Incubators Are Crucial in November

Note, 28th August 2026: we dropped this silly frustrated idea straight after saying it. You don't need an incubator to buy a grow kit.

You will need an incubator next month to grow mushrooms!

Starting after 5th November. Ending when it's a bit warmer!

Do you remember we closed last winter for 4 months?

We don't want to close for that long this year.

It's pretty depressing not having anything to do for months on end during the dark cold parts of the year.

But we also don't want to go through the same frustrating winter we've been through so many times before with Cylocybe...

Unless you have a business like ours, trust us when we say that it can be a struggle to keep everyone happy.

If customers are trying to grow sub-tropical species of mushrooms in cold conditions and expecting success, that's not our fault. Being blamed for failed grows and receiving replacement / refund demands as well as abusive messages is not fun at any time of the year, but winter time is by far the worst.

So we thought... instead of closing for a long time this winter, let's try something a bit different! 🙂

As of next month, you'll need an incubator to buy our mushroom grow kits.

Microscopy spores and supplies are exempt from this.

But with grow kits, you'll need to be using some sort of incubator.

We want you having success. Not failure.

This winter will be worse than ever. Energy costs have doubled and everyone is struggling these days.

We cannot take money in good conscience knowing the vast majority of you won't be able to keep your grow kits warm enough if you don't have an incubator.

Maintaining 20C+ temps (optimum is 26C during incubation) will cost you a fortune if you are just relying on home heating. Most people are going to have a rather cold winter.

Why are we being pushy about using an incubator?

It's not just for our self preservation in trying to avoid annoyed customers. We want you guys to have successful grows and keep coming back to us year after year - we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we easily allow you to fail because you will simply go elsewhere (and suffer the same issues with possibly inferior products).

But I don't have an incubator!

Don't worry, we'll soon have a video up showing you how to build a good one like our CyLab. Which also has a heated fruiting chamber.

But if you don't want to build an incubator, you should also be able to buy one from us very soon.

What are the costs with an incubator?

Around £5 per month in electricity costs to run.

Let's say the heating element within the incubator is around 40W per hour.

If this was running for 24 hours per day, it would add to 28.8KW in a month. If the average cost per KW is around £0.34 (October, 2022) then it would cost £9.80 for a whole month of use.

But remember, an incubator is insulated well so would probably only be running for around half the time - let's say 12 hours a day.

What are the costs without an incubator?

Could be up to £500 per month to run. But it all depends on so many factors.

To keep a small 2KW electric heater working full pelt for even just half a day will amount to 12hours x 2KW = 24KW.

Over a month this will be 720KW at approx 34p per KW... Costing £244.80.

But that's only the half of it (literally).

Consider the fact that most homes are so cold and poorly insulated that even a 2KW heater running full pelt for 24 hours a day (£489.60 a month) probably wouldn't be enough to keep your home (or grow kits) above 20C. Forget reaching the optimum 26C either.

How will we go about this?

During checkout, when there's a grow kit in the basket we will make sure that a button to upload a picture of your incubator setup is there.

We simply want to drive home how important temperature is before an order is made to avoid disappointment and potentially save you a fortune in energy costs. And have you coming back here year after year and hopefully spreading the love for us with your friends.

When our customers are happy and having success growing mushrooms, we are happy. We just want you guys to have the tools for success this winter. And that's an incubator 🙂