Mycology Lab 101: Agar Work, Cloning, Spores & Sterile Culture Technique for Mushroom Cultivation
69,065
Published 2024-02-23
Learn everything you need to know about working with mycelium on petri dishes, making agar transfers, inoculating grain spawn and liquid culture, cloning live mushrooms and germinating and isolating new cultures from a spore print.
Sterile culture technique allows us to breed new strains, preserve biological specimens and prevent contamination, opening new doors in mycology and mushroom cultivation. But it requires special attention and delicate precision, so having some solid guidance at the beginning of your journey will save you lots of headaches and trouble down the road.
In part 1, we’ll cover all the important equipment, supplies, tools and concepts, including how to set up a low-cost, do-it-yourself laboratory, all of the essential principles of sterile culture technique, its value and its limitations. We’ll discuss contamination, how to use Parafilm, and some helpful tricks for tracking your workflow.
In part 2, we’ll learn how to use a scalpel to make agar transfers and work with mushroom cultures on petri dishes. We’ll go into detail about agar to agar, agar to grain, agar to liquid culture, how to verify your work with a streak test and some tips for scaling up.
Part 3 demonstrates how to get a mushroom culture started in the first place, starting with tips for sourcing new genetics. Then we explain how to clone a mushroom using sterile tissue culture, and finally how to germinate spores and isolate new mushroom strains on petri dishes.
With just this handful of techniques, you can unlock the next level in your mushroom cultivation skill tree, and cast whatever kind of mushroom magic you desire!
Made with love by Fungaia, a heart-centered, donation-based mushroom company
www.fungaia.life/
For the best, most reliable and super affordable mushroom
genetics and liquid culture, visit our favorite culture library:
True Blue Genetics
www.TrueBlueGenetics.org/?coupon=FUNGAIA
Discount code: FUNGAIA
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Supplies List
1. Mushroom Genetics
Gourmet and Medicinal Mushroom Cultures from Fungaia
www.fungaia.life/shop/species/
The best liquid culture on the market:
True Blue Genetics
truebluegenetics.org/?coupon=FUNGAIA
This is the last genetics provider you will ever need!
2. Implements
Scalpel
- #7 Handle: amzn.to/3UNwW1C
- #11 Blades: amzn.to/4bDrNiK
Inoculation Loop: amzn.to/3UQNRR0
Forceps: amzn.to/3wq1I6H
3. Essential Lab Supplies
Alcohol Lamp: amzn.to/3TgSClX
Nitrile Gloves: amzn.to/49imAvc
Paper Towels
Denatured Alcohol (for lamp)
70% Isopropyl Alcohol + Spray Bottle
Pre-Poured Petri Dishes
agarnow.com/collections/petri-dishes
Fungaia Laminar Flow Hood
www.fungaia.life/shop/flowhood/
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Other Useful Supplies
The Fungaia Cube Kit
www.fungaia.life/shop/kits/?q=cube_kit
An organic, all-in-one grow kit for dung-lover mushrooms
Pre-Sterilized Grain Bags
www.fungaia.life/shop/fertilesubstrate/?q=7lb_grai…
Pasteurized, Manure-Based Mushroom Substrate
www.fungaia.life/shop/fertilesubstrate/?q=poo_sub
Monotubs and monotub filters: Microppose
microppose.com/r?id=h776jn
Discount code FUNGAIA
Bulk Liquid Culture IV Bags
www.fungaia.life/shop/spawn/?q=bulk_lc
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More Videos from Fungaia
How to Grow Mushrooms the Easy Way:
• How to Grow Mushrooms from Scratch th...
How to Make Grain Spawn:
• How to Make Grain Spawn: A Deep Dive ...
How to make your own liquid culture
• How to Make Liquid Culture the Easy W...
Advanced liquid culture method
• How to Make Liquid Culture: DIY Mushr...
How to make your own injection port jar lids:
• How to Make Injection Port Jar Lids f...
