Hillbilly Mushroom Liquid Culture (2024)

FAQs

How long does mycelium take to grow in liquid culture? ›

Within 7 – 14 days you'll see the mycelium has 'clouded' the culture and expanded throughout; this is aided with semi-regular mixing/shaking. This can be achieved by use of a magnetic stirrer, a bolt in the bottom or just swirling by hand. Things you'll need: AirPort Jar – Here is my guide on how to make them.

Carefully open the packaging that your liquid culture syringe came in, remove the cap on the end of the syringe and attach the needle. Make sure you shake the liquid culture syringe to disperse the mycelium.

Generally speaking, the first step in growing mushrooms is to create grain spawn. This can be done several ways, by adding tissue from a petri dish or slant to sterilized grain, or by squirting 2 to 6 ml of liquid culture onto sterilized grain.

That depends on how dirty the inoculate was with bacteria or if mold spores were introduced and how many. A good liquid culture will often be a tiny bit cloudy and then clear up.

There are several opinions on this, but generally growers recommend swirling, stirring or shaking your jar once a day. If you have a very slow-growing strain, you may only need to shake it every second day when you see a clump or cloud of mycelium forming instead of small strands.

Healthy liquid culture

The liquid culture solution should be clear, with blobs of mycelium growing and floating.

For optimal longevity and health of your liquid culture, it's best to store it in a refrigerator, ideally at temperatures between 2-8°C (35-46°F). Never freeze a liquid culture (or spores), as this will kill the living culture inside.

Temperature Fluctuations:

Each mushroom strain has an ideal temperature range for growth. If the ambient temperature veers too far from this sweet spot, colonization can slow down or even halt.

Usually about 1 – 2 CC's of liquid culture is sufficient per quart sized grain jar. You can also inoculate the grain jar without even opening the lid, by simply injecting the liquid culture right though the filter on the top of the jar.

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.

What is the best temp for colonizing grain spawn? ›

Colonization occurs after inoculation. This is when the mycelium will start to take over the grain that was inoculated with spores. This period usually lasts between 3 to 6 weeks depending on strain and environmental conditions. Ideal conditions for this phase are in a dark place and temperature between 72 F – 80 F.

Liquid media is a type of culture media in liquid form used for growing microorganisms in a laboratory. It has advantages such as easy preparation and observation of bacterial growth, but also some disadvantages like contamination risk and shorter shelf life.

All you need to do is inject around 1ml of spores into the liquid culture vial, then shake. There's no need for a sterile environment, and you'll cultivate a high-quality liquid culture in return.

Does Liquid Culture Colonize Faster? Yes, a liquid culture vs. spore syringe does generally lead to faster colonization compared to spore syringes. Since the liquid culture contains living, active mycelium, you're essentially skipping the germination phase that is necessary with spore syringes.

The inoculation process is also far shorter in liquid cultures. You can expect mushrooms to only incubate for 10 days to three weeks, which is significantly less than normal. The level of mycelium growth is practically limitless, giving you a high yield every time.

The higher the inoculation rate or amount of spawn added to the substrate, the faster the mycelium will grow through the substrate.

Initial mycelium growth is visible within 1-3 weeks of inoculating your pod with spores or liquid culture. Full colonization usually occurs within 4-5 weeks, though it can sometimes take longer. With RyzaPods, you can start fruiting at 75% colonization.