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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: MachineElf226] * 2
    #29184968 -

Agar agar powder can be found with Asian staples in the grocery store or an Asian market, and it's cheap to buy in bulk on Amazon.

I assure you your kitchen counter is not sterile. :smile: But it doesn't need to be. Just wipe it down before setting up the still air box over it. As long as the box is rigid and has big enough arm holes you should be fine. A wire rack is good to use but if you have a smooth surface, in my experience you can have your plates directly on it. There is sterile technique to learn, which can mostly be boiled down to:
- Flame sterilize your tools (outside the box - move into the box directly after flaming)
- Make deliberate movements - slow enough not to disturb the still air, fast enough not to leave plates and jars open for more than a few seconds
- Don't let non-sterile things (like your hands) hover over open plates and jars

You will really want a scalpel and blades (cheap on Amazon) or an Xacto knife from a craft store. Or use steel "pimple popper" tools. Or use an old syringe needle, bent at the end. Something small and easy to flame and cool, fuck kitchen knives for agar work.

Good luck. Read Beef's Hitchhiker's Guide as a starting point if you haven't.


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LAGM 2026 grow log | My library/trade list

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: MachineElf226]
    #29185065 -

Your counter surface isn't sterilized I garuntee it, unless you're blasting it with like uv. Anything you need for agar can be mailed from a dozen different sites but if you're lazy just buy it off amazon.


Nothing is flowing into your plates so long as you are using proper sterile technique (keeping your hands from going over your sterile stuff, moving deliberately and slow, have things setup before hand, keep sterile containers open for as little time as possible, etc.)

if you're really worried about kicking shit up then anti-fog spray or soapy water will work to my knowledge. I use anti-fog spray for car window interiors but soapy water is fine.

work on a raised rack like a cookie cooling rack.

if you have more questions feel free to ask.

quite buying premade shit and wasting your money imo


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Yummy!


LAGM 2025
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/29174693#29174693

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Macaroni]
    #29185066 -

do some research~!!!! put it on different agar recipes and see how it changes :p


--------------------
Yummy!


LAGM 2025
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/29174693#29174693

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: syllable]
    #29186180 -




Got this lil guy from spores that pinned on the plate. Where do you guys think I should transfer from? First time this has happened to me.


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15 year lurker

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Meanwhile] * 2
    #29186181 -

Small samples from 12, 3, and 9 o'clock.


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"For the powerful freedom-takers who rob justice from us all, that's why I keep my pistol loaded, powder, cap, and ball..."
Read more, post less!
...turns out, I'm an amateur at everything

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Meanwhile]
    #29186182 -

Meanwhile said:



Got this lil guy from spores that pinned on the plate. Where do you guys think I should transfer from? First time this has happened to me.



Transfer for what? To "clean" it up? It looks good.

I'd make a back up plate (or 2) when you go to use this to inoculate

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: tholos]
    #29186194 -

tholos said:
Meanwhile said:



Got this lil guy from spores that pinned on the plate. Where do you guys think I should transfer from? First time this has happened to me.



Transfer for what? To "clean" it up? It looks good.

I'd make a back up plate (or 2) when you go to use this to inoculate


So.. Just don't even bother trying to get the faster rhizo growth and just send it?


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15 year lurker

Edited by Meanwhile (04/12/25 12:36 PM)

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Meanwhile] * 2
    #29186238 -

Meanwhile said:
tholos said:
Meanwhile said:



Got this lil guy from spores that pinned on the plate. Where do you guys think I should transfer from? First time this has happened to me.



Transfer for what? To "clean" it up? It looks good.

I'd make a back up plate (or 2) when you go to use this to inoculate


So.. Just don't even bother trying to get the faster rhizo growth and just send it?



Yeah, that plate is fine to inoculate with. If all you're after is to test that plate pin's genetics then you're golden. I'd still take a transfer to a new dish just incase anything goes wrong with the jar(s) you inoculate. In that case yes, I'd grab the rhizo

If you wanted to run a little experiment you could transfer one section from the rhizo and one section from the tomentose to a new plate, grow those out a bit, and then inoculate with those and compare your results. The last time I did something like this, the tomentose plate quickly went rhizo on the 2nd transfer and the rhizo stayed rhizo.

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: tholos]
    #29186847 -

So, are these myc growth or just some mold? These are from 15 year old spore that are originally from my first grow ever. They're really fluffy.

Already took tranfers but just wondering if I'm wasting my time. Also used the spores for some brf cakes but no news on that front.




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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: MightBeARealPerson]
    #29186954 -

I think it's mycelium. Do a few more transfers.

Ok so, fun stuff here: I think I managed to make a cross by pressure cooking spores in a pastyplate container in an Instant Pot.

Some, surviving spores germinated, and it seems ridiculously strong.  This is backed by science, heat shock works for germinating spores, and in a case of extreme environments, only the strongest spores would survive, and those would turn into more robust mycelium.

Original germinated tube I salvaged and put on agar.



Yeast (I think) growing in the initial landing zone, with mycelium growing uniformly where I placed the tube after thinking it was too wet where it landed.



Here is the cubensis mycelium overtaking the yeast.



A few days later, still expanding, with the transfer plates looking very promising.



