# Home made FF Culture Media



## Tagar (Nov 3, 2007)

I'm new to the hobby and have been using FF (mel) culturing media bought online with good results but I would like to try and make my own media. I've read the Mini FF culturing a Mini How To (food-feeding/topic25298.html) which is excellent but I'm still unsure of the ratios. From what I can tell a mixture of instant mashed potato flakes, sugar and brewers yeast (with a little bakers yeast sprinkled on top) should work but I don't know the ratios of each. I just made a trial mix of 3 cups potato flakes, 1 cup sugar and 3/4 cups brewers yeast and am still waiting for the results. Anyhow any input from experienced PDFers would be welcomed.

By the way I said I'm new PDFs, and will be getting my 1st Leucs in a couple of weeks, but this is one of the coolest hobbies I've seen in years.


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## bLue_reverie (Mar 2, 2008)

I've worked around with that mix.

I used to use half a cup of brewer's yeast which the flies seem to love since they seemed to boom faster. As a means of population control, I use maybe 2 tbspns of brewers, 1 tbspn of sugar, 1 cup of hot water, 1 cup of vinegar which makes enough for about 2 cultures. They still come out well and I save a ton of ingredients in the meantime. 

As for potato flakes is where I play with consistency. I just keep adding till I get the desired viscosity. And that seems to depend on the flies as well. I was experimenting with different thicknesses for different flies.

Here was something I was playing with. Below are both Golden Delicious cultures:
This was done with a thicker mix








This was done with a thinner one








Side by side, thin on the left, thick on the right. Both were made the same day and left in the same spot.









Opposite goes for Hydei
Thin culture








Thick culture








Side by side, thin on the right, thick in the middle, and a thick mix that I left on top of a light fixture. Warmth made it explode but the culture but didn't last as long.


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## bLue_reverie (Mar 2, 2008)

Still something I'm playing with. The only thing I have against the mix is that it smells. Really really bad once the flies start kicking in. I'm currently trying out another homemade mix that so far doesn't seem to carry the same odor but I have yet to compare fly production.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

bLue_reverie said:


> I've worked around with that mix.
> 
> I used to use half a cup of brewer's yeast which the flies seem to love since they seemed to boom faster. As a means of population control, I use maybe 2 tbspns of brewers, 1 tbspn of sugar, 1 cup of hot water, 1 cup of vinegar which makes enough for about 2 cultures. They still come out well and I save a ton of ingredients in the meantime.
> 
> ...


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## CharleyT (Nov 29, 2008)

Ed said:


> I use a modified Carolina Mix which is the basic mix used above but I also cut it with Carolina mix to add some mold inhibitor and then I also add spirulina to it and if there is one laying around a old banana/4 cultures. I microwave the cultures to kill off any potential mites or other contaminents allow to cool with the lid on, add the baker's yeast, wood wool and then the flies. I have been able to readily culture both hydei and melanogaster with this mix. I have not had a problem with it smelling.
> 
> Ed


Ed,

Are you still using this basic mix? If so, may I ask the qty of spirulina you add, as well as its purpose? The wife is deathly allergic to bananas, so they are not an option for me. 

My mix is based on Sean Stewart's, with the addition of cinnamon to help control the culture's smell. Appears to work based on my 3-week testing period.

Charley​


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I add the spirulina at a rate of about one teaspoon per 2 cups of dried media. Its to provide an extra carotenoid source as standard media appears to be low in carotenoids. 

Ed


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Ed said:


> bLue_reverie said:
> 
> 
> > I've worked around with that mix.
> ...


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## CharleyT (Nov 29, 2008)

Ed said:


> I add the spirulina at a rate of about one teaspoon per 2 cups of dried media. Its to provide an extra carotenoid source as standard media appears to be low in carotenoids.
> 
> Ed


 
Thanks Ed. I noticed you also mentioned FFs raised in dark areas might be low in Vitamin A. Is there an additive that we might use to help with this as well? 

We also tend to throw away quite a bit of our FFs dusting materials as they age, would dosing them in our cultures?

Charley


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

CharleyT said:


> We also tend to throw away quite a bit of our FFs dusting materials as they age, would dosing them in our cultures?
> 
> Charley


The flies clean themselves off too fast to make that a viable option. It would probably funk up the culture as well.


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## CharleyT (Nov 29, 2008)

jubjub47 said:


> The flies clean themselves off too fast to make that a viable option. It would probably funk up the culture as well.


I should have explained better I think. I was wondering if it, like spirulina, could be added to the powdered portion of the mix, and be used by the FFs (in whatever stage of development) to boost them up (like the spirulina appears to do).

Charley


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## salix (Mar 28, 2008)

This was mentioned once before on a thread. Several people said they mix some of their "old" vitamins/calcium in with their ff mix. I don't see where it could hurt, so that was my plan as well. I would think as long as you aren't putting in so much as it disturbs the ratio of food for the culture.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Well it can have some unintended side effects... for example it has been shown with a number of other inverts that if you bump up the calcium levels enough you actually decrease production. 

With the addition of the regular vitamins, I'm not sure what people are attempting to achieve as the cultures are effectively unregulated bioreactors in which you are combining microbial and fungal action, aerobic and anaerobic oxidative effects, reactions with different secreted enzymes.... in other words, this is something you cannot really control... in addition, you can change the nutritional needs of the flies or even the yeasts in this way which can change how the cultures function. 

Ed


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