11 replies to this topic

[mydarling]

I've been asked to summarize how you should post and format your experiments in this forum. I hope this helps steer you in the right direction!

** Please make sure to read the full Scientifc Method Guidelines (https://mycotopia.ne...ou-should-care/) for explanations of terms and for ALL of the details/examples on what goes into each of these components. This is only an abbreviated version to assist you in formatting your thread! **

POSTING TEMPLATE

1. When starting your thread, include these components in your FIRST post:

A. Introduction - What interests you about the topic? What background information can you provide about it for context? What are you hoping to contribute to cultivation?

B. Objective - What are you trying to accomplish in this experiment? Be specific.

C. Hypothesis - What prediction do you make that is measurable and testable regarding the outcome of this experiment? What type of controls will you include to compare to your new experimental treatment? How many samples of each condition will you use, and how many times will this experiment be repeated (by you or by others)?

D. Materials and Methods - What specific procedures and steps will you follow to conduct the experiment? What types of materials (jars, bags, glovebox, etc.) and amounts of ingredients (product brands, weights, volumes, etc.) will you be using? Note: If you have not yet settled on an exact method, you should post your initial ideas and then can leave it open to brainstorming with other topiates, and post the actual method once decided upon. Don't leave it undecided too long or it may get moved into Mad Scientists!

2. When posting follow-up and progress, include these components in your SUBSEQUENT posts:

A. Data Collection - What measurements are you recording along the way? What other observations have you made about the progress? POST LOTS OF PICTURES! Tables, graphs, and other visual aides are also encouraged.

3. When wrapping up your experiment, include these components in your FINAL posts:

A. Data Analysis - After calculating your final averages/ratios/results, what is the "bottom line" about what the data indicates when comparing your experimental and control treatments? Tables, graphs, and other visual aides are again encouraged!

B. Evaluation of Hypothesis - When critically reflecting on the data, the methodology, and any other factors that may have played a role in this experimental outcome, do you find that the hypothesis is SUPPORTED or NOT SUPPORTED by the experiment? (Important: A hypothesis is never PROVEN - it takes much more than we're expecting here to "prove" something as definitive fact. Please avoid language about "proving" things!)

C. Final Thoughts - How do you feel like it went? Is there anything you would have done differently or would like to improve upon? Do you have suggestions for future experiments that could be done on this topic?

Edited by TurkeyRanch, 20 December 2014 - 09:36 PM.
Code issue

[TurkeyRanch]

Myco Lab, open and ready for posting.

[coorsmikey]

Good shit! Thanks you!!! When I get done plowing snow, I am looking forward to starting a thread here. I really look forward to what the lab can bring for the community and bringing more diversity. Hopefully this will bring some more advanced culture to the table!

[CatsAndBats]

I think cycle was right and multispore shouldn't be used within the parameters this forum, unless it is specifically testing a MS method.

[TurkeyRanch]

I think cycle was right and multispore shouldn't be used within the parameters this forum, unless it is specifically testing a MS method.

Correct. Isolates are required for experiments in the lab. Using multi spore, there is no way to perform a scientific experiment reliably, unless it is an experiment specifically pertaining to ms cultures in some way.

Multi spore experiments will be moved to the Mad Scientists forum.

A huge Thank You to mydarling, who created a lot of wonderful content. You ma'am, are a gentlewoman and a scholar!

[happy4nic8r]

 

I think cycle was right and multispore shouldn't be used within the parameters this forum, unless it is specifically testing a MS method.

Correct. Isolates are required for experiments in the lab. Using multi spore, there is no way to perform a scientific experiment reliably, unless it is an experiment specifically pertaining to ms cultures in some way.

Multi spore experiments will be moved to the Mad Scientists forum.

A huge Thank You to mydarling, who created a lot of wonderful content. You ma'am, are a gentlewoman and a scholar!

 

Turkey Ranch: I'm confused. It's all this terminology, I admit I'm not good with remembering, that's what brought me back to this page.

 

I want to start a thread on my substitute agar experiment, I have added it to my other posting already but it could be moved/combined.

 

I wanted to wait until I had some positive results, and outline what I did, and start it again to repeat my own results.

 

When I start with spores, from prints I've taken, that I  grew out on pf cakes from syringes I bought from vendors, what do you call that?

