SkanskKorv said:

So as long as it's peat moss it doesn't matter which kind it is? Also I just noticed the post is from 2005. Is this still up to date 20 years later?

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Yep, that info on peat is still solid.

You don't want long fiber sphagnum.
Looks like this:


The peat you want will look like this:

raccoon_cat said:

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my success rate with agar wedge inoculation of grain jars in a SAB? So far I'm having a ~10% success rate. Most of the time I get trich within a few days.

My plates are probably bacterial, but they don't have any visible trich when I'm trying to transfer from them. Is that a safe assumption that if I don't see trich on the plate, it's coming from the air or my skin during the inoculation process? Or can trich hide like some other contaminants?

I use an alcohol lamp just to the side of my SAB to flame the scalpel. I hold it over it til it glows, then bring it inside the SAB to cool off. I've just been holding it in the SAB to cool off since unlike with an agar transfer, I don't have a blank plate to cool the blade off in. Maybe I should start doing that though. Once the blade has cooled a bit, I lift the lid off my donor plate and cut out a wedge. My cutting is probably sloppy, I'll admit. Then, I take the (already loosened) lid off the receiving jar and drop the wedge in. The wedge is probably exposed within the SAB for 5-10 seconds because I don't have my technique down super well yet. Also sometimes I think I've loosened the lid more than I actually have, so I sit there fumbling with it one handed while holding the scalpel. Not great.

Sorry for the not-so-quick question but if I were to TL;DR - how get lower contam rate during agar wedge inoculation in a SAB? If anyone knows of a good video specific to this process in a SAB, I would love to watch it. So far, after a decent amount of searching, I've only found videos using flow hoods, or SAB videos where they use LC and not agar. What would really help would be to see how "the pros" do it in a SAB.

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ThurmanMurman said:

Idk if I'm understanding right- you think your plates are bacterial but you inoculate grain with them anyway?

And the trich is showing up when you spawn to bulk or the trich is in your jars?

If you send bacterial agar to grain, you're going to have bacterial spawn. If you send that bacterial spawn to bulk, it's very possible that trich will contaminate your tub.

You dont have to have trich on the agar to get trich in the tub - the bacterial spawn is weak mycelium and then fails to fight off the trich that's trying to eat your tub.

If you have mold in your jars, you've either got mold on the agar, your grain wasn't sterilized, or your SAB work needs fine tuned.

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tryptkaloids said:

ThurmanMurman said:

Idk if I'm understanding right- you think your plates are bacterial but you inoculate grain with them anyway?

And the trich is showing up when you spawn to bulk or the trich is in your jars?

If you send bacterial agar to grain, you're going to have bacterial spawn. If you send that bacterial spawn to bulk, it's very possible that trich will contaminate your tub.

You dont have to have trich on the agar to get trich in the tub - the bacterial spawn is weak mycelium and then fails to fight off the trich that's trying to eat your tub.

If you have mold in your jars, you've either got mold on the agar, your grain wasn't sterilized, or your SAB work needs fine tuned.

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Or you have failing lid filters

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Mub said:

My bins are looking really wet. How wet is too wet? How do I know if they need more fae?

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Mub said:

My bins are looking really wet. How wet is too wet? How do I know if they need more fae?

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boxtrotalpha said:

Hey friends, got some weird growth in my agar. Thinking it's myc but it's blobby? This look legit for GT or is it something else?



Sorry for lack of a better picture my phones old and suffers a lot

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raccoon_cat said:

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my success rate with agar wedge inoculation of grain jars in a SAB? So far I'm having a ~10% success rate. Most of the time I get trich within a few days.

My plates are probably bacterial, but they don't have any visible trich when I'm trying to transfer from them. Is that a safe assumption that if I don't see trich on the plate, it's coming from the air or my skin during the inoculation process? Or can trich hide like some other contaminants?

I use an alcohol lamp just to the side of my SAB to flame the scalpel. I hold it over it til it glows, then bring it inside the SAB to cool off. I've just been holding it in the SAB to cool off since unlike with an agar transfer, I don't have a blank plate to cool the blade off in. Maybe I should start doing that though. Once the blade has cooled a bit, I lift the lid off my donor plate and cut out a wedge. My cutting is probably sloppy, I'll admit. Then, I take the (already loosened) lid off the receiving jar and drop the wedge in. The wedge is probably exposed within the SAB for 5-10 seconds because I don't have my technique down super well yet. Also sometimes I think I've loosened the lid more than I actually have, so I sit there fumbling with it one handed while holding the scalpel. Not great.

Sorry for the not-so-quick question but if I were to TL;DR - how get lower contam rate during agar wedge inoculation in a SAB? If anyone knows of a good video specific to this process in a SAB, I would love to watch it. So far, after a decent amount of searching, I've only found videos using flow hoods, or SAB videos where they use LC and not agar. What would really help would be to see how "the pros" do it in a SAB.

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