And I am learning how important it is to have as sterile an environment for transfers as possible! Please examine exhibit "A"...a petri dish writhing with every other sort of germies but what I want to grow! LOL I did this transfer (the dark spot is a piece of mushroom flesh)in open air on purpose just to see just how many
contaminents are in the kitchen. (I love auto save! Auto save 
saved my post after IE exploded, again!). Apparently there are a lot! It's very interesting none-the-less. I noticed my other two jars seem to have something growing on the surface of the agar as well....similar to what you see in the petri dish. So I have a new plan. I whipped everything down with bleach water first off. Then I am preparing jars differntly. The hole in the middle of the lids are for inserting cotton which will act as a contam (contamination) barrier and as venilation. After pouring in some zapped agar solution (my bulk container was refridgerated and thus the solution hardened) and replacing the lids complete with plugged holes, I then wrapped the jar lids in foil. This serves two purposes (as I read from various sources). First it prevents moisture from the pressure cooker bath from obsorbing into the cotton, and second it acts like a barrier to the outside environment during transfer to the sterilized glove box chamber. I am cooking the jars for 45 min to 1 hour to further destroy any contams in the agar. I think that I did not cook it for long enough the first time.
My Oyster 'Shroom "kit" is showing signs of growth after only 12 hours from innoculation! It's the small fuzzy white patch just above the innoculation disc. YAY!! At least something is growing like it should!
This weekend I plan on going to a local source for used lab supplies ( a popular source as well, Called UW SWAP). I also plan to buy some organic rye berries and larger mason jars.
Until next time...
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