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Solid microworm medium


Interfecus

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I recently attempted to make a medium for microworms that would be solid and easier to harvest from. I decided to do this purely on a whim and because I could see that it might allow the containers to be easily cleaned.

I dissolved quite a bit of agar in a small pot of boiling water to make the base for a gel medium. I used agar because it forms a very thick gel when used in larger than normal quantites, can be cheaply bought at many asian groceries and it remains solid at room temperature. please note that gelatine dissolves at room temperature and so cannot be used for this. After it had dissolved, I added a teaspoon of sugar and poured in quite a bit of rolled oats. I then stirred it for a while until the rolled oats broke down to form a medium thickness porridge. I poured this into three containers and allowed it to cool. When it was only lukewarm and had already begun to set, I added some yeast mixed into a tiny bit of warm water into each container. I then added some microworms by running my finger over the top of an established culture and rubbing the worms off onto the new medium surface. Although them didn't look very promising at first, these new cultures have bloomed to support huge numbers of microworms, at least as many as a regular culture, and have several benefits.

Their first benefit is that the cultures seem so far to dry out less easily than regular ones. One culture is less than a centimetre thick but shows no sign of drying. They are also incredibly easy to harvest as you can gently run a finger over the surface, picking up worms but leaving the medium behind. Their third benefit is that the containers should be re-usable. The solid medium sitting in the container can simply be tipped out in one go and shouldn't leave bits sticking to the sides. A rinse will remove liquid and worms from the sides and bottom then the container is ready to be used again.

I haven't yet determined the life span of these cultures but I will post information here once my new cultures have run out.

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