These pre-poured sterile agar petri dishes are ideal for early-stage fungal culture work, including cloning wild mushroom specimens, germinating fungal spores, and cleaning up contaminated samples. Each dish contains pre-sterilized potato dextrose agar (PDA) supplemented with a selective antibiotic and a blue stain that improves visibility of mycelial growth.

Blue Antibiotic Agar Plates are designed to help suppress bacterial contamination during first transfers and initial isolation work. The blue tint enhances contrast, making mycelial edges easier to see and evaluate while working through unsterile material.

Pre-poured agar plates offer many benefits over pouring your own dishes. In addition to convenience, they are also less likely to contaminate your cultures because they are poured in a lab under an industrial-grade flow hood.

Recommended use:

Use Blue Antibiotic Agar Plates for early cleanup passes and first transfers from wild or dirty samples. After achieving clean growth, step down to standard agar to confirm long-term culture health and purity.

Storing unused plates

For best results, use plates as soon as possible after receiving them. Store unused plates upside down in a refrigerator in the original packaging.

Storing plates with cultures

Once cultures are added, incubate at room temperature until the new plate is fully covered with mycelium. Once fully colonized, store plates right side up in the refrigerator until ready to use (except for cold sensitive species).