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Agar or agar-agar is a gelatinous substance derived from a polysaccharide that accumulates in the cell walls of agarophyte red algae.
It is used by vegetarians and the Asian cuisine as a substitute for gelatine.
Chemically, agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose. It is mostly used in in microbiology for the growth of bacteria and fungi.
Mycologists (people that study the growth of fungi) grow fungi on agar to isolate the mycelium with the best characteristics for transplantation to an other substrate. This gives you a fungus with more powerful genetics and so a lager yield of mushrooms.
How to make agar:
You can buy agar in any organic or vegetarian shop or online. It comes in powder and can be dissolved in water. Often it is branded as “malt extract agar”.
Measure 1 gram of agar for each dl (1 dl = 3,5 ounces) of water. Soak the agar in the water for a couple of hours. Then boil it on low heat until all the agar powder is dissolved. Then transfer it to your petri dish or any kind of dish you like, while it is still hot. Cover the dish up and let it cool. Once the agar is cooled you are ready to go.
You’ll notice the agar has hardened and has a jelly feel to it. The agar is sterile so do not touch it, otherwise you’ll get unwanted bacteria growth.
Place a piece of mushroom tissue, some spores or mycelium on the agar. Again cover everything up so nothing gets exposed to the air to avoid contaminations. Place the agar on a warm (22-28°C), dark place for a week. You’ll already notice to growth of mycelium. Now it’s time to isolate the mycelium with the right kind of characteristics.
On the left you see a perfect example of what mycelium should look like. You can see that it started in the center from some mushroom tissue and then spread throughout the entire petri dish. You see that the mycelium is thick, white and looks a lot like bundles of threads. This is the perfect mycelium to transfer to an other substrate.
Sometimes mycelium looks a lot like a big ball of cotton. This is slow colonizing mycelium and results in a much smaller harvest.
To transfer the mycelium just cut it out. First of all sterilize a knife by using some alcohol or by holding it in a flame. Then cut out the agar along with the mycelium and just drop it on your substrate. Shake it up a little and put it in the colonization chamber.
You can even do multiple isolations of mycelium. You then just transfer from agar to agar until you get the perfect mycelial growth. Then transplant it to an other substrate and you’ll have the biggest chance of a big yield.
You can easily find petri dishes and agar on amazon:
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I want to grow champignon mushroom do I need to get spores and dried powder?
please email me let me know if I do need them .
thank you
Sue
We have a list of mushroom spore prices and vendors here: http://mushroompalace.com/mushroom-prices/edible-mushroom-prices
I don’t know what you mean with dried powder. I suggest you read a book on mushroom cultivation, or read our tutorials, which are for free.
Kind regards,
Mushroom Palace
We are 24 days into growing oyster mushrooms, in column bag,filled with pasterized straw substrate, our humidy is 80% and temp is 70 degrees, had our first flush on time,now all our pinhead appear to be brownish and drying out,is it because the inside moisture is depleted, Our we able to introduce water into our substrate, would that help?Are we doing something wrong?How can we correct this problem.
Does it have any chemical effects to macro mushrooms (when they are ready to eat) if i mix 2-3 ml or lesser hydrogenperoxid+fosforicacid (vol. %03) to this agar preparation as a preservative?
Sorry it took so long to get back to you.
Adding hydrogen peroxide or phosphoric acid can only have a negative effect on your growth. Work sterile and you won’t need any chemical additives. Agar demands a sterile work environment anyway.
I don’t understand your link between macro mushrooms and agar either. Agar is solely used to isolate mycelium. Growing mushrooms on agar would be highly inefficient.
How about using Potato Dextrose Agar in this culture. Does malt better ?
Both are used for microbiological research. Neither one is better.
Hope this helped. Feel free to contact me again in the future.
MushroomPalace
Thanks for your answer, pda is more cheapher than malt agar here. So it is good news for me. Does it have any chemical effects to macro mushrooms (when they are ready to eat) if i mix 2-3 ml or lesser hydrogenperoxid+fosforicacid (vol. %03) to this agar preparation as a preservative?
regards
Thank you for another informative site. Where else could I am getting that kind of info written in such a perfect method? I have a challenge that I am just now operating on, and I’ve been at the look out for such info.
To transfer the mycelium just cut it out. First of all sterilize a knife by using some alcohol or by holding it in a flame. Then cut out the agar along with the mycelium and just drop it on your substrate. Shake it up a little and put it in the colonization chamber.
What could be a good substrate to have the cut pieces of mycelium in the growing case to grow the srooms on?. I used PF tek method before. Now I have succeeded in cloning on agar petrie. If my growing case is on 99% hmidity can I used clay crumbs or or wood ‘pulver’ or something like that. After all the mycelium is already matured…so the bed does not need nutrician right?
Appreciate your suggestions.
Thomas
I find it difficult to understand your question. Are you asking which substrate is best to grow mushrooms on?
I’d say straw. You can grow almost every popular edible mushroom on straw.
But to grow on straw you need grain spawn first. So transfer your piece of tissue culture to sterilized rye grains and then spawn the grains on straw. After colinization place the straw in you fruiting chamber and harvest.
Hope this helps