 

I crumbled and stretched out on grains, then put that mycelium into my agar substitute to clean up.

 

That's what the experiment is, so far. I'm pretty good with the "scientific method" format on this page.

 

I have searched and not found this type of method with this material and am posing the question, "has anyone any experience with this?"

 

Where would I post this.

[CatsAndBats]

Unless you have isolated/cloned fruit bodies then it's multispore still, which isn't an exact enough way (or at all really) to rely on for testing methods against controls.

 

Unless of course that statement is flawed in some way.  I am just a cat.   

 

PS, there should be a cat emoji 

Edited by catattack, 11 March 2015 - 04:02 PM.

[TurkeyRanch]

Pretty spot on cat.

Turkey Ranch: I'm confused. It's all this terminology, I admit I'm not good with remembering, that's what brought me back to this page.
 
I want to start a thread on my substitute agar experiment, I have added it to my other posting already but it could be moved/combined.

What exactly are you trying to prove, ie, what is your experiment?
 

I wanted to wait until I had some positive results, and outline what I did, and start it again to repeat my own results.

This is a good way to post an experiment, yes. Having at least one cycle done so you can present it in full will make it easier to post, and easier to read and use as quality information for the readers.
 

When I start with spores, from prints I've taken, that I  grew out on pf cakes from syringes I bought from vendors, what do you call that?

Multi spore. Growing from multiple spores yields many different combinations of genetics within a single culture. This makes using cultures created in this manor impossible to use in scientific observations. It is impossible to tell if it was experimental conditions or genetic anomaly are responsible for different results.

An isolate is a single set of genetics which will behave the same, allowing you to compare your controls to your experimental group, and say with reasonable certainty that what you changed caused a different result.
 

I crumbled and stretched out on grains, then put that mycelium into my agar substitute to clean up.
 
That's what the experiment is, so far. I'm pretty good with the "scientific method" format on this page.
 
I have searched and not found this type of method with this material and am posing the question, "has anyone any experience with this?"
 
Where would I post this.

So correct me if I am wrong but this is what it seems you have done so far:

1. Purchased spore syringe from a vendor.
2. Grew them out on cakes, took prints.
3. Used said prints to make another generation of cakes.
4. Crumbled those cakes onto grain, and let that colonize.
5. Put some of the mycelium from the cake/grain onto agar.

Did I get that about right?

[happy4nic8r]

Yes. That's about right. Both myc from grain and from cake were used.

 

The only thing new or different, or even noteworthy is the recipe for the agar, and the no-tek tek involved.

 

Plus that it works.

 

So it really has more to do with the transfer to a really user friendly agar substitute (since there's no agar involved), for storage, isolation, whatever you would use agar for.

 

Does that make sense?

 

As you know, I'm a novice when it comes to agar, this just happened by accident, kind of, so where it goes is kind of the secondary objective.

[TurkeyRanch]

Well, what your describing would fit right in in Fungi: Magic Mushrooms. There is no experiment per say, you just had success with an agar mix you're currently playing with. That is certainly useful good info, and should be showcased as a thread in Magic Fungi.

If it's not agar at all, it would still fit in Magic Fungi if it works. Mad Scientists maybe.

If you really like your agar mix, and it works for you several times with no difficulties (meaning your confidant enough that it works to recommend it to others), you could post it outside your current thread as an agar recipe. There is no need to play with isolates or prove anything other than that your mix works well as an agar (substitute) media, which you can demonstrate with pictures of colonized plates.

Where you would run into trouble with people questioning you, would be if you started making claims like "this agar recipe works twice as well to promote rapid growth than potato dextrose agar." Or "this mix is a reliable way to store cultures long term".

I need to go look specifically at exactly was your doing, so I can get up to speed. I will do some looking/reading.

If you actually feel your mix is superior in some important way, and wish to make such a claim, than designing an experiment would be helpful to support your claims. Using an isolate, you could make 10 plates of your mix and 10 plates of a standard agar mix, and compare growth rates of both groups, crunch the data, and present it as an experiment in the Myco Lab.

Edited by TurkeyRanch, 11 March 2015 - 06:29 PM.

[happy4nic8r]

 Magic Fungi it is, until it becomes obvious it should be elsewhere. I will work towards that end.

 

Thanks for your direction in this.

[TurkeyRanch]

Yep, we can always move threads if they develop a different direction.