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 -  Thursday, March 28, 2013
Easy to Use
Reviewed By: Laura 
Very easy to use and worked perfectly. I used the microwave method.

 -  Thursday, March 28, 2013
Science Fair
Reviewed By: Stace 
great product instructions. My 12 year old was able to follow the instructions and heat the agar in the microwave. The agar worked GREAT to see the bacteria growing.

 -  Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Economical resource
Reviewed By: KimberlyNC 
I have ordered this on two occasions for two different classes. Each time the product has worked perfectly. I used the microwave method for heating. Be patient and 'swirl' the agar in the bottle for a full minute between microwave 'sessions' to help the clumps dissolve in full. If you jump the gate, you will have lumpy agar in the petri dishes.

 -  Thursday, February 28, 2013
easy to use
Reviewed By: P. Eby 
This agar was very easy to use. I warmed it the microwave method. Have to pour quickly as it sets quickly. But you can always rehead it in the microwave.

 -  Friday, January 25, 2013
orchid seed
Reviewed By: John Benedict 
Ordered 3 so as to have enough Agar, 4 different Native Orchids, seeds to plant. Anxious to see them grow.!!!

Read More Reviews

-  Wednesday, January 16, 2013 pre-made agar Reviewed By: Tim Hukapiller  Works fine, but without a calibrated pipette, it's hard to fill 10 dishes evenly and i found myself running out or just not covering some plates.  -  Thursday, June 21, 2012 Great Product! Reviewed By: Grysell Ramos  I always use this agar and always have bacteria growing. This is also the easiest agar to make. Buy the agar from this site if you need to make plates quickly with very good results.  -  Friday, February 10, 2012 Worked very well Reviewed By: Tamary Shoemaker  I ordered 4 bottles and heated them one at a time in the microwave. I followed the directions and none of it boiled over. (When I got toward the end I cut it to 10-second increments of heating and that probably helped.) I did find that after I filled about half of the dishes, the remaining agar was fairly lumpy. I just microwaved it again until the lumps were gone, let it cool, and filled the rest of the dishes. Each bottle easily took care of 12 petri dishes. We got some great bacteria growth and had a very successful activity.  -  Wednesday, February 01, 2012 Had a great time Reviewed By: Emily  For our class on bacteria, we watched Mythbuster's Hidden Nasties episode (not the exploding car part, though, and the kids were disappointed in me), and then did our own experiments sampling bacteria around the house. They enjoyed being grossed out by the results. I don't have an incubator, so we let the petri dishes sit for a week. I did find I had to microwave the agar to get it warm enough to melt. We also used the petri dishes and the swabs.  -  Friday, April 29, 2011 AGAR Reviewed By: Evan  Very good product with a very good medium for bacterial growth! I would suggest you use a waterbath to make your agar. If you don't have a waterbath you can always set up a double boiler on your stove with a pot and a glass bowl or HST beaker ~400-600 mL!  -  Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Pre-made Agar Reviewed By: Marcelle Adkins  I've purchased both pre-made sterile and the deydrated agar. Bought the dehydrated stuff you have to make up last time b/c I thought I was saving money. I was not! Ounce per ounce, the pre-made stuff is cheaper, easier (you don't have to make it) and it's already sterile. A good product.  -  Sunday, February 06, 2011 Easy to use Reviewed By: kathryn  The directions on the bottle are very easy to follow. Made preparing our peti dishes a breeze.  -  Thursday, February 03, 2011 Worked well Reviewed By: Melanie Johnson  Follow the other reviewer's advice and shake after heating. We did not, and the first few had lumps in the dishes. Once we figured this out, worked great.  -  Tuesday, April 13, 2010 How to melt it easily Reviewed By: HS  We tried the hot water bath but since the agar had been in the fridge first, the water cooled quickly and the agar didn't melt. What worked great, though, was to remove the cap, place in microwave, and zap on 30% power for 2 minutes. You can add time at the same power if necessary. The put the cap back on and shake well. Worked great once we figured this out.  -  Saturday, March 20, 2010 Worked Great! Reviewed By: Carrie   This worked great for a project we were doing to compare the amount of bacteria present on different samples. I followed the directions on the bottle and it worked perfectly. I had very smooth, completely melted agar that poured easily into our petri dishes. We used about half of the bottle to fill 6 petri dishes. We had visible bacteria growth within 2 days. I would highly recommend this product and will definitely buy more when we need it.  -  Monday, February 08, 2010 Will never use again Reviewed By: Diane  I purchased several bottles of this nutrient agar hoping it would be easy to use. I first tried to warm it in the hot water as directed. That did not work. I then tried the microwave method. It blew up and coated my microwave and I lost most of the agar. I would not use this again.  -  Friday, January 08, 2010 Perfect! Reviewed By: Sandi Bond  I thought this agar was very good and was very easy to use.  -  Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Agar is super Reviewed By: Cindy Stevens  Easy to use but a little hard a times to get melted down if in the frig to long after initial opening of container. We are on our 3 bottle in the last 2 years. Used for school science and the state science fair.  -  Wednesday, May 06, 2009 Takes some setup.   I like this agar very much,but my grandma wants me to make my own agar (i do not want to).This agar grows all kinds of bacteria, like Red, Yellow, White and it also grown mold(i grew some penicillin once) I really recommend it for beginners! I bought 2 bottles and with the last one, I cut open the top of the bottle and dumped the agar in to a flask ant the boiled it until it starts to melt(make sure you do not get distracted because I lost over half of the amount the agar) then wait less than a minute for it to cool a bit and then you can pour it in to the petri dishes, Wait about an hour and Ready to grow bacteria!!  -  Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Works Fine Reviewed By: Josue Duff  It works quite fine, but it takes a long time to melt and the last petri dishes usually recive lots of lumps an it in not smooth.  -  Tuesday, April 07, 2009 Quite Cheap   Really cheap, i had found other online store that sold much less agar for about $24.00  -  Saturday, March 21, 2009 Amazing   This product was great in bacteria growing! It lasts a long time and was easy to handle. There was no smell to it and was easy to store. I would recommend this product to anyone who loves science!  -  Monday, February 16, 2009 Love this!   This product was easy to use and yielded great results. The timing of the heating is a bit tricky, sometimes it's not enough and you get clumps, sometimes it's too much and there is spill over. But in general there is always enough even with waste to cover the required number of dishes.  -  Sunday, February 01, 2009 great! Reviewed By: Linda  This is great for growing bacteria. i used this for a science fair project and everything went wonderfully!  -  Monday, January 26, 2009 EXCELLENT!! Reviewed By: Hadjer Lahlah  The nutrient agar was GREAT. It was delivered shortly after I ordered it in perfect condition. I am extremely satisfied. I highly recommend Home Science Tools. THANKS and keep up the fantastic job!  -  Monday, January 19, 2009 This was amazing Reviewed By: Sassan  make sure that agar is completely liquid because i thought it was but when i poured it out some chunks did appear. But overall a great product  -  Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Worked Great, Easy to Use!   It was so easy to use. the fact that you only have to microwave it to prepare it is amazing.  -  Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Just what we needed   Product was easy to use and just what we needed to get the experiment done. The price was bettter than anywhere else we looked, as well.  -  Monday, November 17, 2008 Agar Reviewed By: Lorie Lane  I teach 5th grade Science where we used this solution for Science Fair. I also used it to grow samples from their desks and feet (yuck!). The students were excited to see what grew each day. The instructions were easy to follow but I did have trouble with pouring the solution. The solution has to be melted completely, so it is very hot and difficult to handle for children.  -  Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Agar success Reviewed By: Betsy  Tried the powdered agar provided by our school with no success. This premixed nutrient agar was much easier to use, and had good, comprehensive handling instructions. Started to melt in boiling water, but finished melting the agar in the microwave. Did have trouble with it boiling over, but had enough for the 3 plates we needed to complete the experiment---with great success.  -  Monday, October 27, 2008 it was awsome Reviewed By: amanda bowman  I was in a hury to get my 7th grade science fair project and I found this web site and won in 4th place (but now im a germaphobic LOL.) by; Amanda Bowman school: Aston Ranch 7th grade  -  Friday, October 17, 2008 Worked Well   The nutrient agar worked well for my son's experiment. I think a clear plastic bottle would be better because it would make it easier to see if the agar was totally liquid. I had some lumps when first pouring into the petri dish, and had to continue heating the agar to get it completely liquid. Also, it is important to let the agar cool down slightly to prevent condensation from forming on the top of the petri dish.  -  Saturday, September 27, 2008 Easy To Use   This agar is particularly easy to use and I have consistently had it cover more than 10 petri dishes per bottle. Refrigerate the bottle when it arrives and it will last for months. I found that if you let it sit at room temperature for a few hours before heating, it heats more evenly. Just remember to keep swirlling the bottle several times with each 15 second heating in the microwave. (Use oven mitts!) If the agar is more than 6 months old, it heats better in the "hot water bath" method, but still works great.  -  Friday, May 02, 2008 Sterile nutrient agar   I used this for my son's science experiment and it worked great! The only problem I had was the clumps as already mentioned by some other people who bought this. So, I tried re-heating it and it boiled over in the microwave and I lost about 25% of it. I only had enough for 5 petri dishes after that, but the bacteria on them grew great! On another note, I needed more agar and tried powdered agar from another source, and the bacteria didn't grow at all. :(  -  Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Works very well   This product is quite easy to use but you must heat it very hot or it comes out lumpy and with air bubbles in it. Be careful if heating in the microwave. It says heat for one minute, but when I did, the bottle broke open on one side after 40 seconds (spraying Agar all over my microwave!) I had a 1300 watt micro which is probably why it overheated so quickly. It did give me an excuse to get a new microwave :-) The next time I watched it more closely and everything was fine. *** Home Science Tools adds: Based on your comments, we have revised the instructions on the agar. We recommend removing the cap, microwaving for 30 seconds, swirling to distribute heat, then microwaving in 15-20 second increments until agar is completely melted.  -  Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Heat it very hot!   This product worked very well when I heated it in the microwave. The stovetop method wasn't as effective. To get rid of the lumps, you have to heat it very hot; watch your hands!  -  Saturday, February 16, 2008 Nutrient Agar   This is a great product, easy to use, made our science experiment fun and stressfree!  -  Monday, February 11, 2008 Worked Great   This product was great it did just what i wanted it to do plus it was easy. Great buy  -  Monday, February 04, 2008 Definetly worth it!   I did not think this agar would work, but I was wrong. It works great. We heated ours in a pan of hot water with the lid loose. Very important to loosen the lid so it does not explode when you open it. It works great in the petri dishes. It's a little bubbly but perhaps heating it longer would do the trick. Our germ experiments worked fine with it. In fact, homesciencetools agar was better than the agar that came in the Magic School Bus germ science kit. Way better! We used this agar with the 20pk petri dishes. It lasts a long time since you don't need much in the petri dish.  -  Monday, February 04, 2008 Easy to use.   This nutrient agar worked well for our high school microbiology lab. Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, and Rhodospirillum rubrum all grew at least adequately, and usually more than adequately, on it at room temperature. I used a microwave oven to melt the agar. Don't forget to hold the bottle with oven mitts or tongs, because it becomes quite hot. Make sure that the agar is completely melted; otherwise, you will end up with lumps when you pour it into your petri dishes. Although the bottle label says that the nutrient agar should be stored under refrigeration, I didn't read the label until after I took the bottle out of the shipping box--which had been stored at room temperature in our house for weeks. The nutrient agar still worked just fine.  -  Friday, January 18, 2008 easy to use   This agar was very easy to use. Bacteria grew well in just a few days. The only problem I encountered was that it was a little clumpy at first. Even when it looked like it was all liquid, it wasn't completely melted. So my suggestion is to heat it longer than you would normally expect. As long as you do that, it should be very easy to use.  -  Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Great product   Was a little worried when ordering that it would be difficult for my daughter to use, but it was very easy to heat in the microwave and pour into each dish. Took no time at all!