An Easy Way to Get Pure Cultures from Fungal Leaf Spots
Clarissa Balbalian, Diagnostician/Lab Manager, Mississippi State University
One easy way to get pure cultures from fungal leaf spots is to position the leaf piece over a culture plate using either doublesided tape or petroleum jelly.
Place a piece of doublesided tape or a dab of petroleum jelly on the inside of a Petri dish lid. Mount a piece of sporulating leaf tissue on the tape so that the non-sporulating side is down against the tape. Place the lid back on the Petri dish, parafilm the lid and allow time for the spores to drop onto the agar surface and germinate (usually around 24 hrs).
Remove single spores or small colonies from the agar surface and transfer to the desired culture medium for growth and identification.
You may want to examine one with a compound microscope to make sure you are transferring the targeted organism.
Single conidial isolates should grow into pure cultures, preferably of the fungus you are looking for!
