Crude media/ undefined media for protozoa culture, we all can enjoy!

[charlie g]

Hi, all, please enjoy my microscopy activity ( from time to time) of compounding crude/ undefined media for use with protozoa, or algae species.

Anyone whom gardens often notes: 'companion plants bolster growth of desired plants'...something about interactions of neighbor organisms ...helps a desired species/ 'crop' to thrive. Crude/undefined but repeatable media are a step less than actual living organisms cultured together.

Consider collecting numbers of same species of insects' to compound a crude media ...combined with basic commercial 'plant food' ...pressure cook this stock media to sterilize it...keep a few small vials of this crude/undefined media in your freezer. Use this stock media in small amounts ,mixed with bottled water...when you have a target organism, or snipet of a community to enjoy the culture process with. Of course the intense heat to sterilize the crude media, surely destroys a number of heat-sensitive growth factors..siggh.

A few years ago I made time ( tedious, thankless work) to early in growth season smack Japanese beetles off my grape vines...I collected quite a number in a wide mouth plastic jar.

I placed a few freshly crushed/dead beetles by a variety of ant mounds...ants would drag the beetle into their chambers...alas a day latter this beetle corpse rejected/ removed to outside the ant entrance mound.

When I placed crushed 'grass hoppers' by ant mounds..the ants kept this organism to feast upon in their chambers...enchanting bioselection by my neighbor ant colonies.

On a whim..as I collected so many Japanese beetles ...I kept this crude stock with simple commercial 'plant food' as a stock for protozoa culture. I pressure cooked screw top vials of this undefined media , left them in a jar in the freezer.

I totally thank late St.Johns U/NYC professor Dr. Daniel M. Lilly for kindly meeting with me as a 1968 high school student , and with a grad. student showing me their protozoan- nutritional lab, and coaching me on their protozoan nutrition research.

This year I explored with my crude/undefined media...culture of: 1) emerged cicada shed husks ( these organisms have been underground for years..I fancy some organisms attach to these cicada locusts under ground ..for their own life cycles...

Just a dream..but I enjoy 'microscopy world views'..go figure.

[charlie g]

I also collected milkweed seed ( still fluffing out of an exploded milkweed pod), to see if a few seeds would germinate in my crude culture media.

The milkweed seed plate grew no evident protozoa, but an enriched near monoculture of a specific bacteria.

[charlie g]

On 10/24/23 I sampled both cultures..cicada shell plate, and milkweed seed plate. These plates were both given a ten hour light cycle under a sheet of paper toweling.

They each displayed a near monoculture of bacteria , each plate a different size of bacteria. The cicada shell ( years underground in soils by plant roots) also had an enriched population of one distinct type of ciliate, and another less plentiful ciliate.

[charlie g]

I note that the cicada emerged from the soils perhaps in August, so that cicada shell sat through many rains, many days of sunshine, before I collected it 9/24/23.

Consider making crude/undefined ( but from same insect source each time) media to enjoy microscopy with.

charlie guevara, finger lakes/US

[Dennis]

Charlie G,

Good stuff. You're the one with that dog. Right?

[charlie g]

Hi, Denis, thanks for visiting my post. Yup, good doggie and I often partner on open space, microscopy collection hikes.

When we resided in Ridgewood/Bergen county, NJ....most of our microscopy collection hikes were north of us in: NJ highlands/ and NY Hariman, NY state park.

I miss all the great foods on NJ/ NYC hinterlands...up here we have terrific foods from Ithica/NY.

all the best, charlie g.

[charlie g]

Hi, Denis, thanks for visiting my post. Yup, good doggie and I often partner on open space, microscopy collection hikes.

When we resided in Ridgewood/Bergen county, NJ....most of our microscopy collection hikes were north of us in: NJ highlands/ and NY Hariman, NY state park.

I miss all the great foods on NJ/ NYC hinterlands...up here we have terrific foods from Ithica/NY.

all the best, charlie g.