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Sterile & Lab Equipment
SporeKit™ Syringe
A small, low-cost way to test your own spores before you commit them to a full grow kit. Germinate a sample first, see that it runs clean, and only then inject your substrate.
Choose your option
Ships sterile and sealed. Refrigerate on arrival.
Germinate a sample and check it runs clean first
A successful test doubles as a live culture syringe
Grain for liquid spore syringes, agar for dry prints and swabs
The short version
SporeKit is a small testing tool. You inoculate it with a little of your spore material, leave it to colonise, and watch what happens. Clean white mycelium means good spores. Cloudiness, colours or off smells mean a problem you have caught early, before you wasted a grow kit.
If the test runs clean it is not thrown away. The colonised growth can be drawn up and used as a live culture syringe, so a good test leaves you with something to inoculate your next substrate.
What it is
A way to check your spores before you trust them
Nobody can open and test every spore syringe they sell, because opening one would break its sterility. So any syringe you buy, from anyone, is taken on trust until you germinate it. SporeKit lets you do that germination on a small, cheap unit instead of on the substrate you actually care about.
You take a small amount of your spore material, introduce it to the SporeKit, seal it and leave it somewhere warm and dark. Over the following days you watch it. Healthy spores germinate into clean white mycelium. Contamination usually shows itself as cloudiness, off colours such as green, grey, pink or black, or a sour smell. Spotting that on a small test is far better than spotting it after you have inoculated a whole kit.
How to use it
Running a test
Work clean
Wipe down a still, draught-free surface. Clean your hands and any tools with isopropyl. Flame-sterilise a needle or scalpel if you are scraping from a print. The cleaner you work, the more your test result reflects the spores and not your technique.
Introduce the spores
For a liquid spore syringe, inject a small amount into the grain format. For dry spores from a print or a swab, streak them onto the agar format. You only need a little. The point is to germinate a sample, not to use up your whole syringe.
Seal and incubate
Close it up and keep it somewhere warm and dark, around 22 to 27C. Do not disturb it.
Watch and read the result
On agar, clean white mycelium usually appears within about 3 to 7 days, sometimes longer with older or stubborn spores. In grain, expect little to see for the first week, then white growth from the inoculation points over roughly one to two weeks. Clean, even, white growth is a pass. Anything cloudy, coloured or smelly is a fail you have caught early.
Two formats
Grain or agar
Grain is set up for liquid spore syringes, where the spores arrive already suspended in sterile water and are easy to inject. Agar is set up for dry spores taken from a spore print scraping or a swab, where a flat surface lets you streak the spores out and watch individual points germinate. Agar also lets you do something grain cannot. If one patch comes up clean next to a contaminated one, you can cut out a piece of the clean mycelium and move it to a fresh plate, away from the problem. The deluxe version gives you more medium so you can run several tests at once, or do that kind of clean-up across a few plates.
| Grain format | Best for liquid spore syringes |
|---|---|
| Agar format | Best for dry spores from prints or swabs; lets you isolate clean growth |
| Deluxe | Run multiple tests, isolate and make several cultures |
| Incubation | Warm and dark, about 22 to 27C |
A clean test is not wasted. The colonised growth can be drawn up and used as a live culture syringe, so a passing test leaves you with a verified, clean culture to inoculate your next substrate.
Storage and limits
Keeping it, and what it will not do
Keep your spore material and any culture you make in the fridge, around 2 to 8C, sealed and away from light. Use the body of the fridge, not the door, where the temperature swings. Do not freeze it, as ice crystals rupture the spores. Stored that way, spore material commonly stays viable for many months, often a year or more. Let anything cold come up to room temperature before you open or use it.
SporeKit is a testing and culturing tool, not a grow kit. It will not fruit mushrooms on its own and it is not a substitute for working cleanly. A clean test tells you your spores germinated cleanly on the day you ran it. Because a spore syringe is a mix of many spores, the resulting growth can also vary from patch to patch, which is normal. It cannot promise the rest of your grow will stay clean if your later technique is poor, and it cannot rescue spores that were already dead or contaminated. It simply shows you the truth sooner.
Common questions
Frequently asked
No supplier can open and test every syringe without breaking its sterility, so every syringe is taken on trust. SporeKit lets you verify a sample yourself for a few pounds before you risk a full kit.
Grain suits liquid spore syringes. Agar suits dry spores from a print scraping or a swab, and lets you isolate clean growth away from a contaminant. If you have both, the deluxe lets you run several tests.
Clean, even, white mycelium with no cloudiness, no green, grey, pink or black, and no sour smell.
You can draw it up and use it as a live culture syringe to inoculate your substrate, so a passing test gives you a verified clean culture.
No. It confirms your spores germinated cleanly that day. Your later technique still has to stay clean, and a spore mix can vary from patch to patch.
No. It is a testing and culturing tool, not a grow kit. It will not fruit on its own.
In the fridge around 2 to 8C, sealed and out of the light, in the body of the fridge not the door. Do not freeze it. Bring it to room temperature before opening.
Sources
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Questions and answers
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Spores and cultures are supplied for microscopy and legal gourmet mushroom cultivation only. Always work cleanly and follow the law in your area.
We work hard to keep this information accurate and to cite reputable sources, but the occasional mistake can still slip through. Always check the product label and a current reference before relying on any figure for something important.