Becoming a member of The ORG includes monthly access (upon appointment) to mycology equipment. As well as discounted consulting and mycology supplies (for sale and rent).
Available equipment to use on site:
Flow hood, mixers, and sterilization equipment like pressure cookers (eventually an autoclave), UVC lamp, and 55 gal barrel with high ORP solution for sterilizing non-autoclavable materials.
Consulting services:
Grain spawn/substrate production (recipes, instructions, etc)
Flow hood techniques
What equipment to buy for what size operation and the best place to buy it.
Cloning, Agar, and Spore work
Reducing Our Environmental Impact
Mycology (and especially biology) are known to have large amounts of plastic waste, especially with agar/petri plates. These are typically #6 Polystyrene (although not numbered) and are usually disposed of after one use, especially in the field of biology where used plates need to be autoclaved before disposal for safety concerns. These #6 plates melt in the autoclave and are thrown away afterwards even though #6 plastic can still be recycled in some locations.
The ORG seeks to bring attention to this problem and in 2021, we developed a protocol to sterilize these normally single use plates with diluted bleach, dry them in a flow hood, and re-use them indefinitely.
Now in 2023, the Microppose company started selling #5 PP plastic plates that are autoclavable and reusable. We preordered a 500 pack in 2022 to make sure that Microppose could satisfy the minimum order size to get these manufactured. Now, we have about 300 too many and plan to sell all but ~200 of them, which we will keep for many years.
It is however important to note that there is still a lot of parafilm (and time) wasted in sealing plates. I have suggested that Microppose consider a plastic mold that allows for a screw on lid with a hole for a filter patch. They seem to not think enough people will buy it, but maybe one day…
In the meantime, please support us by buying some of the last 300 plates (We will match the prices listed on the Microposse.com)
Additionally, mycology has a considerable amount of plastic waste from disposable spawn bags. We use spawn bags that are about twice as thick as single use bags, but are reusable for 3-8 times. When we sell out of our current stock of these, we plan to experiment with biodegradable spawn bags, although their shelf life is currently not the best.
Note that when using these thicker spawn bags, typical bag sealing measures are not ideal. We have training videos teaching the best way to seal these bags available to members.
In another effort to cut down on plastic waste, we employ re-usable zip ties (available on Amazon) for various tasks in our research.
Lastly, we sterilize metal tools with UV-C light boxes or high ORP liquid baths instead of flame sterilization. This means less butane/propane is used, increases safety, and actually saves a lot of time when properly executed.
Supplies
Mycology cultures: Our library is vast and with enough time we could locate almost any mushroom in spore/agar form. Please message us if there is a specific variety you are looking for and we will try to find it!
We believe that cultures should not be restricted to only the elite mycologists. In fact, The ORG treats cultures like a car club treats cars. Members should share/trade cultures while everyone collectively cares for them, reducing the burden on any one individual having to keep up with constant transfers, especially with cloned cultures.
We also can handle grain spawn, pre-poured plates, slants, etc. upon request.
Extra
In time we will post more info on here but if you are searching for consulting or supplies not mentioned above, email octagonresearchggroup@gmail.com, join https://t.me/The_Org_non_members group chat, follow our mycology twitter @ORG_Mycology or our mycology Instagram @the_org_mycology
The ORG 