FAQs.

Orders and delivery

Do you send orders discreetly?

We know that the second the words “mushroom hobby” come up, almost nobody pictures Pink Oyster, Chicken of the Woods or King Stropharia. Their minds go straight to magic mushrooms. The story of our lives.

So to spare you the daft assumptions and the even worse jokes, we keep the packaging boring and send it securely.

Do you ship worldwide?

Yes. You should see the shipping options at checkout.

I made a mistake in my delivery address. What happens?

A surprising number of people enter their address wrong at checkout, so you are not alone. Here is how it works:

• If your order has not been dispatched yet, we can change the address for you.
• If you have already had your dispatch notification, there is nothing we can do at that point. We have to wait for the courier to return the order to us. Once it is back, we will give you the option to pay the delivery cost again so we can re-send it.
• If the order is not returned to us (very rare) and ends up lost, we cannot offer a free replacement or a refund.

So please, double-check your address when you place an order.

I missed the delivery. Can you re-send?

If you miss your delivery, the courier will normally return it to us, though that is not guaranteed. Royal Mail will take it to your local depot, where it will be held for 30 days for you to rearrange delivery or collect.

When and if the order comes back to us, we will get in touch to arrange for you to pay the delivery cost again, and then we can re-send it.

Where is x, y, z?

Some products only show for logged-in users. If something seems to be missing, try logging in.

Storing spores and grow kits

How long can gourmet mushroom spore solutions be stored, and how do I store them?

We suggest keeping spores for around 2 years to be sure they are still viable. That said, there are plenty of reports online of people storing them for longer and finding them still active.

Some people store spore solutions in the fridge. There is absolutely no harm in keeping them at room temperature though, and that is how we have always stored ours. The main thing is to keep them out of direct light, somewhere like a dark drawer.

How long can mushroom grow kits be stored?

Use a grow kit as soon as you reasonably can. We have added moisture to the substrates to support mycelium growth, and over time that moisture slowly escapes. Leave it too long before inoculation and there will not be enough moisture left to support the mycelium, which means you risk very slow colonisation or none at all.

Storage times do vary between substrate types. We have had success from substrates inoculated months after sterilisation, but that is not always how it goes. If you are seeing slow or stalled colonisation and the substrate has been sitting around for weeks on end, that is very likely the reason.

Will adding more solution to a grow kit make it grow faster?

No. Do not add any more gourmet solution to a substrate than our guides tell you to. Too much moisture raises your chances of contamination, and nobody wants that.

Should I use a heat mat?

No. A heat mat actually raises your risk of contamination. The warmth is not spread evenly through the substrate (the heat comes from the bottom while the top stays colder), and that creates a lot of condensation. The excess moisture that builds up is an easy way in for contamination. It really is not worth it.

If you want gentle warmth, we have an incubator in our Equipment section that will do the job for you.

What are the stickers on the lids? Do I remove them?

People ask about the “stickers” on the lids of our substrate products all the time. They are not stickers. They are specially developed filters, heat-sealed to the lids, that give the colonising substrate the clean air exchange it needs. Never remove them.

Returns and payment

Do you accept returns?

Of course. Have a look at our Replacements, Refunds and Returns page for the details, or our Terms and Conditions page if you want the full version.

Can I change my payment method?

If you want to pay a different way to the one you picked, the simplest thing is to place a new order and choose your preferred option at checkout. Each payment option comes with its own emailed instructions, and some are completed automatically during checkout, so starting a fresh order is genuinely the quickest and easiest route.

Why can’t I pay using card or PayPal?

Our business is classed as “high risk” by payment processors, which shuts us (and our competitors) out of the normal payment methods.

If you want the proper explanation, there is a brilliantly informative blog post by a fintech expert who understands this system better than almost anyone, on what it is, why it is unfair, and why even giants like Steam are stuck in the same boat: Payment Processor Fun: Making your own MSP.

About us

How do you pronounce Cylocybe?

We say it SY-loh-SYB. The name is a nod to the woodland mushroom genus Cyclocybe.

Where are you based?

We are in bonnie Scotland, in the United Kingdom.

Last updated on 24 August 2025.