Tabletop Mushroom Cultivation

Alson Sears, D.V.M.
Christopher Keller
AWSEARS@HOTMAIL.COM

1. Fresh green string beans. Purchased at any grocery store. You will need about 1/8^th of a pound.
   
2. Agar (use soup agar 10 grams per 2 bars) This can be purchases in any Philippine or Japanese grocery store.
   
3. One cup of tap water (heated to boiling)
   
4. Blender
   
5. Strainer
   
6. Glass or microwave safe containers to hold media
   
7. Petri plates. Any size will work; however, the easiest to work with are the smaller ones. (50mm X 9mm).
   
8.  Small pot

Procedure

1. Into blender add 1 cup boiling water and green beans. Turn blender on to highest setting and let run for 5 - l0 minutes. The goal is to liquefy all of the beans. 

   
   
    

   
    

2. Pour the mixture through the strainer. This will remove any of the large pieces of bean.
   
   
    
    
3. Add more water to make solution 1 cup again.
   
4. Place mixture in a pot on stove top and bring to a light boil.
   
5. Add approximately ¾ of a bar of agar (approximately 4 grams) and continue to boil until agar dissolves.
   
6. Pour the solution into a microwave safe containers, cover and place in microwave. Also place 1 - 2 liters of water in a separate container in the microwave to prevent the solution from boiling over. 
   




 

7. Bring the media to a boil in microwave. As soon as the media begins to boil turn off the microwave. Let the media cool for 4 hours. 
   
   
    
    
8. Repeat the boiling process after the 4 hours of cooling.
    
9. Allow media to cool until mixture is warm to touch, however, not solidified. Add 0.5 cc of Gentamicin Sulfate per 10 cc of solution (1.5 cc per cup)
   
10. After Gentamicin is added and mixed (mixing is accomplished by swirling solution in containers), pour the media into the culture plates. Lift the lid of the culture plate only as much as necessary to all for pouring of solution. Immediately replace lid. Only fill bottom portion of culture plate 2/3 of the way. 
    
    
     
     
11. Stack the culture plates as you go (i.e. place the next plate to be poured on top of the one just finished) This prevents condensation from the warm media to collect on the lid and obscuring the view of the plate. 

    
     

    DO NOT MOVE THE PLATES FOR SEVERAL HOURS, UNTIL THE MEDIA HAS BECOME SOLID! 

    REMEMBER TO POUR THE MEDIA IN A LOW TRAFFIC AREA TO PREVENT ACCIDENTAL BUMPING OF THE PLATES.
     

12. Excess media may be discarded, or stored in the refrigerator in airtight containers.
     

Home

Agar
plates

Spore print

Preparing grain

Inoculating grain

Preparing sawdust

Fruiting mushrooms