Slime mould growth + How to get sclerotium?

[lu mafo]

Hello! 

So... I recently got some slime mould (thanks Ian :) : ) ) and they have been growing like crazy! I started growing them less than a week ago and they have already filled 5 different tapware. I gave some new oatmeal to them and they had already colonized the oat in less than 10 minutes. Is this normal? I thought they were supposed to be a bit slower. 

ALSO, how do I get scleretoium from the plasmodium? I read somewhere that I need to keep feeding them and let them dry, but how long is it supposed to take? Is there any other method to do this? Any tips on how to let them dry? If I don't get the sclerotium, for how long will the plasmodium be around? 

The slime mould moved out of the white region (upwards) in 1 hour, is that normal? 

[Benny Fulmer]

ian might not be online, so i can answer some of this - his strain, Mazie, is... particularly robust when it comes to growth and movement, so you're right - it is faster than usual.

and as someone who lives in a desert climate, i've accidentally made sclerotia more than once! the easiest way to get sclerotia is simply to lure it onto a piece of food and then dry it out, in my case with a fan or air cleaner or the like.

pretty simple stuff but i hope it helps you nonetheless

[lu mafo]

oh, thank you! 
I was just leaving the slime with no extra moist, will try using a fan :) 

[Benny Fulmer]

oh, something i forgot - something else that helps to form sclerotia is to trick it into crawling onto a surface that doesn't retain moisture - either a dry piece of paper or a nonporous surface such as saran wrap or a plastic bag. they dry up much more easily there. good luck!

[ian]

Hey there - yes Mazie is a little lively! When colonies get big I end up feeding 50-100g oats a day.

  My method - which is not the only way. I grow my bulk colonies on paper so you might need to adapt if you use agar.  The trick is to get them to dry over 2-3 days.

Get two trays, put a clean piece of paper that almost fills the tray in one of them. Put a smaller piece of paper ( maybe about 1/8 the size ) under it near the middle - this will be a reservoir of moisture and stops the slime wandering. Wet the whole thing.

Fold your colony in half and put it at one edge of the wet paper - open side facing the clean paper. Add a sprinkling of oats down the middle ( less than a teaspoon ) - this distracts it for a half a day or so.

Cover the whole thing with the second tray. Wait. Once the slime has covered half the clean paper, remove the original colony ( you can get another two or three batches out of it ).

Put the top tray askew so there's air flow ( I use rectangular trays so put them at 90 degrees ) but the slime is shaded.

The slime will go nuts - wandering around but it'll try to avoid the light, as things dry out it'll congregate over our reservoir.

One the edges of the paper are dryish to the touch ( day 2 ) , the slime should be a lot less mobile, remove the reservoir paper but leave the slime covered. By day 3 you should be able to hang it up to dry completely.

If escapes are a problem try wiping the edge of the tray with a little detergent before you start - it'll stop it wandering too far.

cheers

Ian

[lu mafo]

Hi Ian! 
Thank you so much! 
Would you happen to have a picture of the setup? 

[ian]

Running out onto clean paper - the folded stuff at the top is the full contents of a 25x25cm tray

Old colony removed, tray covered for drying, I check twice daily but it's basically 2 days of this.

Day 3 - nearly dry. Looks like around 25 portions to be had. You can see the outline of the reservoir of paper in the way the slimes clumped up.

BTW drying on plastic etc - I need to have a proper go at this. I made a batch of powdered scelerotia once using it - crushed into approx 0.5mm bits it could be sprinkled across a substrate for really rapid covering - handy for installations

[lu mafo]

Thank you! 
It is all very clear now :) 
Will follow this to make sclerotium, will let you know how it works out ^^