Day 4 of growing Pleurotus ostreatus cultures from spore. Only one plate got contaminated, but it was bad. There are two contaminant fungi going to battle, and around three possible bacterial colonies. I must have been losing it at the end, haha! Can’t wait to see how they progress!
Not bad at all! How do you deposit the spores in such a neat line?
I used the tip of a specialized tooth-brush, and I dipped it into water and then swiped-up spores from the sample. I wouldn’t recommend it though, because it turns out the brush fibers are too stiff and caught on the agar, pulling the plate around. It’s probably better just to stick to swabs and use the same method.
Side thought: a lot of people recommend the z-shape swabbing, but it seems kind-of counterproductive if you’re trying to select for the apparent speed and strength of mycelium growth.
Side thought: a lot of people recommend the z-shape swabbing, but it seems kind-of counterproductive if you’re trying to select for the apparent speed and strength of mycelium growth.
Thanks! Interesting to see a line like this :-)
I like preparing a dilutions series and then preparing two or three plates per dilution by adding 1 mL of liquid into the plate. Usually one of the dilutions has a good spore density to get well-separated colonies.
Oh, that’s a great idea! I’m clearly new to mycology, so I’m just kind-of experimenting–but you’re right, we’re talking billions of spores, and only two need to meet in order to form a strain. Hmm…
