Liquid Culture

A mushroom liquid culture is mycelium suspended in a liquid growth medium. It differs from other starting materials because it provides a convenient and faster way to transfer mycelium into a growth medium with bigger yields. 

Liquid culture is more beginner-friendly as it’s easier to use, results faster by skipping the germination stage, and has higher yields due to efficient colonization. 

Keep the sterile mushroom cultures inside the syringe they arrived in and store them in a cool, dark place. A refrigerator can extend the shelf life. Our liquid culture syringes are viable for up to 6 months with proper storage. 

Many different types of mushroom species are available as liquid cultures. Our collection has liquid cultures of Reishi, blue oyster, cordyceps, and pink oyster. 

Strength will depend on the amount of culture you injected and the strain, but usually, it takes about 2 to 3 weeks to see mycelial growth on the bottom of the grow bag. This is when you want to start breaking up and mixing the colonized grain with the substrate on top of the grow bag. For more information, check out our cultivation tutorial video.    

To grow the mushroom, you’ll need the culture, an alcohol preparation pad, a sterile needle, and an all-in-one grow bag filled with grain and substrate to inject the liquid culture into. For further research, you’ll need a laminar flow hood, isopropyl alcohol solution, agar, and a sharpie to label your inoculated grow bag or agar. Watch this video for more details on essential tools for cultivation. 

Properly store and handle the samples to ensure sterile conditions. For example, using a laminar flow hood for sterile air flow and an isopropyl alcohol solution to disinfect surfaces before handling. 

Yes, you can. You can expand your liquid culture using a sterilized water and sugar mixture or an agar plate. 

Yes, liquid cultures are suitable for beginners because they show quicker results, have bigger yields, and are simple to use. Just inject the readily inoculated solution into an all-in-one grow bag and see it grow. 

For slow growth, you may want to adjust the pH level, the nutrition content of the substrate, humidity, air exchange, and light. In the event of contamination, isolate and dispose of the contaminated tube, substrate, or agar, then disinfect your workspace.  Fungushead products come with a 90-day clean culture guarantee, which means you can contact us whenever you have issues with viability or contaminants. Watch this cultivation tutorial video for more information.