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Upcoming videos:
Introduction to Mushroom Cultivation
How to Make Agar Media and Pour Petri Dishes
The Basics of Breeding
Storing Genetics and Managing a Mushroom Culture Library
Troubleshooting Contamination: Identification, Prevention and Problem-Solving
Created by Paul Lynn. All rights reserved.
Made using some free stock footage.
© 2024 Alembic Enterprises LLC
Walla Walla, Washington
Please forgive the video/edit quality, I’m still learning!
0:00 Intro
1:11 Overview
4:27 Background Info
8:58 Part 1: Equipment, Space & Supplies
17:27 Implements
20:53 How to Use Parafilm
24:42 Genetics
26:22 Part 2: Principles of SCT
26:37 Contamination
28:40 Degrees of Sterility
31:47 Priority of Sterility
33:18 Green, Yellow, Red Light
35:41 Goof and Grow
38:23 Part 2: The Juicy Stuff
41:48 Agar to Agar
45:53 Agar to Grain
48:49 Agar to Liquid Culture
50:03 Streak Test
50:44 Part 3: Starting a New Culture
51:06 Sourcing Genetics
52:01 Cloning a Mushroom
56:24 Spore Work
1:02:59 Outro + Love
All Comments (21)
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Starting off felt like hitting a home run on my first bat, and now I’m stuck in a loop where progress seems like a myth. Watching this felt like someone’s live-streaming my current state of affairs—talk about relatable content! Your insights are the beacon of hope for my next endeavor. Thanks for shining a light on the path ahead!
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As a beginner to mycology, I just wanted to say that your videos are the most approachable while being coherently technical. Your production quality and sense of humor are a welcome addition. I can see that you are all-in with this endeavor! The 1025R tractor and beautiful lab are clear signs of your investment. Good luck, and thank you for the guidance 🙏
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This is one of the best "101" videos I've seen on the platform. Well done!
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this dude has a pure love for the science of mycology and its bio mechanical processes.
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This video is very much a super informative "bill nye the science guy" personality with much more inner dialogue that I go through. Couldn't have come at a better time
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I am a mycologist myself and i learned a whole new approach of my discipline with you thank you
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I work in a micro lab and a small flame of an alcohol burner is not going to give you a small sterile area around the burner. In fact any upward movement of air by thermal rise is just going to bring the particles into your area faster from lower in the air column.
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hope your channel blows up and you get all the attention you deserve..thanks for your contribution to the community
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Standing by ready to soak up the wisdom! Your presentations are the most informative on YouTube and your slightly goofy personality make science class fun! Thank you for sharing your spore wisdom with us❤
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Fungaia makes thee best cultivation videos out there!🙌🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🙏💚
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I spent years doing sensitive wet work in a biology lab. Your advice for sterile work is better than anything I’ve seen before. I wish I had seen this video before having to learn things to hard way.
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Nice surprise for Thursday night viewing. Thank you for sharing knowledge, your time, and effort. It is greatly appreciated!
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Absolutely excellent information. I was wondering why my plates contaminated at the edges, and figured 'bad plate' from supplier....then I saw your technique with micro-pore and learned I might be the problem. And that's a morsel of the information I've taken from this video! Thank you.
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New to growing shrooms and LOVE your channel! Greetings with Much Enthusiasm from WA state also🍄❤️
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Thank you fungaia for your passion and for all the information you are giving us for free!
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this is my favorite youtube channel ever in the whole world
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This channel is off the chain!! Please keep the videos coming, I love your work!
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Learning on YouTube has been a challenge. A lot of the growers are also selling mentorships and consults. It seems like much of their content is just feeding you enough information to get you interested in a paid mentorship (nothing wrong with that). This video is the first one that I found that went into detail and specific processes in this much depth. This is after watching dozens of hours of content from other channels.
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this is a must watch for every level of mycologist
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Pure example of dedication to science. Perfect!
