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Agar lab kit
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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For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only. A culture or spore syringe is not included.
The short version
An agar lab kit, not a grow kit. Eight sterile 120mm AgarPots come with the nutrient gel already poured, so you can put a spore or culture sample on the gel through the Inject-thru lid, watch what grows, and tell clean white mycelium apart from contamination before it ever reaches your grain. Cut clean wedges with the included scalpels to isolate pure, vigorous mycelium, then transfer those wedges to sterile grain such as our SpawnTubs to scale up and fruit. It is the step that turns an unreliable spore syringe into a culture you can trust.
How it works
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
The tools and hygiene
Glove size chosen at checkout
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
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
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
When things look off
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
Common questions
Keep it steady at about 24 degrees while a culture grows out, though anywhere from 18 to 24 is fine as long as it does not swing about. Watch for condensation inside the pot, and avoid heat mats since uneven heat causes exactly that. There is no separate fruiting temperature, because AgarPots do not fruit mushrooms.
No, and that is the point. AgarPots are the clean-culture stage before a grow. You use them to test a sample for contamination and to isolate pure, healthy mycelium, then transfer that culture to sterile grain such as our SpawnTubs to scale up and fruit elsewhere.
Any legal gourmet sample: a spore swab, print or syringe, a liquid culture, or a fragment of clean wild gourmet tissue. It suits oyster mushrooms, Lion's Mane, Shiitake, King Oyster and similar. We sell gourmet liquid cultures you can start a pot with.
No. AgarPots arrive sterile and ready, and you add your own gourmet spore or culture sample. We stock gourmet liquid cultures and sterile lab gear separately.
Eight 120mm pots. Agar work is about repetition: you often grow a sample out on one pot, then cut wedges onto fresh pots once or twice to isolate the cleanest growth. Eight gives you room to test a few samples and still have spare dishes to isolate onto.
No spore syringe is ever fully sterile. On agar a contaminated sample grows several things at once, so you can see the green mould or bacteria plainly, cut a small wedge from a clean white area well away from it, and move that wedge to a fresh pot. Repeat and you steadily select a pure culture from what started as a mess.
Send us photos before you inoculate it and we will replace any affected components, that is our Sterile Guarantee. We guarantee the pots reach you sterile and sealed; what grows after you add your own sample comes down to that sample and your technique, so check the troubleshooting first.
It is one kit. The only thing that changes between S, M, L and XL is the pair of sterile gloves included, so you pick the size that fits your hand at checkout. Everything else in the box is identical.
What customers say
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.
Ask the community
What would be the best way to remove some of the contents after innoculation for transplant/ or contamination while leaving the rest in the agar and are the hypha sensitve like plant roots?
Hi ther - a sterile scalpel is included with the kitfor cutting a wedge of agar culture.
I'm slightly at a loss of how to use these, is this to reuse and regrow the mycelium from your first grow?
Hi there, I recommend you going on to your favourite video streaming site and searching for agar so you can see what agar is all about :)
Do I need to sterilize the agar when it arrives. If so, what is the best method you suggest?
They are already sterile - we’ve done all the work, you simply need to inoculate them :)
If unopened and unused how long will these last? and how is best to store them?
They will only become unusable if they dry out so should last many months. If stored stored within a clean fridge, maybe even longer.
Hi. Excuse my novice-ness! Once an agar pot is colonised, how long will that mycelium keep and what would be the best method to store?
It’s a good question! It will keep quite long, but the sooner you drop a wedge into spawn the better as the mycelium will be growing fast and wanting more nutrition.
If the mycelium is taking up all of the Agar and you don’t have spawn immediately available then it’s absolutely fine to place the AgarPots in the fridge to slow the growth needs to an absolute crawl and give you time to get spawn ready (or purchase from us!).
Most species of mushroom mycelium will store well for many months in a fridge set between 2-4degrees Celsius (apart from Pink Oyster!)
After you've introduced gourmet spore droplets, what temperature would an agar pot need to be kept at for best mycelium growth results?
Great question! If you are able to go up to 26C then that would show fast results. But really anywhere from 20C would still be quick.
For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only.Sold as a sterile substrate kit for home cultivation. We trust you to be responsible.
