How to grow mold on bread at home

Visual experiments in biology classes help students to quickly acquire knowledge and get the maximum benefit from the lesson. But, in addition, it is very interesting and exciting. Very often, teachers ask students to conduct laboratory work on the cultivation of mold and fix each of its stages.

To properly grow the fungus at home, you need a minimum of costs and a maximum of patience. Although this process is not long, we all want to see the result faster.

What is mold?

What is mold and where does it come from on bread. The subject of our study is nothing more than a fungus that takes root in a warm environment and grows on foods and or in humid places.

There are two types of mold: toxic and non-toxic. The first is dangerous to health, and if accidentally swallowed or inhaled, it will cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and in some cases can affect the nervous system and brain function. The second, on the contrary, is a remedy and is used in folk and traditional medicine.

The mold that we observe on the products in the refrigerator should not be eaten. If you accidentally bite and swallow a spoiled product, immediately take activated charcoal and drink plenty of water.

Mold spores are carried by air, and, getting into a favorable environment, begin to multiply actively. They love wet wood, paper, glue, stucco, products. If the room where the disputes fell is poorly ventilated, it will be difficult to remove it.

Ways to grow mold

All that is needed for the active growth of fungi is moist air and nutrition. In our case, there will be bread as food. There are several ways to make an experiment, but we will consider 2 of the simplest and most obvious of them.

How to grow mold:

1. Take a saucer, put a piece of paper or natural cloth on it and sprinkle with a few drops of water. Place a piece of bread on top (better than white, so mold will be easier to observe). Cover the saucer with cling film or put it in a bag and tie. Add a few drops of water to the bread every day. After 3-4 days, first appear white, and then green mold.
2. Take a glass jar and place bread in it. Moisten it with spray water and close the lid. Put the jar in a dark place and watch the result every day.

You can simply put a piece of bread in a bag and tie it, but then it will be difficult to bring it to school without damaging the integrity of the mold.

Mold Growing Stages

When you start the experiment, do not forget to record your observations on paper. Even better if you can photograph them. As it grows, the mold will change color and volume, capturing a whole new space:

1. Stage One. After 2-3 days after the start of the experiment, white spots will appear on the bread, so the mold begins to "develop" in the new territory.
2. Stage Two. Mold turns green. This happens 3-4 days after placing the bread under the package. If before it appeared on separate sites, now they are fused together. This means that all conditions are met correctly.
3. Stage Three. It is not necessary to bring bread to this state; you can limit yourself to the first two stages. But if you want to see what happens next, then feel free to wait a few more days. Mold during this time turn into black spots, which will indicate that new spores are forming on it. This is an important stage in the life of fungi, on which it depends on whether they will continue to multiply or not.

Since this type of mold is toxic, some safety precautions should be followed. For example, if you open a bag or film, then do not breathe over the bread so that the spores do not enter your body. Gloves should be worn on hands during spraying and then washed thoroughly.

How to grow mold fast

The whole described process takes from 5 to 7 days. But what to do if you need to grow mold quickly, in a day or two. This, of course, is unlikely, but worth a try. Again for the sake of experiment:

1. Fungi love heat, so put bread over the battery or in another place where the temperature is above room temperature.
2. If you have moldy cheese or spoiled foods at home, place already ripe mushrooms on the bread. They will take root pretty quickly, which will significantly speed up the process.
3. Add milk instead of water; in such an environment, mold grows faster.
4. For the fungus to grow quickly, bring it out on purchased bread, preferably not the first freshness.
5. Some young experimenters noticed that mold grows fast on unleavened unsweetened bread.

But it’s best not to leave homework at the last moment, but to prepare it in advance.

Where else is mold growing?

Such, at first glance, an unpleasant process, such as the cultivation of mold, in fact is very exciting. You can expand the scope of homework and try to develop fungus on other products:

1. Vegetables or fruits. On them, mold grows very differently, it is more like mushrooms and has many different shades.
2. If you want to impress the teacher with uniqueness, make mashed potatoes from vegetables or fruits, add gelatin or agar-agar to it and place it under a film. Mold in this case will have an intricate pattern and an unusual color.
3. Some go even further and add an antibiotic to the jelly so that bacteria do not develop in it and the mold can grow unhindered. This will speed up the process and make your experiment unique.

Which type of mold growth do you choose? The simplest or most unusual. Around us every day there are many interesting events that you can watch and make amazing discoveries. In any case, do not forget to follow the process and write down useful conclusions.