I started a new experiment last weekend.
Since the mushroom didn’t grow in straw I thought I try to grow it in agar agar.
Agar Agar grow media recipe
15 ml (3 teaspoons) of agar agar powder
300 ml hot tap water
10 ml (2 teaspoons ) of sugar
I poured everything in a plastic container and stirred ferociously with a fork.
I then microwaved it for 4 minutes and 30 seconds without paying enough attention. It boiled over and it lost a lot of fluid but I still used the agar agar.
I poured half of the agar agar into another plastic container that I had some household bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) and hand sanitizer (Alcohol gel) in.
I wanted to make two tests to see if the mycelium would grow better in a bleach solution were the it didn’t have to compete so much with other organisms.
I collected a small polypore from the forest.
The polypore is most likely a Phellinus igniarius that likes to grow on dead birches. This samples was much smaller than the one in experiment 1.0 .
I cut the polypore with an awl (pointy screwdriver). I didn’t bother to disinfect the awl.
I tried to put the mushroom pieces into the agar agar medium, but the medium had hardened and was really hard to penetrate.
I pricked some holes into the non-bleach agar agar medium with the awl and pushed a piece of the mushroom into the agar.
I later watched some videos where people cloned mushrooms. They used a sterilized scalpel to cut a hole in the agar and used much smaller pieces mushroom.
I put a piece of the mushroom in the bleach agar agar container. The agar agar medium is very dense and rubbery so it’s hard to penetrate.
I then put the containers in plastic bags that I tied a knot on.
And waited…