Glovesboxes...

I'm about to inoculate my first mycology experiment.

How many of you fellow mycologists use a glovebox for this? I saw a tek on shroomery that used just a sponge full of alcohol to inject. Anybody ever tried this?

I didn't. I made sure to spray the air in area I was working in with lysol and clean every surface very well with bleach water or Tilex. Sterilize your needle after injecting each jar (if that's what you are doing) so you don't cross contaminate. Don't sneeze or pick your nose...keep your hands clean. If you are clean and careful you'll have no problems. It's easier than people make it out to be.

I only had one jar out of 24 go bad on me. I used PF Tek. Good luck!

What kind of jars are you inoculating? If you are doing BRF jars then I think it isn't absolutely necessary, but good practice anyway. My experience with it is fairly limited, but I can say the 30 jars I've done with BRF I didn't use a glovebox and have 0 contams. The last set I didn't even clean the room like I did for the previous sets and didn't have any problems. All I did was wear gloves, a dust mask, and flame sterilizer the needle between jars with an alcohol lamp made from a baby food jar and a piece of heavy twine. This is just a hunch, I have no evidence to support it, but I think a good portion of contams come from improper sterilization of the jars.

The more I've been getting involved in mycology I've considered using one at some point for future experiments. If I start having problems I'll definitely start using one, but until then it's something I'm probably going to put off. Not that they are expensive or difficult to make, just that they are bulky unitaskers that take up a lot of space.

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Thanks....

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I think I can keep it pretty sterilized...I just didn't want one more thing to have to hide or possibly explain from my lil "family"

Its not realy needed for innoculation with syringes.
When you do grain to grain or wedge transfers etc, then it becomes more mandatory