# Patato flakes vs Apple Sauce and rolled oats



## Ryan (Feb 18, 2004)

Which do you prefer? I am using apple sauce and rolled oats as the base and not too much succcess. I am thinking about switching to patato flakes but i hear it can make you want to leave your house?

Thanks
Ryan


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## mindcrash (Mar 3, 2004)

I started making my own media, using a recipe i found by Chris Miller at http://www.doylesdartden.com, and it calls for potato flakes. With this recipe, it has been my experience that the potato flakes do not smell that bad at all.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

*what other ingredients?*

Are you just using straight apple sauce and yeast? That won't do much of anything. I use a very successful home made mix, but the ingredients are more diverse. Your recipe is probably not acidic enough, too liquidy, and not enough sugar and starch. Vinegar should be added, as yeast prospers in acidic conditions. I can send you my recipe via private message if you like. What kind of yeast are you using? I have best results with Brewers yeast.


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## Ryan (Feb 18, 2004)

No thats not the problem, i am using recipes from the internet. The power mix. But instead of patato flakes i was using apple sauce and rolled oats. Just which is the prefered base for the media.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I have had very good luck with potatoe flake based mediums. I am switching to plastic cultures from mason jars...



Ryan said:


> Which do you prefer? I am using apple sauce and rolled oats as the base and not too much succcess. I am thinking about switching to patato flakes but i hear it can make you want to leave your house?
> 
> Thanks
> Ryan


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

> *Kyle wrote:*
> I am switching to plastic cultures from mason jars...


Have too many frogs now, don't you  . I use to clean out my cultures and re-use them... but that would just take forever now lol.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Yes I admit it, too many to clean. Actually its a funny story. My wife hates the mason jars soaking in the kitchen sink over night before I clean them. So one day I was like maybe I would switch to plastic... and she said "you mean to tell me you can buy plastic cups and not keep these in my sink?" So I was thinking about switching, but she really liked the idea.

I really don't make that many cultures, but that number is going to go up so the plastic ones will just save me a little time.



jbeetle said:


> > *Kyle wrote:*
> > I am switching to plastic cultures from mason jars...
> 
> 
> Have too many frogs now, don't you  . I use to clean out my cultures and re-use them... but that would just take forever now lol.


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

Yeah, I use to soak mine in the sink as well... didn't go over to well with the roommate sometimes lol. The plastic containers save me a lot of time.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Exactly... I am making too many now to wash, never imagined I would have this many frogs by now. Oh well its a great hobby.



jbeetle said:


> Yeah, I use to soak mine in the sink as well... didn't go over to well with the roommate sometimes lol. The plastic containers save me a lot of time.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

I would consider using the plastic... but the mouth of a mason jar fits the mouth of my dusting/feeding container *perfectly*.

I'll wash. I also hate tossing stuff if I do not have to.

s


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## mindcrash (Mar 3, 2004)

You know, the plastic containers that I have been using clean great. I just fill them up with hot water, wait about an hour, and rinse them out a few times.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I use a funnel to move mine so thats not a issue. These past few weeks I have just been too busy, and anything to save a little time on the weekends is a good thing...



Scott said:


> I would consider using the plastic... but the mouth of a mason jar fits the mouth of my dusting/feeding container *perfectly*.
> 
> I'll wash. I also hate tossing stuff if I do not have to.
> 
> s


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

I am amazed you wash everything Scott, but I use to until like 5 months ago or so... it just became too much, and wasn't any fun lol. I have been thinking of washing again, as I feel bad throwing so much away... but I guess I am just lazy lol.


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

I do not have as many frogs as you guy yet :wink: but I prefer the mason jars over the plastic simply because I seem to have a lot fewer escapees with the smaller mouth of the mason jar when I am tapping the flies into the dusting cup. They are a pain to clean, but I do about 12 per week and just put the old jars in a bucket with hot soapy water outside overnight and then dump the contents on the compost pile the next day. It gets them pretty clean, then a rinse and I really scrub them out. It is not too bad. 

Ryan, I use 2 different mixes the first is pretty much identical to the recipe that Mindcrash uses: 
1 cup of powdered sugar 
2 teaspoons Methyl paraben 
6 cups potato flakes 
1 cup of brewers yeast
Mix this with warm water

The second is just rolled oats with semolina about 1:1 mix. You need to mix this with boiling water. I top off both when cool with bakers yeast. 

The first mix yeilds high, but declines pretty quickly. The second gives a consistant yeild of hydei for a couple weeks, but not as many as the first. 

Hope this helps, 
Ed


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## Guest (May 27, 2004)

hmmm. me with my 1 culture per week is hoping someday that i have to worry about washing too many jars........ :wink:


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2004)

*mason jars*

Well as my collection grew, so did my desire to find the ultimate culture container for fruit flies.. I now have to clean and re-culture about 60 jars a week and I used to have them in the kitchen sink overnight but that only fit about 12 jars so risking my wife seeing these in the sink before I can get up scares me.. (especially since she gave me the largest room in the house for my frogs) I can only understand her concern of me trying to expand to the rest of the house and she sees this as an invasion, lol.. So, she bought me a power washer for my B'day and WOW, this works great.. except my first try I was an idiot and put the mason jars on my walk leading up to the side of my house and hit the nozzle into the first jar and it took off at about 90mph into the side of the house smashing... I have since "borrowed" a plastic soda holder and it takes about 5-10 seconds each and zip clean, spotless.. So those of you who will invest in a power washer, learn from my mistake, lol...


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