Frequently Asked Questions

We ship to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. We do not ship to PO boxes, to APO, FPO, or DPO addresses, or outside the United States.

Hawaii requires an extra step. Hawaii law treats fungi, including live mushroom cultures, as microorganisms, and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture must approve an import application (Form PQ-7) before any live culture enters the state. We ship to Hawaii like any other state. You are responsible for getting that approval from the department's Plant Quarantine Branch before your order arrives.

We ship orders within 1 to 2 business days. Shipping is a flat $14.99 to the contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., and a flat $32.99 to Alaska and Hawaii.

Yes. After you place an order, you get a confirmation email saying we received it and are processing it. When your order ships, you get a second email with a tracking number and an estimated delivery date.

Yes. Liquid culture is alive, and long exposure to heat or freezing cold can kill it. During extreme heat or cold, we may hold your order for a few days and will email you if we do. Bring the package inside soon after it arrives and store the syringes as described under storage below.

First, contact the carrier with your tracking number to see if they can help. Then contact us. We decide these case by case and may offer a discounted price or a coupon code to reorder.

1. Work in a still air box or in front of a laminar flow hood. Wipe your work surface, gloves, and the outside of your grain jars or bags with 70% isopropyl alcohol.
2. Let the syringe warm to room temperature, then shake it for a few seconds to break up the mycelium.
3. Check the broth. It should be clear, with white to cream clumps of mycelium. See the contamination questions below if it is not.
4. Attach the needle without touching the luer-lock tip or the needle. Wipe each injection port with the alcohol prep pad.
5. Inject 1 to 3 ml through the injection port of each quart jar of sterilized grain, or 2.5 to 5 ml into each grain bag. One syringe covers 3 to 10 jars.
6. If you reuse the syringe later, heat the needle in a flame until it glows red and let it cool first. Recap the syringe and store it as before.
7. Keep the jars or bags at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Oyster jars usually show white growth within a week. Slower species, such as reishi and maitake, take longer.

No. Liquid culture goes straight into sterilized grain, which is the main reason growers use it. Agar is an optional check. Put a drop from the syringe on an agar plate, and in 3 to 5 days you will see whether it grows clean white mycelium or shows contamination, before you commit a large batch of grain.

A liquid culture is living mushroom mycelium growing in a sterile nutrient broth. Each of ours starts from one isolated culture, so every jar you inoculate grows the same mycelium. The mycelium is already growing, so it starts colonizing grain within days.

A spore syringe holds dormant spores in sterile water. Spores have to sprout and pair up before they form mycelium, so they start slower, and each one is a new genetic mix, so results vary from jar to jar. Most growers who buy spores grow them out on agar first to pick a vigorous, clean culture. A liquid culture skips that step, which is why we sell liquid cultures.

Oyster mushrooms. They colonize fast, tolerate small mistakes, and grow on pasteurized straw, hardwood sawdust, or used coffee grounds. Lion's mane is a good second species. Wine cap is the easiest choice for growing outdoors in a garden bed of wood chips or straw.

Shiitake, maitake, enoki, nameko, and reishi take longer to colonize or need more control over temperature, so try them after a successful oyster grow. Enoki and nameko fruit best in cool conditions.

If you grow golden oyster, keep it indoors and bag spent blocks before you throw them out. Golden oyster has escaped from home grows into forests in several states, and Michigan's state agencies have warned growers about it.

Liquid culture does not go straight into bulk substrate. Inject it into sterilized grain first, then mix that colonized grain, called grain spawn, into a pasteurized or sterilized substrate.

• Oyster mushrooms grow on pasteurized straw, hardwood sawdust, used coffee grounds, or a 50/50 mix of hardwood sawdust and soy hulls.
• Lion's mane, chestnut, pioppino, maitake, enoki, and nameko grow best on hardwood sawdust supplemented with bran or soy hulls.
• Shiitake and reishi grow on supplemented hardwood sawdust or on hardwood logs.
• Wine cap grows outdoors in beds of hardwood chips or straw.

Yes. Send your question through our contact form. Our support hours are Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Mountain Time.

No. The syringe holds mycelium in a nutrient broth for starting cultures. Do not eat, drink, or inject it. Eat only the mushrooms you grow, cooked, and only once you are sure they are the species you planted. Outdoor beds can sprout wild mushrooms, and some wild mushrooms are poisonous.

Yes. The species we sell are gourmet mushrooms that are not scheduled under federal or state law, so you can buy the cultures and grow them at home in every state. Hawaii is the one state where we know of an extra step, the import approval described under "Where do you ship?" If you plan to sell what you grow, check your state and local food safety and licensing rules first.