I won’t be able to continue this experiment until next year as it will involve growing corn and inoculating it with spores of the Ustilago maydis I was given by my neighbor Justine. For now I’ll put up some pictures of the original infected corn cob and of the process of collecting and storing the spores.
In the mean time I can study this paper: Production of huitlacoche, Ustilago maydis: timing inoculation and controlling pollination to get ready for growing season.
Here are some pics for now. Here is Part 2 of the experiment.
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- Infected cob hanging in a sterilized jar
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- Ustilago maydis mycelium (I hope) growing on nutrient agar
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- Ustilago maydis mycelium (I hope) growing on nutrient agar
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- The cob deliquesced. It was so gross I forgot myself & poured off the clear liquid and nearly threw out the black mass
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- I came to my senses in time and save the sporulated mass in foil and zip-lock in the freezer to await the corn