“Water agar” is something I’ve been using more recently. It’s simply exactly as it sounds, sterilized water mixed with agar-agar to create a jello like substance that mycelium can grow on. The key difference between water agar and other agar recipes such as MEA (Malt Extract Agar), or PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar) is that is lacks nutrients the mycelium feeds on. This allows for extremely fast colonization as the mycelium reaches out in search of food.
This works extremely well for getting a clean culture from a cloned mushroom, especially from the wild, where contaminants are almost guaranteed to be riding along with the mushroom. Water agar has a very clear color and isn’t good for long term storage, but does the job by quickly giving you the opportunity to sector out and transfer the clean looking mycelium which then can be added to a more nutrient dense agar plate.
To make water agar here is a great way to prepare:
Take 1 liter of water tap or distilled water and heat in on a stove, slowly mixing in a touch over three teaspoons of agar-agar. I like this brand which can be found at asian markets. add a touch over three teaspoons of agar-agar.
Stirring consistently, once the water is starting to boil (careful to not let it boil over), pour the water into a media bottle. I recommend the Pyrex brand for safety and longevity, but the cheaper ones will do in a pinch.
Cap the bottle and lightly screw on the lid, add a piece of foil to the cap.
Sterilize the bottle in a pressure cooker at 15 psi for 25 minutes. Be sure to let your pressure cooker vent for 15 minutes before adding the steam regulation wobbler.
Once the cycle is done, allow the PC to cool on the stove and when the pressure drops to 0, open the pressure cooker and tighten down the cap a bit more. DO NOT overly tighten the cap, the pressure can make it very hard to open once it fully cools.
With the foil still on the bottle, move it to your still air box or flow hood (use code MUSHLOVE for 10% off that link).
Pour the solution into sterilized petri dishes. You should be able to pour about 30–40 dishes.
Give the poured dishes about ten minutes to solidify a bit and then wrap them in parafilm or saran wrap if you’re rocking on a budget.
Now you have a bunch of great plates for cloning mushrooms you find out in the wild or ones you’ve cultivated yourself! This guide works the same for other agar recipes too!
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Mush Love,
-Charlie
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