humid plates

Hello!

Does anyone know how to prevent NGM plates from being too humid? My plates are getting so humid in climate chamber that it’s sometime difficult to open the lid - there’s a small layer of water between the lid and the base part. And the worms become somehow ‘paralyzed’ probably because airflow is reduced.

Thank you in advance! :slight_smile:

If you’re getting a liquid seal between the plate and the lid, and the worms are adopting a rigid posture and not moving, you’re suffocating your worms. This can kill your worms, and even if they survive it’ll mess up your experiments.
Letting your plates dry for a couple days at room temperature before you seed them can help (with their lids on, of course). You can also cut a notch out of the top of the wall of the plate (with a hot steel inoculation loop, for example), which can prevent a seal from forming. This can make the plates dry out too fast, though.

What HillelSchwartz said. I’ve had the seal-of-death occur with a few of my plates before.

As a preventive measure, when I have a plate and there is condensation inside the lid, I will wipe it dry using a kimwipe moistened with ethanol.

Hi all,

Thanks! I wiped the lid and it helped a lot! :slight_smile: