Golden Oyster Agar Plate$29.99
Availability: In stock
Golden Oyster Agar Plate
$29.99
Looking for the best Golden Oyster Agar Plate around? Our Agar Plates are made-to-order, providing you with the absolute cleanest, aggressive mycelium on arrival.
| Species | Pleurotus citrinopileatus |
| Difficulty ℹ️ | ? |
| Spore Coloration | Pink |
| Ecology | Saprotrophic |
| Edibility | Choice |
The golden oyster is an attractive fast growing mushroom that fruits on a wide range of woody substrates. The mushrooms grow in clusters of small, thin fleshed, funnel-shaped yellow caps. The flavor improves dramatically with thorough cooking. Mushrooms tend to be bitter and sour when raw or undercooked.
The golden oyster mushroom, like other species of oyster mushroom, is a wood-decay fungus. In the wild, P. citrinopileatus most commonly decays hardwoods such as elm. The first recorded observation of naturalized golden oysters in the United States occurred in 2012 on Mushroom Observer, perhaps a decade after the cultivation of the species began in North America, and they have been found growing on oak, elm, beech, and other hardwoods. Naturalized golden oysters have been found in many states including: Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Their vigorous range expansion is comparable to invasive species. In a 2018 population genomics study comparing naturalized wild isolates with commercial strains, two of the commercial isolates showed high similarity to all of the wild isolates, representing possible source strains of the wild populations. The study also found highly similar wild isolates collected from geographically distant locations, in some cases over 800 miles apart (>1300 km). This is strong evidence to suggest that the same cultivated strain has been re-introduced many times over in various parts of the United States, as opposed to a single introduction event and subsequent spread.
Some photos of this product in its wild-foraged form are sourced from iNaturalist or Wikipedia, by Jason Swanson, and others. Licensed by CC-BY-SA.
Frequently Asked Questions
An agar plate is a petri dish with solidified nutrient solution (I make mine with light malt extract, generally). The dish is sealed with parafilm to keep it sterile while the transfer colonizes the plate. The mycelial bodies grow on our agar plates in sterile incubators before being shipped to you!
Keep your agar plates ideally in the fridge, within a ziplock bag. Let them come to room temperature before opening them – it’ll prevent condensation!
Grab your scalpel and get to work! Need a scalpel? Check my gear page!
Slides from agar plates can be propagated onto other mediums very easily. The beauty of agar plates is the ability to be absolutely certain that your sample is healthy and clean!
Some photos on this page have been sourced from iNaturalist or Wikipedia, taken mark-groeneveld, Alan Rockefeller, Matthew Borella, Denis Zabin, kaju, Andrey Loria, Juan Carlos Pérez Magaña or others not yet added to this list. See a photo your recognize that isn’t properly credited? Get a giftcard for letting us know!
Sometimes, contam happens! All of our samples come with a 30 day replacement policy. Please head to our Help Center to get the process started.
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All of my agar plates are made-to-order. This ensures that you have nothing but the freshest, most voracious mycelium when it gets to your doorstep.
Please check for your individual species on this page to see colonization times.
If you’re interested in ordering agar plates and other items like liquid culture, or mushroom spores, you can have your order shipped in two by adding this item!
Please note that once started, Agar Plates are non-refundable or returnable.
For each agar plate in your order, you’ll receive a healthy, colonized agar plate, and an additional piece of parafilm in case you need to reseal it.
Can’t wait to get your hands on your spore syringes or liquid cultures? Head over to our help center to get the most up to date information on your order.