- December 24, 2021
When it comes to home scale mushroom cultivation, we at the Fungi Academy believe in the power of mushroom liquid cultures!
Why?
They’re easy and cheap to make, extremely scalable, colonize grains far quicker than agar cultures and can be used to make endless more liquid cultures or to inoculate grains in non-sterile environments. Compared to other growing techniques, that’s unprecedented for small-scale growers.
These reasons are why we’ll soon begin to offer liquid cultures on our website, courtesy of the Mushroom Liquid Culture King, Paul of Fungaia.
In this spirit, we thought we’d provide a primer on the basics of mushroom liquid culture.
What is a mushroom liquid culture?
A mushroom liquid culture is just living mycelium inside lightly nutritious water. A basic, common recipe for this nutritious water mixture is 500 millimeters of filtered, non-chlorinated water combined with 10 grams of honey, light malt extract, or some other simple, easily fermentable sugar.
What’s the difference between a mushroom liquid culture and a spore syringe?
As we just learned, a mushroom liquid culture is basically just mycelium growing in liquid.
Spores and spore syringes, on the other hand, are not mycelium. Spores must first germinate before they can begin to form mycelium. So, when you inoculate a substrate with spores/spore syringe, it must first germinate before it begins to grow mycelium. Conversely, when you inoculate a substrate with a mushroom liquid culture, it starts growing (more) mycelium almost immediately.
What are some of the benefits of mushroom liquid cultures?
We think the greatest benefit of mushroom liquid cultures is that once you have a clean mushroom liquid culture to work with, you can inoculate grains in a non-sterile environment like your kitchen counter.
This means there’s no need for a Still Air Box or a flow hood, substantially lowering the barrier to entry in small-scale home mushroom cultivation. Since the risk of contamination is so low, this also means less failure, which is what often discourages beginners from continuing on their mushroom cultivation journey.
Some other benefits of mushroom liquid cultures are the fast colonization rates—the more liquid culture you use, the faster the colonization—the ease of making and expanding mushroom liquid cultures, and how cheap they are to produce. Even in today’s wacky world, water and honey are pretty easy to find for a couple bucks.
What are some of the challenges of working with mushroom liquid cultures?
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a couple drawbacks of mushroom liquid cultures. For one, when you first make a liquid culture, it is prone to contamination. That’s why we recommend beginner growers purchase a mushroom liquid culture syringe from experienced mycologists like Paul.
Then there’s the fact that it can be difficult to identify contamination in mushroom liquid cultures. That’s why reputable vendors test their cultures before sale. But for the beginner, this requires a sterile space and some basic lab equipment and skills. Again, buying a small syringe of liquid culture from a professional and then expanding it yourself sidesteps this challenge.
Another challenge is that to keep your liquid culture vigorous and healthy, you need to agitate and oxygenate the culture, which requires a stir plate. You could twirl your culture by hand everyday but this is definitely not ideal. Luckily, stir plates are pretty cheap (~$25) and with a little research and time, you can easily build your own using a computer fan and some magnets.
By now, you probably get the point: mushroom liquid cultures are invaluable for mushroom growers of all skills and scales. And if you can master the technique like Paul, you may have a profitable business on your hands.
Wondering how to make your own liquid culture?
About the Author
Sam is a mycophile, award-winning journalist and small business owner from the United States who arrived at the Fungi Academy one midsummer’s day in 2019 and left six weeks later with lifelong friends and a passion for mushroom cultivation.
In the past three years, he’s started a medicinal mushroom extract company, cultivated and foraged over 20 species of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, and returned to the Fungi Academy to teach his techniques to students.
Responses
NickJune 18, 2022
Omg dude you’ve inspired me . Is there anyway you can help me find myself in the position you did that one summer’s day lol. I’m nick and 32. I fell in love with mushrooms by 14 . I went on a quest of understanding who I am. Then to realize we are all the same. As Human beings. Just with different percentiles of particular behavioral characteristics.
Then I was growing pot and realized in a sense I was this plants System. It’s sun it’s moon it’s h2o it’s nitrogen or carbon content and I’m 32 so for years I’ve been wanting to go legal. I did my first mushroom run with albino golden teachers and Amazonian psilo 🫤. And not by liquid cutters .. it took about 1 1/2 months to cake and everything went well except for the jars. I see I have to be a lot more contaminant free with the jars. Thank you for that. And you’re right working slow is the way to accomplish the goals; slow and steady wins the race. Anyway e mail me back if you have any pointers .. in general . For schooling for programs etc .. thanks bud 🙏.. NickMateoAugust 21, 2022
I’ve searched high and low but cannot get a definite answer. Can you please tell me
if you introduce spores to fresh liquid culture [straight out of the (cooled down) pressure cooker] will those spores grow mycelium in the jar?
