Plain water agar: agar and water, nothing else. It's what I use to clean up difficult cultures. With no sugars for bacteria and molds to feed on, mycelium can grow out ahead of contamination, so you can cut a clean piece from the leading edge and move it on.

Where it fits

I keep two agars. MEA is the nutrient plate for everyday culture work. Isolation agar is the non-nutrient plate for getting a culture clean. Clean it here, then move it back to MEA to grow.

Use it for

• Cleaning up a contaminated culture

• First transfers from wild clones and field specimens

• Separating mycelium from bacterial contamination

What you get

• 10 pre-poured 100mm plates (the same plates as my MEA)

• 10 pre-cut parafilm strips

• Poured to order and shipped within 48 hours

• Bubble-wrapped and boxed; plates stay in a sealed sleeve until you open them

Storage

Unopened and kept at 68 to 75 °F out of direct light, plates are ready to use for at least 3 months.

What to expect

Water agar is lean on purpose, so growth on it is sparse. It's a cleanup plate, not a plate for expanding or storing cultures. How many transfers it takes depends on how dirty your starting material is.

Guarantee

If a plate shows contamination before you inoculate it, send me a photo and choose a free replacement or a refund.