We at Evviva Sciences produce many, and a wide variety of agar petri dishes. We sell over ten different types of agar petri dishes and many science kits that include agar petri dishes. You can trust us when we say we know agar.

I would like to talk about the relevance of agar petri dishes in the world of mushrooms, the benefits of agar, the usage, and why all growers should utilize them!

Agar Petri Dishes and Mushrooms?

Simply put, agar petri dishes are used to culture a variety of microorganisms such as bacteria, mold, and fungus. Since mushrooms are fungi, you can bet that they will grow on agar. A common usage of agar as it relates to mushrooms is the cloning of cultures to exponentially increase the stock of your mycelium. 

Make An Insane Amount of Culture Using Agar With Drops of Liquid Mycelium!

The process is simple, you only require a few things: liquid mycelium, agar petri dishes, a fire source, an extremely sharp knife or scalpel, and of course a clean environment (such as a still air box, or flow hood.)

1. STERILIZE AND SANITIZE YOURSELF! Sterilization is extremely important when growing mushrooms, as contamination is both the easiest and worst thing that can happen. We go in-depth in a separate post talking about the importance of sterile technique.
2. Drop a tiny amount of liquid mycelium onto an agar petri dish, we suggest either malt extract agar or potato dextrose agar.
3. Wait for the mycelium to develop and spread across the agar surface (this may take a week or two to complete, depending on strain and conditions.) Make sure to research ideal temperatures and conditions for your particular strain!
4. Once the mycelium has covered the surface of the agar, sterilize your blade with a fire source and prepare to cut.
5. Flame sterilize the blade, let it get red hot. Then, cut a small piece of the agar (1 centimeter in diameter is good)
6. Transfer the cut piece onto another agar plate.
7. Repeat this process as many times as possible (just make sure the transferred piece has mycelium on it.)

Now you have several agar dishes with a small piece of mycelium-covered agar, the mycelium will spread across the new agar surface and then you may repeat the above process once the new dish is filled with mycelium. Using these pieces of agar you can transfer it directly onto substrate and start growing. Agar to agar transfer gives you an insane amount of value compared to repeatedly having to buy liquid culture syringes.

If you are in the market for some agar petri dishes feel free to check out our Potato Dextrose Agar Plates or our Malt Extract Agar Plates.