Thanks for reading and hopefully responding. ✌️jakeOctober 1, 2022
It could work, but the risk of contamination would be very high depending where you got your spore syringe from. Best option is to spawn on agar first and wait to see if there’s contaminates, if all good transfer to liquid culture solution, if not you can cut away healthy sections of mycelium if and transfer to a new piece of agar. that way you know only healthy mycelium is going into the fresh liquid culture solution, as it’s a lot harder to spot contamination in liquid compared to agar.
EveFebruary 19, 2023
If you have a Still Box or Flow Hood, I’d agree that testing the spore solution out on agar is best.
If you don’t have the aforementioned equipment then glassware fitted with the protective opening is best.
MarkSeptember 1, 2022
I was told yes if you hear different please lmk
jakeOctober 1, 2022
It could work, but the risk of contamination would be very high depending where you got your spore syringe from. Best option is to spawn on agar first and wait to see if there’s contaminates, if all good transfer to liquid culture solution, if not you can cut away healthy sections of mycelium if and transfer to a new piece of agar. that way you know only healthy mycelium is going into the fresh liquid culture solution, as it’s a lot harder to spot contamination in liquid compared to agar.
Matthew GotthardtOctober 29, 2022
I would
Like more knowledge about this type of cultivation.Jeremiah GoodFebruary 5, 2023
Ty for great video
Christopher LorfingFebruary 25, 2023
I’m interested in mycology.
KevinApril 7, 2023
What’s the best place to get good liquid culture
JasperApril 10, 2023
https://truebluegenetics.org/?Fungi or use promo code FUNGI to get 15% off 🙂
Learn how to grow ALL kinds of mushrooms!
Master the complete Cultivation Process🍄
Learn more
Dive deeper into the psychedelic space!
Get skilled in the ways of the Psychonaut🌌
Learn more
Similar Reads
Soxhlet Extractor: Old Equipment, New Technique
June 21, 202230 Comments
Over the past few years a little known extraction apparatus invented in 1879 known as a Soxhlet extractor has taken the medicinal mushroom extract industry
Read More »
How to Grow Chestnut Mushrooms
February 17, 202211 Comments
Welcome to Part III of our “How to Grow” series, where we dive into the details of cultivating mushroom species from a petri dish to
Read More »
Grow Magic Mushrooms at Home with the Hoodie Tek
December 18, 202118 Comments
There’s a new mushroom cultivation technique in town that’s simple, discreet, scalable, can fruit almost any mushroom species, requires practically no maintenance until harvest, and
Read More »
Could the Bee Man Shaman Be More Than We Thought? An Ethnomycology Investigation
November 20, 20214 Comments
Thanks to our ancestors, we know which mushrooms to eat, which to avoid, and which to respect for their mind-altering powers. Yet aside from gastrointestinal
Read More »
5 Must-Read Mushroom Books
November 12, 2021No Comments
Are you ready to inoculate yourself with mushroom wisdom but don’t know which mushroom books to start with? Or maybe you’re already well versed in
Read More »
November 4, 20211 Comment
Learning how to grow mushrooms at home can be intimidating at first. There’s all the new lingo, a grocery list of different equipment to consider
Read More »
Mushroom Contamination: How to Spot and What to Do
October 22, 202145 Comments
In the world of mushroom cultivation, contamination is as inevitable as death and taxes. That’s why a solid understanding and consistent practice of the fundamentals
Read More »
10 Reasons Why Oyster Mushrooms Are Our Greatest Fungal Ally
September 24, 20211 Comment
You’re stranded on a deserted island and can only bring three mushrooms. Which do you choose? Admit it, a Psilocybe strain was the first to
Read More »
The Complete Still Air Box Guide
September 10, 202112 Comments
The start of many people’s mushroom cultivation journey begins with a Still Air Box. There are a few obvious reasons for this. For one, the
Read More »
Urban Mushroom Farm: How to Grow 2,000lb/Week
February 8, 20212 Comments
In early 2020, Tivoli Mushrooms, an urban mushroom farm located about 100 miles north of New York City, was pumping out nearly 2,000 pounds of
Read More »
Sacred mushrooms and mental illness
February 27, 2023No Comments
From non-stop mothers to busy college students, the public eye is fixed on the prospect of betterment. With mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression
Read More »
Five Psychedelic Books You Need to Read
March 21, 20221 Comment
Now that you’ve rifled through our 5 Must-Read Mushroom Books (you’ve read them all by now, right?!), it’s time to put on your rainbow-colored glasses
Read More »