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lewiscarroll · 07-26-09, 11:25

Hi all,

My first attempt at PF tek has been disappointing but by no means a total failure...yet. I started off with 10 jars 11 days ago. Only one inoculation point in one of the jars took. None of the other jars have anything growing in them. I used 3 different syringes with different strains. The jar that is growing looks great so far.

I did another 10 jars 3 days ago using a 4th syringe and also 2 of the original strains - I'll post in a few days what, if anything, is happening with those.

Should I be encouraged yet that there are no contams in the jars that aren't growing? Or do they take a while to manifest?

I used "horticultural" verm which seemed kinda coarse but I think it's ok. The jars had 4 holes covered with micropore tape. I used the steam method to sterilize for 90 min. I built a GB, sprayed it with bleach solution, waited 10 minutes, then wiped it out and wiped it with alcohol, then sprayed oust inside. I cleaned my gloves with alcohol, wiped the tops of the jars with alcohol (this ok?), & flame sterilized the needles between jars. I feel fairly confident my technique was good.

Did I just get bad syringes? Why did I only get 1 out of 40 inoculation points to grow - especially using different syringes from a supposedly good vendor?

Thanks for any help

07-26-09, 11:25	#1 (permalink)
lewiscarroll Mycophiliac Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 91	Where'd I go wrong? Hi all, My first attempt at PF tek has been disappointing but by no means a total failure...yet. I started off with 10 jars 11 days ago. Only one inoculation point in one of the jars took. None of the other jars have anything growing in them. I used 3 different syringes with different strains. The jar that is growing looks great so far. I did another 10 jars 3 days ago using a 4th syringe and also 2 of the original strains - I'll post in a few days what, if anything, is happening with those. Should I be encouraged yet that there are no contams in the jars that aren't growing? Or do they take a while to manifest? I used "horticultural" verm which seemed kinda coarse but I think it's ok. The jars had 4 holes covered with micropore tape. I used the steam method to sterilize for 90 min. I built a GB, sprayed it with bleach solution, waited 10 minutes, then wiped it out and wiped it with alcohol, then sprayed oust inside. I cleaned my gloves with alcohol, wiped the tops of the jars with alcohol (this ok?), & flame sterilized the needles between jars. I feel fairly confident my technique was good. Did I just get bad syringes? Why did I only get 1 out of 40 inoculation points to grow - especially using different syringes from a supposedly good vendor? Thanks for any help