The reason for the question is basically what do you do when you want to suspend making new batches of mushrooms, but you want to keep good viable source material for when you start back up in a couple of months? (vs. just continuing to inoculate over an over again.)

Like, if you have a grain jar that is inoculated, can it be kept that way somehow/way until you're ready for a g2g transfer? Or is it best to just make sure you get spore prints of everything you can and keep THOSE for the next batches and just start fresh with agar again?

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Phaethon said:

As GC says, you can slow things down in the fridge. But be sure to protect it from desiccation by putting the plates in freezer bags, and consider using an insulated lunch box to avoid excessive temperature swings.

A plate should do fine for at least 2-3 months at room temperature. I'd make a transfer from an old plate rather than sending a wedge directly to grain, though.

For longer term storage, check out the Cryovial Tek. It's very space efficient, doesn't require refrigeration, and a stored culture can last for years in distilled water.

Storing a culture has advantages over taking spore prints (only). The culture saves the actual organism (genetic makeup) that you grew before, so you can expect similar results under the same conditions. With spores, there's a bit of a dice roll, which may not always be what you're after.

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