Slime mold Inquiry

Thanks Carol! Isn't sclerotia the dormant form of slime mold? We started some new cultures again and are going to put them into dormant stage. They're in an incubator at this very moment. As for the maze, would it work to build one out of lego?

 

Yes, that's the dormant stage. And yes, legos might work just fine.

 

What a great thread! Thanks naturegirls, carol222 & Frog. You bring back the fun & satisfaction I got from fieldwork & lab work decades ago.

Keep posting. I want to hear about progress at each step of the way.

 

Okay, thanks you guys!

 

How long does it take filter paper to dry? We have put some slime cultures on it and then the filter paper directly in a petri dish, where it has been at room temperature since just before one yesterday.

 

I have never put it on filter paper. I would imagine 12-24 hours in an incubator would work. In a Petri dish at room temp I would expect much longer, as the humidity would be kept inside the plate.

 

What temperature should I put the incubator at? Because right now it is just a bit warmer than room temperature and still not dry...

 

How about 25-30 degrees. Not hotter, I don't think. Start low. At 30 it should dry pretty fast.

 

That's about what it was when we had it on. It still isn't dry but we made transfer anyway. We also tried to boil that lego and yeah.... didn't quite turn out the way we hoped...

 

Don't boil! Try 70% ethanol or isopropanol.

 

Should've asked you first. :) Oh well! Now we know for next time!

 

We don't have alcohol or any of the stuff you mentioned, so we went right ahead (without sterilizing) and made the maze. To do that, we filled a tupperware container with a bottle of non-nutrient agar, let it harden for 15 min, and then pushed the lego in the places we wanted.

 

Rubbing alcohol is cheap at the drugstore. I'm afraid you will get other things growing, but let me know how it works.

 

Okay that's good to know, thanks! We looked today and almost all the slime cultures escaped their home petri dishes! That was an unexpected mess! We cleaned it all up and changed the oats so that they were in the center; will that help at all?

 

The sclerotia we revived is doing well but is covered in a thin layer of mold. Will this happen to all the cultures after being dormant? Will it affect them at all? Any way to avoid it? Also we're planning on letting the cultures sit in the incubator at room temperature until tomorrow when we'll put some in the maze.

 

OMG this is a good thread :))))) keep the updates coming! And thanks Naturegirls, Carol & Frog!

I've tried cultivating bits of bark, mostly mature elder, on soaked tissue/filter paper in petri dishes but with no success. Even bits of bark with good instructions actually given to me by a slime mould expert here in UK (David Mitchell - worked with Bruce Ing on his fab myxo tome). Then I heard it is difficult this way and not to get downhearted by all my non-successes. I've never tried with agar nor bio-supplied myxos, nor Physarum...wonder if there are any suppliers in UK? I'm really excited to hear about your experiences here!!

 

That's great! I'm so glad others are benefiting from this thread! I would really recommend using non-nutrient (also known as semi-defined) agar with oats, it does wonders. We got our original culture from Carolina Biological; check it out, there might be a distributor in England somewhere. The maze was solved at the 33hr 51min mark and the culture is feasting on a pile of oats.