How to use a liquid culture syringe
Using liquid mushroom mycelium or a liquid culture is an easy way for more advanced hobby growers to try out more advanced growing techniques.
With our liquid culture and our sterilized rye grains you can easily make your own grain spawn on demand. No more huge minimum orders or need for chilled transports.
You can use liquid culture to inoculate many different substrates but in this guide we will be working with sterilised rye grains.
The process of inoculating other substrates is however more or less the same.
If you are totally new to growing mushrooms we recommend that you try growing mushrooms from a grow kit instead.
This since using liquid culture and inoculating substrates with grain spawn considered more advanced.
Please read the whole guide before you start using your liquid culture.
Before you start
Storing liquid culture
Liquid culture is best stored in the fridge at 2-4 ° C once the syringes arrive.
The syringes can be stored unopened in the fridge for up to 3 months.
Liquid culture syringes that contain Pink Oyster mycelium should not be stored in the fridge.
Pink oyster mycelium do not fare well is stored cold long term.
How much liquid culture should I use?
How much liquid culture you need is depending on the medium you are inoculating.
If you are using our sterilised grain bags we recommend that you use 10 ml of liquid culture per bag.
You can use less but it will slow down the process while increasing the risk of failure.
It is possible to reuse the same syringe on multiple occations.
If you still have some liquid culture left in the syringe when you are done inoculating you can add the protection cap back on the needle and reuse the parafilm to secure the plunger and the protection cap.
Store the leftover liquid culture in the fridge and use it within 2 weeks.
When you are ready to use the liquid culture again please scrub down the whole syringe with rubbing alcohol.
Please also heat up the needle itself with a lighter until it is glowing read to sterilize it. You never know what kind of bacteria can be growing in the fridge.
Can I add liquid culture directly to my substrate?
It is possible but we do not recommend it. This since the chance of failure is bigger.
We recommend that you use the liquid culture to inoculate grains and use the grain spawn to inoculate your growth substrate. Whether it is sawdust, hay or cardboard.
Just break up the grain spawn once the mycelium have taken over it. Then inoculate the growth substrate you want to use.
The structure of the grains give the mycelium more points of attack to spread from in the growth substrate compared to just spraying liquid culture in it.
So this speeds up the incubation period and reduces the risk of failure.
Using your liquid culture syringe
Step 1
Open the box and remove the liquid culture syringe and the needle from the box.
Disinfect both your hands and the syringe itself with some rubbing alcohol.
The needle is packaged in a sterile package.
Step 2
Shake the syringe or gently flick it so that the mycelium mixes with the liquid in the syringe.
Mycelium that have bunched together is sometimes hard to push out of the needle.
Step 3
Remove the protection cap from the edge of the syringe.
Be mindful with hand hygiene.
If you have touched a lot of stuff before you last scrubbed your hands with rubbing alcohol is is good to give your hands another scrub before removing the cap.
Step 4
Open the package containing the injection needle.
Just open the package enough so that you can attach the needle to the opening of the syringe.
Attach the needle onto the syringe.
The needle have a plastic cover protecting it. So you do not have to worry about stabbing yourself.
Step 5
Remove the plastic cap covering the needle and inject the liquid culture into your medium.
If you are not using the whole syringe at the same time it is smart to put on the cap protecting the needle again once you have used enough liquid culture.
If you are reusing the same needle you want to heat it up with a lighter until it glows red before inoculating the next container with medium.