If the mycelium covers the contaminant and continues growing, is that a sign that it is eating its enemies? I am going to put that plate on two grain jars, for the sake of science. Excited to see if they contaminate, or at least manage to fruit a single flush, because I want to hunt for crosses (I used a fresher swab of Yeti to gather an older print of Husky, which had more spores, but perhaps less viable ones due to age.


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I call them Huskies cause they Mush!


The Official Wild Cubensis Thread
Instant Pot Agar
Gnocchi Water Agar
Let's Talk Cowtek

Edited by Huskies (04/13/25 11:53 AM)

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Huskies]
    #29187113 -

Better luck with brf puck, but cant argue with......"For science"

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: LewDoja]
    #29187451 -

Is it normal for some mycelium on agar plates that were made with blue food coloring to soak up all the blue, the agar to change back to its normal color and the mycelium to have a slightly blue hue the same color as the plate was?

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: AZ Starman2112] * 1
    #29187463 -

Very normal! I have noticed this effect the most with my Caeruleorhiza plates, it is beautiful! I will get some pictures later!


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Be yourself. Don't hurt other beings, or expect hurt yourself. Love others, and expect love yourself.

Cybesa's Ultimate woodlover project



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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: cybesa]
    #29187491 -

cybesa said:
Very normal! I have noticed this effect the most with my Caeruleorhiza plates, it is beautiful! I will get some pictures later!


Yes, it’s a distinct blue. I tried to take as good a pic as I can.


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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: AZ Starman2112] * 1
    #29187506 -

Are most of you just using wedges from agar? I've been using whole plates or half ones, and I'm realizing now that is definitely a contam vector in case there is anything hidden...

I'm also slightly worried about hidden bacteria in my agar plates. I run them 45 mins in the Instant Pot with 10 mins of venting, should be around 13psi.

I don't see any bacterial colonies, surfaces look find and dandy. But, could there be entrenched bacteria that isn't visible to the naked eye? Considering I use condiment cups that aren't "sterile".


--------------------
I call them Huskies cause they Mush!


The Official Wild Cubensis Thread
Instant Pot Agar
Gnocchi Water Agar
Let's Talk Cowtek

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Huskies] * 7
    #29187561 -

I’d really like to thank all those (and others along the way)  from my very first post explaining my experience while I was a lurker for two years and then finally joining the board. Thank you for encouraging me to take the agar and SAB route. I am excited over what I have learned and for all the help I’ve gotten not only in posts and in PMs but in taking my time to search and read all your teks, good and bad habits and information you put out there. The search function is a great tool if you take the time to sift through what it presents you.

I know this agar route definitely adds time to the entire process, but I am being patient about it, although I check them at least twice a day as if they were little babies.  This is some of my recent work, and I hope I have reason to feel good about it.

My T1 transfers…Purple Mystic, Z Strain, APE & Black Cap Ochra



New inoculations…
P Mexican Galindo from MSS


TTBVI from a print


Ochra/Nats from a print & PE+ from a MSS


Pan Cyan Peace River from a LCS

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Tormato] * 4
    #29187644 -

I made semi-solid liquid culture (SSLC) media last night, with 0.2% agar. I just added the powder to the cool liquid (diluted wheat soak water), shook it, and pressure cooked. Went to bed before the cooker was cool enough to open and shake the bottles. This morning I had a nice little agar plate on the bottom of each bottle:


I've seen this with normal (2%) agar media too - if I don't melt the agar first and shake to dissolve it throughout the media, it will end up on the bottom of the bottle after processing, with fully liquid media above it. Boiling, even for a full PC cycle (45 minutes plus the time during heating and cooling that it's well above boiling temperature), does not guarantee mixing. This is fine if you're able to mix it before it cools, but pretty annoying if you miss that window. Thankfully, the microwave does the trick.

For agar media I'm going to pour, I guess it doesn't matter much - if I'm pouring while it's still hot out of the PC, then I can easily mix before pouring, and if I'm going to let it solidify and reheat later, then it's still no extra work. But for SSLC it's kind of a bummer to have to reheat and cool. I saved a few minutes before processing, just to add more work and time later.


--------------------
LAGM 2026 grow log | My library/trade list

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Phaethon]
    #29187674 -

You'll make up the difference once you take to grain, don't lose faith yet, SSLC ftw!

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: Huskies]
    #29187679 -

Huskies said:
Are most of you just using wedges from agar? I've been using whole plates or half ones, and I'm realizing now that is definitely a contam vector in case there is anything hidden...

Yes,  following the old school thinking that the edges are more prone to harboring fugitives. As well as not inverting it over an open grain jar to "tiger drop".

Also when I have a little bit of agar left after pouring, I will add it to those and do a hot pour/sandwich...

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Re: AGAR ENVY! (Anything and All things agar!) [Re: LewDoja] * 2
    #29187783 -

LewDoja said:
You'll make up the difference once you take to grain, don't lose faith yet, SSLC ftw!


For sure! I've used it before, I'm usually just more diligent about melting agar before pressure cooking it, and wanted to share what happens when you don't. As in, it's fully recoverable but adds extra time, especially for SSLC.


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LAGM 2026 grow log | My library/trade list

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Shop: Myyco.com APE Liquid Culture For Sale   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures   North Spore Injection Grain Bag   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds   Sporeworks.EU Spores for European Microscopy

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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