Dear Kelly Chew

We have to perceptive that the rusts, smuts and mildew fungi are obligate parasites and must need a living hosts to keep them survive, you can examine their germination on artificial media but for growth and reproduction you have to use a particular living host.

Good luck

Hi Kelly, these pathogens is biotrophic fungi, pathogens obtain nutrients from living host tissues, often via specialized cells called haustoria that form inside host cells.

You can not culture them on media culture. But you can germinate the spore on water agar media but it will not expand to grow like necrotrophic fungi. 

Hey Kelly you can culture smut fungi in the laboratory on culture media. However the mildew and rust fungi are obligate biotrophic fungi. You can maintain them on living host tissues such as rooted detached leaves which are grown in enclosed sterilized environment in sterilized media and watered with nutrient solution. Detached leaf cultures were used by Dr. J. S. Mignucci and collaborators for maintaining soybean powdery mildew. Rust fungi can be maintained on living leaves.