Agar Agar and Mycelium
What is Agar Agar?
Agar agar is a gelatinous substance derived from red algae, and it has several properties that make it an ideal growth medium for mycelium. First, agar agar is nutrient-rich and contains a variety of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals that mycelium needs to grow and thrive. Second, agar agar is stable at a wide range of temperatures, which allows mycelium to grow in a controlled environment. Finally, agar agar is also easy to sterilize, which is important for preventing contamination of the growth medium.
Why is Agar Agar used in mushroom cultivation?
Mycelium is a type of fungi that grows in a variety of environments, including soil, decaying organic matter, and artificial growth media like agar agar. Agar agar is a popular growth medium for mycelium because it provides a stable and nutrient-rich environment for the fungi to grow and spread. Agar Agar also provides the added benefit of being able to be sterilized relatively easily and poured into Lab Dishes or Petri-dishes to conduct mycology with. The mycelium is able to be visually identified and certain characteristics of the hyphae can be isolated to yield faster growing and better strain of mushroom. I personally like to always conduct my cultures on agar agar first prior to liquid culture simply because it provides a see through/transparent medium where I can identify possible contamination ahead of time and isolate or clean off my Petri-Dish cultures. Agar Agar is one of the most versatile tools a mycologist can learn and keep in his arsenal/toolbelt. I strongly advise learning this laboratory method and practicing sterile technique.
Overall, mycelium likes agar agar because it provides a stable, nutrient-rich, and easy-to-sterilize environment for the fungi to grow and spread.
How to Prepare Agar Agar?
Now, that is the right question to ask! In order to prepare Agar Agar, we must first find or purchase our Agar Agar and get yourself a digital scale.
You will then want to determine how many petri-dishes you’ll want to prepare.
For the standard 10 pack of 90mm petri-dishes you’ll want to prepare about 900mL of Agar Agar solution, weigh yourself 30g of Agar Agar and 900g or 900 mL of water.
Slowly pour the Agar Agar powder into a 1L mason jar and add the 30g of Agar Agar, stir until uniformly dissolved and mixed.
You then want to screw on the mason jar lid and autoclave or pressure cook for a minimum of 15 minutes at 15 PSI.
Once that is complete let it cool down to 50-70C and carefully in a clean environment and practicing sterile technique pour the Agar Agar into your 10 Petri Dishes.
It is pretty simple, you will find flaws in your sterile technique or pressure cooking/sterilization within 1-3 days, you’ll see contamination or material growing on the plates. That is why I find this the best method to always check your quality control and sterile technique. Next, steps one can learn is transferring Agar to Agar and culturing your strain of mycelium to build most robust, healthy, vigorous mushrooms.