Fiet said:

Hey, that's a great advice thanks.. OK then i will wait a week bevore i do a transfer i have 2 quart jars with LC in looks good too today will post a picture later... My Plates bevore was great so my LC looks also good i highly belive the agar was not PC long enough but will see i will not transfer anything bevore the Week is gone.

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g59disso said:

For those jars, about 20-30% of the volume, but you have to account for the rootball of mycelium in the center that you cant see.
Pro-tip: I use a massage gun w/ rubber ball on low setting pressed to the bottom of the jar to B&S as it doesnt bruise as much and keeps uncolonized grains from getting stuck around the lid where they become high risk for contam

[Toloco massage gun amazon for those who want one; I hereby dub this Toloco Tek]

Also I noticed you said first shake, let me clarify that if you use liquid culture you can give your grain a gentle side-side shake (or I massage them) to disperse the liquid. That would be your "first shake", at 25% you do your "Second and Last shake" because you dont touch it after that.

TL;DR its ready for a shake, bounce it on your knee

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Hey, I do shake my both Jars let's see how they perform the next Day's

Rasmodius said:

Fiet said:

Hey, that's a great advice thanks.. OK then i will wait a week bevore i do a transfer i have 2 quart jars with LC in looks good too today will post a picture later... My Plates bevore was great so my LC looks also good i highly belive the agar was not PC long enough but will see i will not transfer anything bevore the Week is gone.

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+1 on waiting to ensure cleanliness, at least 3 days but a week is best.

How long did you PC? Because it's basically just water, PC times for agar are pretty chill. 30 minutes is plenty even for 1L bottles. Even in an instant pot 30 will do (though due to the lower pressure, in IP I sometimes do 45 to be safe).

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Mackload said:

do regular hay bales work for straw?

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Hay contains too much nitrogen which is what makes it a bad substrate. Though you could use a straw bale without issue. Chopping it up is some extra work as mentioned.

The stuff huskies linked is great. There's another shredded brand, straw boss, that they sell at tractor supply for like $11 a bale. Stuff is solid. Sometimes you get a sprout or two growing with straw, but it's a non issue. There's a link in my signature for pasteurizing straw as a substrate if you are interested.

Belome said:

question:

trying to source glass petri dishes to get started on agar. turns out these are very difficult to find in town. looking online the ones i am seeing are all borosilicate and have a temperature threshold. my understanding is that one sterilizes these in a pressur cooker prior to use. am i wasting my time with borosilicate or does it matter? is there a preferred supplier you guys like to use?

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Belome said:

question:

trying to source glass petri dishes to get started on agar. turns out these are very difficult to find in town. looking online the ones i am seeing are all borosilicate and have a temperature threshold. my understanding is that one sterilizes these in a pressur cooker prior to use. am i wasting my time with borosilicate or does it matter? is there a preferred supplier you guys like to use?

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g59disso said:

For those jars, about 20-30% of the volume, but you have to account for the rootball of mycelium in the center that you cant see.
Pro-tip: I use a massage gun w/ rubber ball on low setting pressed to the bottom of the jar to B&S as it doesnt bruise as much and keeps uncolonized grains from getting stuck around the lid where they become high risk for contam

[Toloco massage gun amazon for those who want one; I hereby dub this Toloco Tek]

Also I noticed you said first shake, let me clarify that if you use liquid culture you can give your grain a gentle side-side shake (or I massage them) to disperse the liquid. That would be your "first shake", at 25% you do your "Second and Last shake" because you dont touch it after that.

TL;DR its ready for a shake, bounce it on your knee

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Belome said:

thanks you guys!

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PuffM4gicDr4gon said:

Belome said:

thanks you guys!

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Thank you for choosing a name from such a wonderful video game from my childhood

I'm honestly surprised they haven't tried another turn-based RPG in the Mario universe

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Belome said:

question:

trying to source glass petri dishes to get started on agar. turns out these are very difficult to find in town. looking online the ones i am seeing are all borosilicate and have a temperature threshold. my understanding is that one sterilizes these in a pressur cooker prior to use. am i wasting my time with borosilicate or does it matter? is there a preferred supplier you guys like to use?

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Borosilicate can handle like 450 degrees Fahrenheit,  no commercial PC reaches that temp,  I use Borosilicate and they are good