u/nevrcared4whatheydo

I'd like to try using agar plates, but I don't want to set up a whole lab in my kitchen. I don't mind losing some to contamination if the trade-off is just making X% extra plates. Two questions:

1. My understanding is you boil/dissolve the agar powder into water, then pressure-cook the solution to sterilize it, then pour the sterile mixture into plates. I understand that the plates come sterilized, and I assume that you pour the solution into the plates while it is still hot enough to remain sterile, and probably enough to sterilize the rest of the plate. Is that right?

2. Why not buy glass agar plates, dissolve the solution, then pour the dissolved solution into the plates, and pressure-cook the prepared plates? It feels like a more complete solution that avoids having to constantly re-buy plastic plates. I'm sure there's a reason.

3. I don't have a hood, and I don't really plan on getting one. I was going to pour the plates on the stove with the burners going. Is doing this without a hood a pipe-dream?

4. How important is it to use antibacterial plates for cloning from foraged samples, or can I just get by/take my chances with the normal agar plates

Any answers or other direction would be appreciated. Thanks!

Can anyone speak to the difference between the two. Either subjectively, pharmacologically, or both? They both look like GABA-A agonist, but muscimol is orthosteric where z-drugs are allosteric. I could have that wrong, but even if I'm right I don't know what the subjective difference is.