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Home / Mushroom Cultivation / Mushroom Grow Kits / AgarPots
Agar lab kit
AgarPots
The clean-culture starting point. Grow a spore or culture sample out on sterile agar, see exactly what is in it, then isolate pure white mycelium to take through to grain. This kit does not fruit mushrooms; it makes the clean culture everything after it depends on.
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Made to order - usually dispatched same or next working day when paid by 1pm.
For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only. A culture or spore syringe is not included.
poured and sterilised fresh to order
arrives sterile or we replace it
any gourmet spore, culture or tissue
dispatched in about 3 working days, plain packaging
How it works
How AgarPots clean up a culture
Agar is the lab step most people skip, and the one that fixes the problems they then spend months fighting. It is a clear nutrient gel poured in a dish. You put a tiny sample on it, and within days the gel shows you exactly what is growing: clean white mycelium, or the green, grey and bacterial gunk that would otherwise have wrecked your spawn. AgarPots are sterile dishes with that gel already poured, so you can start without a still-air box full of boiling water and Petri plates.
Inoculate the gel
Work somewhere clean and draught-free. Wipe an Inject-thru lid with one of the chlorhexidine wipes, fit a fresh needle, and put a small drop of your gourmet spore or culture solution onto the agar surface. The self-healing lid means you never open the pot to air, which is where most contamination gets in.
A swab, print, syringe or wild tissue all work.
Let it grow out
Keep the pot in its breathable bag at a steady warmth, around 24 degrees, though anywhere from 18 to 24 is fine as long as it does not swing about. Skip the heat mat, since uneven heat brings condensation and condensation feeds contamination. In a few days you will see growth start to spread from the drop.
A few days to a week to read the dish.
Read what grew
This is the whole point. Healthy mycelium is white and fluffy or rhizomorphic and spreads evenly. Anything green, black, grey, slimy or sour-smelling is contamination, and now you know before it reaches your grain. A messy sample often grows several things at once on the same dish, which tells you the syringe was never clean.
Isolate the clean part
Flame or wipe a sterile scalpel, cut a small wedge from the leading edge of the cleanest white growth, well away from anything suspect, and move it to a fresh AgarPot. Repeat once or twice and you have steadily selected pure, vigorous mycelium from what may have started as a contaminated mess. Eight pots gives you room to test and to isolate.
Transfer to spawn
Once a pot is fully run with clean, healthy mycelium, cut wedges of the colonised gel and use them to inoculate sterile grain. From there you scale up into bulk substrate and fruit. AgarPots do not grow mushrooms themselves, they grow the clean culture that everything after them depends on.
Pairs naturally with our SpawnTubs.
Why this one
What makes AgarPots different
A grow kit gives you mushrooms once. Agar gives you the skill that makes every future grow more reliable, and it is the only fair way to deal with a spore syringe, which is never fully sterile to begin with.
The pots are 120mm across, much wider than a standard dish, so there is plenty of surface to spread several samples out or to let a culture run without crowding. They are also tougher and easier to handle than glass plates.
In the box
What's included
One kit, sized only by the gloves. Pick the glove size that fits your hand at checkout (S, M, L or XL); everything else is the same.
The lab
- 8 sterile AgarPots, 120mm diameter, gel pre-poured
- Inject-thru self-healing lids on every pot
- Each pot pre-sterilised in a breathable bag
The tools and hygiene
Glove size chosen at checkout
- 3 sterile scalpels for cutting and transferring wedges
- 1 pair of sterile gloves (S, M, L or XL)
- 1 face mask
- 8 chlorhexidine alcohol wipes for ports, tools and surfaces
- 2 anti-microbial handwipes
Our agar is a simple, proven recipe: agar-agar for the solid base, light malt extract and nutritional yeast for the sugars, vitamins and minerals the mycelium feeds on, all mixed with distilled water for purity and consistency. Nothing exotic, just what grows clean mycelium fast.
The one thing you add
What you'll need
AgarPots are sterile and ready to inoculate, so you supply the living part: a gourmet spore swab, print or syringe, a liquid culture, or a fragment of clean wild gourmet tissue. We make gourmet liquid cultures you can start a pot with, and we sell sterile lab gear too.
Liquid culture has known, predictable genetics and tends to run clean, so it is the easiest thing to put on agar. Spore syringes are cheaper and offer more variety but are never fully sterile, which is exactly the case where agar earns its keep: you grow the sample out, see what is really in there, and cut away from anything that is not the white growth you want.
Whatever you start with, give it a clean run: wipe the lid, work in still, draught-free air, and flame the scalpel between cuts. We stock the rest of the sterile gear (a still-air box, wipes and gloves) in sterile and lab equipment.
Risk, reversed
The Sterile Guarantee
Every pot is made fresh and arrives sterile and sealed in its breathable bag. If a pot shows contamination on arrival, before you have inoculated it, send us photos and we will replace any affected components. What grows once you add your own sample comes down to that sample and your technique, which no reputable seller can promise for you. So we stand fully behind the pots reaching you clean, and the troubleshooting below helps with the rest.
At a glance
The spec sheet
- Kit type
- Agar lab kit, for isolating and expanding clean culture
- Does it fruit?
- No. This is the clean-culture starting point, not a grow kit
- Vessel
- 8 AgarPots, 120mm diameter, with Inject-thru self-healing lids
- Medium
- Pre-poured agar: agar-agar, light malt extract, nutritional yeast, distilled water
- Inoculation
- A drop of your spore or culture solution through the lid, or a tissue sample
- Culture needed
- A gourmet spore swab, print, syringe, liquid culture or clean tissue, not included
- Sizing
- One kit; choose glove size S, M, L or XL at checkout
- Colonisation temp
- Around 24 degrees, 18 to 24 is fine if kept steady
- Time to read a dish
- A few days to a week to see clean growth or contamination
- Next step
- Cut clean wedges and inoculate sterile grain, then scale into bulk
- Made
- United Kingdom, fresh to order
- Suited to
- Gourmet species: oyster, Lion's Mane, Shiitake, King Oyster and similar
When things look off
Common issues
Reading a dish is a skill, and agar makes contamination obvious rather than hidden. Here are the things you will see and what they mean.
Nothing yet
Usually patience or temperature. Agar can take a few days to show growth from a small sample. Cold slows it right down, so check the warmth is steady before worrying.
White and fluffy
That is what you want. Clean mycelium spreading evenly across the gel. Let it run, then cut a wedge from the leading edge to transfer on.
Green, black or slimy
Contamination. Mould shows as coloured patches, bacteria as wet, shiny or sour-smelling spots. Bin that pot and isolate from a clean area on another, well away from the bad growth.
Several things at once
A common sight from a spore syringe, since none are fully sterile. Cut away from everything except the cleanest white growth, and expect to do a second transfer to get it pure.
The deeper detail on agar technique and contamination lives in our grow-kit troubleshooting guide.
What comes next
Where to take a clean culture
What customers say
Reviews
Great kit for beginners. The boxes can be reused for agar or many other uses like G2G, mini pf-tek etc..
The injection port on agar is one of the most beginner friendly ideas ever. •Top quality agar •Top quality packaging •much bigger than was to be expected, which is dope The list goes on, the moral of the story is these guys know their sh*t.
Fantastic
Worked great, good quality.
Good stuff great for research :)
These have been great and really helped me up my game.
For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only.Sold as a sterile substrate kit for home cultivation. We trust you to be responsible.