10/16/13: Another day at the Mushroom Factory

         Last Wednesday I finally got to see the results of the agar plate onto which I had transferred the Mycelial Culture. In my previous post, I addressed some concerns in which I feared I may have contaminated a majority of the very plates. However, to both my mentor and my delight, we found that most grew without a mold in sight--only about one or two plates showed traces of bacteria.

   Expanding on last weeks project, the agar media that was used to grow the mycelium is not a fertile ground for growing mushrooms--the fruiting bodies of the fungi that produce spores. However, the mycelium culture grows quite nicely on it and thus the mycelium that grows in petri dishes (like the ones below) can be used only to inoculate a substrate where it can further develop.

As you can see in this picture (to the left), the white mycelium, resulting from the spore placed last week on the fresh agar plate, is now visible. This is perfectly normal and tells us that everything went according to plan. The first signs of mycelial growth gives off a white fuzzy looking appearance --> called rhizomorphic growth. It is a sign that the mycelium will most likely fruit well. Most of the plates were completely colonized as shown by its completely white semblance. As mentioned before, any other abnormal substance, ie: mold, is a clear sign of contamination. (A contaminated plate will never produce mushrooms)

This picture to the left is just the underside view of one plate held to the light. You can see the spore placed that I placed the week before with a sterilized scalpel in the center. The culture grows in a ring-like shape and this is clearly shown in the very picture. Had I been here more often than just once a week, the normal procedure would be to note the growth of the mycelium by measuring the diameter of the ring formed.

Each week here simply gets more exciting by the week and I can not wait to see what else is in store for me to put my hands on throughout the year!