Liquid Culture Kit Instructions

KEEP YOUR VIALS UNOPENED AND IN A COOL DARK PLACE UNTIL READY TO USE!
YOU CAN ALSO STORE YOUR VIALS REFRIGERATED FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT.
THIS KIT WILL ONLY WORK WITH SPORES (FROM SPORE PRINTS), AND NOT SPORE SYRINGES.
This liquid culture kit and the tools are designed for making liquid cultures for mushroom cultivation only.
We strongly recommend using each vial only once, i.e. use the entire vial to fill the syringe.
This product requires basic knowledge of mushroom cultivation. If you are a beginner, please do your research first on spore prints, liquid cultures, grain spawn, bulk substrate teks, monotubs and fruiting chambers.
This product and instructions are intended for the cultivation of legal edible mushrooms.

1) Have rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol, nitrile/latex gloves and paper towels handy.

2) Inspect your vials for any damage or leaks. If you see any issues, don’t use the vials. Contact us before going any further.

3) Wash your hands and put on the gloves. Wipe all surfaces, tools and containers with rubbing alcohol before you start and as needed going forward.

4) Remove the plastic cap by pushing it up with your thumb. Rubber injection port will be exposed.

5) Remove the syringe from its wrap. Remove the tip cover and the plunger from the syringe.

6) Scrape a third to half of your spore print and dump it into the syringe. You want enough spores in your liquid culture, but the amount is also dependent on the density of your spore print.

7) Insert the plunger back in and attach the needle. Push the plunger very slowly until you get to the 10ml mark.

8) Insert the needle thru the rubber port on the vial and push the plunger very slowly (you don’t want to inject the spores into the vial) to 7ml mark to inject air into the vial. This is necessary to be able to aspirate the liquid from the vial.

9) With the vial above the syringe and the needle tip under the surface of the liquid in the vial, start aspirating the liquid.

10) There should now be some liquid in the syringe. Holding the same position, inject more air into the vial and then aspirate the liquid into the syringe. Keep repeating injecting air in and aspirating liquid out until all the liquid is in the syringe.

11) Once all the solution is in the syringe, remove the needle from the vial. Aspirate another 1ml of air into the syringe so that there is some air in the syringe to be able to shake the spore solution. Put the syringe tip cover back on.

12) Shake your syringe and store it in the dark and at room temperature (75-80°F). Keep shaking your syringe once a day until enough mycelium growth is achieved.

13) In about 5-14 days you should start seeing white mycelium growing. When there is a good chunk of cloud like mycelium in the liquid (another 10-14 days), your liquid culture is ready. Shake well to separate the mycelium as much as possible and you can now inject the liquid culture into your grain substrate, such as rye berries.

14) 10ml of culture should be enough to inoculate 3lb of grain spawn.

15) If you don’t see any growth after 14 days, your spores were probably not viable.
Good Luck!