Reviving from sclerotium?

[Adriana Knouf]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the collective here, but have been growing slime molds at home for the past few months. I'm now having to revive some physarum from sclerotia purchased from Carolina a few months ago that I've kept in their black case at room temp. I'm wondering if people have tips for doing this successfully! With my first attempt the sclerotium began to turn yellowish in the first 24 hours, but now just looks tan-ish and mushy and I don't see any outgrowth from the filter paper. I've started again with a second sclerotia and am crossing my fingers. The petri dish is in a tight, sealed IKEA plastic food bin with a dish of water for humidity. It's rather dry in my apartment as it's winter here and I have radiators, so maybe there's not enough moisture/humidity? Again, any suggestions would be welcome, thanks!

[ian]

Hi

Tan and mushy is very dead. Try adding one oat on top of the next piece when you rehydrate it, their stocks might be a little old and lacking in vigour. Humidity shouldn't be an issue as they're in a petri so it should be 100% eh. We can sort you out with more if nothing comes up. I keep mine on just a sheet of filter paper in a petri it's fine as a habitat

[Adriana Knouf]

Your suggestion seems to be doing the trick; an oat flake on top of a newly hydrated sclerotium seems to be showing growth. Crossing my fingers! Thanks!

[RyChu]

Nice! I've occasionally had the same problem with Carolina P. Polycephalum too ... They give you five pieces of sclerotium ... usually 3/5 grow well and the other two die.