Oh wow, I have never seen that! I does add an ugliness to the fruit which is distasteful, but at the same time I am enamored by the sheer natural brilliance and odd beauty of its structure.
Also, can I ask why you are not a particular fan of Stamets? I am not an advocate of his, my opinions are shaky on him in all honesty. If you would rather continue that topic privately, I am always up for DM’s as well! Love making myco friends
Stamets is a whole rant from me that I don’t care to start rn but his selling mycelated rice bran claiming it cures cancer, peer reviewing his own findings, honorary PhD, him fucking over Marc Kieth are probably the biggest in my book.
I prefer Alan Rockefeller, Karen Peterson (formerly known as Karen Hughes before she married her mycological research partner Ronald peterson), or Scott redhead.
His books are just where most people start, kind of like a gateway drug into mycology.
Dude can sure as hell sell some rice flour tho
Lmaooo I swear the amount of mycelated grain products on shelves is nauseating. I had no idea his products were the same quality. I will have to find a bottle and review the ingredients. What a sham!
I am not familiar with Marc Kieth or what happened between them, but digging that up shortly.
Alan Rockefeller is a personal role model for me and his studies are amazing. William Padia-Brown is another one I appreciate.
I will have to read about Karen Peterson and… Scott Redhead?
Love it! thank you for sharing my friend!
Sugar won’t cause contamination…only let you know it was there.
So, I understand the sugars will not cause the contamination itself, but as I may have misunderstood… having a higher sugar to water ratio does make the LC more susceptible to contamination, no? Or am I completely missing here?
Sugar or no, it is your technique (or starting material) that is introducing the contamination.
Easier to see (grow to levels you can see) with sugar.
Easier to overwhelm/control with fungally produced anti-biotics without the sugar
still the monkey with the transfer loop doing the actual contamination.
I should’ve probably worded it better than just saying “finicky”
I’m saying in my experience high nutrient broths tend to have more issues than benefit i.e. slower growth and even stalling when all I get in benefit is a longer shelf life if I decide to put LC in cold storage.
As cyclopath mentioned it’s ultimately down to sterile technique.
You guys are awesome. Thank you taking the time to drill that down in my head.
I’m hoping my sterile technique is solid. (Most likely lacking)
Cut Lysol to avoid odd contamination like rose comb.
I’ll try changing my starting material on some of the ones that continue to get contaminated
I will track better which ones are getting contaminated to see if there is a pattern. I feel like this would help me narrow my issue down drastically.
Any other suggestions are always welcome. I am truly grateful for this community.
Your jars have good tight fitting self healing injection ports and filters?
1gram Light malt extract in 600mL distilled water. Pressure cook at 15psi for 45 minutes. Inject with 1-3mL liquid culture or a wedge of inoculated agar. Use mag-stir bar daily. You should see growth in 2-3 days. Give it 10-14 and it will be full. Only 70% iso for cleaning. Wear a mask and gloves.
reducing down tp 1g of malt extract still produces quality LC?
Agree with that entire statement.
To add, for myco you should really only be using 70% iso or 1:10 bleach solution
I’m gonna buy a water electrolysis pot and try making hypochlorous for disinfecting
15 for 15
Agar and LC
Not necessary just iso down hands and arms.
Either you’re working in flow or working in SAB, both of which, mask is not needed. Just be weary of breathing during times when the plate and jar are open. Shouldn’t be more than a few seconds each
Only time a mask is really needed in myco is in the fruit rooms if you’re at scale bc of spore load
You’re saying you only need 15 minutes at 15 psi for both agar and LC?
Affirmative
When using 70% iso to clean, make sure to let it dry out before proceding with any sterile work.
Believe it or not, its not sterile sitting in alcohol, its gotta evaporate for the alcohol to do its thing.
I thought 99% iso would be better but 70% is definitely the way to go.
Yeah, that seems to be a right of passage for all mycologist. Everyone, me included, always wants to go the route of 99%, but it just never seems to be as efficient as what we need in the lab
Typo*! Thank you for correcting that, I absolutely meant 15-20 minutes.
As for the gloves and mask one, I am strict about gloves, but mask I rarely use unless I’ve recently eaten or something. The guy was asking about his possible issues so I figured throwing in the basic precautions is just a necessity. You can always be cleaner when working with sterile media, no harm in doing it.
I’m sure everyone on this forum has had to deal with copious amounts of isopropyl and ethanol, and I can say I don’t enjoy having it on my skin all day. I deal with farm animals and gardens all morning, so I do clean myself thoroughly before doing mycology work, but still, gloves just give me that safety net.