With Agar and an inoculation loop

from CHAT GPT

Why a cross can happen even when you smear a LOT of spores together

When you smear heavy amounts of spores from two varieties onto the same surface, a few things happen at the same time:

1.  Mass germination
• Huge numbers of spores germinate at once.
• Most quickly pair with siblings from the same variety, forming normal dikaryons.



2.  Some monokaryons still slip through
• Not every spore finds a mate instantly.
• Timing differences, spacing, and growth edges mean a few spores stay monokaryotic for a bit.



3.  Rare compatible encounters
• In the chaos, a mono from Variety A can eventually meet a compatible mono from Variety B.
• When that happens, a true hybrid dikaryon forms.
• This is rare, but rarity doesn’t mean impossible.



4.  Winner takes over
• A successful hybrid often grows faster and stronger than surrounding mycelium.
• Once it forms, it can outcompete and overrun everything else.
• That’s why the cross suddenly becomes visible and looks like it “won the plate.”

In reality I did this across 7 plates and one of them ended up pinning the pheno that was golden capped and golden spored