u/Edelwaithe

Hey All,

Newbie here trying to learn. Been struggling to get results with my homemade agar cups. Tried multiple strains over the last several months (GT, MDK, B+, Huatla) and no luck getting anything isolated to transfer to an LC. My attempts to get anything started at all from spore syringes have all flopped except maybe one. Swabs from spore prints seem to start much more readily for me. Testing LC from commercial syringes has been fine. I guess my biggest issues are starting from SS, and agar to agar transfers. I’ve done multiple transfers trying to isolate genetics and the mycelium just doesn’t spread from the transferred piece, evan after a month. The pics shown are my most recent attempt with transfers. My agar recipe comes from Philly Golden Teacher’s videos:

12g potato flakes, 8g agar, and 4g corn syrup to 400ml water.

I’ve had no issues with contam (using a SAB).

Do I just need to try a different recipe? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Newbie here, still trying to develop an eye. Does this look like mold or mycelium? It started growing very slowly and lightly, different from some of the others I’ve done on agar which is what’s throwing me off.

Any ideas? Thanks!!

Another newbie question here. Just getting into self-made agar and LC and hitting setbacks. Always appreciate the advice and guidance of the experienced growers here.

I made 3 jars of this LC about 2 weeks ago. Used a premix I bought online and pressure cooked for 30 min after the 15psi weight started jumping. Haven’t inoculated it with anything yet but wanted to have it ready for when the time comes. Have stored the jars at room temp since cooking. There was a tad bit of settled solids from the premix initially after cooking, but after picking them up and stirring them yesterday it looks like a lot of contam of some type had developed. All 3 jars are the same with the same progression of assumed contam.

First question. Is this indeed contam?

Second question. What could I have done wrong? Did I not pressure cook long enough? I made sure they remained sealed, but is there a chance I could’ve unwittingly done something to introduce contamination after cooking?

Any and all advice or additional questions welcome. Thanks in advance!

Hey all. Beginner mycologist here and got this Mexican Dutch King PC strain to grow on some homemade agar cups from a swab I did off a spore print I made in January. Spore print was made in open air before I knew how to make one using a better tek. Regardless, it looks ok to me and I don’t see any obvious contam. Should I just send it into LC or should I clean it up with another agar cup first? If I do the latter, where would you recommend I take the sample from in this cup? Thanks in advance 🙂🍄‍🟫

First time trying to do anything outside of AIO bags. Struck out with spore syringes directly to LC (learned the hard way and understand why now). Trying spore syringe to agar. Got these agar plates off Amazon (planning to make my own next). Inoculated on the dates shown (3 of them twice as I wasn’t seeing any mycelial growth). Still no sign of anything growing except that black speck on the B+ which I looks like contam. Used a SAB and took all the precautions with sterilization and what not. Confused as to why I’m not getting any mycelial growth. Injected about 1cc of the syringe onto the agar dishes each time. I can see the little black spores in the agar dishes. Storing them in my dark safe at room temp. Maybe these agar plates are just trash? Any advice is very welcome and appreciated.

Hi all! First time trying to make my own liquid cultures. It’s been 11 days since I inoculated them with three different strains. Wanted to get your feedback on how they are looking. Hopefully the pics are adequate to tell. I’m most concerned about the first pic with the big floater in it.

Hi all! Got the mini liquid cultures kit from Midwest Grow Kits. It’s been 11 days since I inoculated them with three different strains. Wanted to get your feedback on how they are looking. Hopefully the pics are adequate to tell. I’m most concerned about the first pic with the big floater in it.