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Mushroom grow kit
The original single-stage kit. You inject your own gourmet culture straight into the sterile substrate box through the ports on the lid, colonise, then dunk and fruit in the included tent. One box, no grain step.
★★★★★ 4.7 · 76 reviewsOut of stock
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For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only. A gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe is not included.
The short version
A single-stage gourmet mushroom kit. You inject your own gourmet culture straight into the sterile substrate box through the grey ports on the lid, leave it to colonise, then dunk the whole colonised block in water and fruit it in the included XL tent. No separate grain stage to manage, which is what made it the simplest big-flush kit we have sold. The substrate is a rye grain, coir, coffee and gypsum mix that carries three or more flushes before it is spent.
How it works
Everything happens in one box. You inject your culture straight into the substrate through the lid, colonise it, dunk the finished block, then fruit it in the tent. There is no separate grain tub to colonise first, which is why people find this one so straightforward.
Wipe the grey rubber ports on the lid with the included wipe and leave the white filter strips well alone. Fit a fresh needle and share your gourmet culture across all the ports, working somewhere clean and draught-free. The substrate is right under the lid, so a little goes into each port rather than all in one spot.
Stand the box back in the cardboard box it arrived in, somewhere steady and warm. Aim for around 24 degrees, though anywhere from 18 to 24 is fine as long as it is consistent, and keep an eye out for condensation. Skip the heat mat. Leave it completely alone and never lift the lid until the dark substrate is white all the way through.
Once the substrate is solid white (a dry vermiculite top layer staying uncoloured is normal, judge the dark substrate beneath), lift the colonised block out and submerge it in clean room-temperature water. Weigh it down with a plate so it stays under, cover the container, and leave it for anywhere from 6 to 24 hours. The longer the better, it rehydrates the cake so it has the moisture to fruit.
Rinse the perlite under a tap until it is soaking wet, drain it, and pour it into the XL grow tent (wear the mask, dry perlite is dusty). Lay a piece of foil slightly larger than the cake on top so the block never sits directly on the wet perlite. Drain the dunked cake, rinse it, and set it on the foil in the middle of the tent. Fold the top over to hold the humidity in.
Drop the temperature slightly, to around 20 to 22 degrees. The humidity comes from the dunked cake and the perlite, so you do not mist it. A 1cm slit each side near the top, plus a fan in the room on low, gives it the fresh air that drives pinning. Harvest each mushroom just as the veil under the cap begins to tear. Dunk the cake again between flushes for the next wave.
Why this one
Most of our other kits split the grow into two stages, grain first then bulk substrate. The MycoBox does it all in one vessel: you inject the substrate box itself and that is the only inoculation step. Here is what that single-stage approach trades off against the two-stage kits.
This was the UK's biggest-selling grow kit after we released it in January 2019, on the strength of being this easy. We retired it for a while, then brought it back under its original name because the design had been copied so widely. It is the authentic version, not one of the potato-shaped lookalikes.
Why it works
The whole point of the kit is that the substrate reaches you clean, so the only living thing that ever gets in is the culture you add. This is how that box gets sterile.
Autoclaved
The filled substrate box is heat-sterilised in an electric autoclave under pressure, hot enough and long enough to clear the dense rye-grain mix right through.
Cleanroom processed
It is then handled and bagged inside an ISO Class 5 cleanroom, so nothing settles on it between the autoclave and the seal.
HEPA-filtered lid
The white filter strips on the lid let the colonising mycelium breathe while keeping dust and stray mould spores out. That is why you never remove or touch them.
Worth noting
No process is ever perfect, which is exactly why every kit is backed by the Sterile Guarantee further down.
In the box
One box, complete bar the culture, which you add yourself.
The MycoBox
Needs about 3ml of culture
You supply
The living part
The one thing you add
A MycoBox arrives sterile and ready to inoculate, so you supply the living part: a gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe, about 3ml shared across the ports. We make gourmet liquid cultures you can inoculate it with.
Liquid culture has known, predictable genetics and can be incubated a little warmer, so it tends to colonise faster and more reliably. Spore syringes are cheaper and offer more variety, but are never fully sterile, so incubate them slightly cooler to let the mycelium outrun any stragglers.
Whatever you inoculate with, give the mycelium a clean start: wipe the rubber ports, work in still draught-free air, and flame the needle. Most failed grows trace back to a sloppy injection rather than a bad kit. We stock the sterile gear for it (a still-air box, wipes and gloves) in sterile and lab equipment.
Risk, reversed
Every kit is made fresh and arrives sterile and sealed. If one shows contamination on arrival, before you have inoculated it, send us photos and we will replace it. What happens after you open it comes down to your technique and conditions, which no reputable seller can promise for you. So we stand fully behind the kit reaching you clean, and the troubleshooting below helps with the rest.
At a glance
When things look off
Because you do the growing, the odd thing can go sideways. Here are the common ones and what they usually mean.
Nothing happening
Usually patience or temperature. Trace the mycelium edge with a marker and check in a few days. Cold slows it right down, and unstable warmth stalls it.
Yellow liquid
Normal. That is metabolites, the mycelium's own waste, not contamination.
Bad smell or colour
Sour, sweet or any green and grey patch is contamination. Give the filter a sniff to check, and keep an affected box away from your others.
Thin or fuzzy stems
Not enough fresh air. Widen the slits in the tent or add a little more airflow in the room.
The full step-by-step lives in the MycoBox grow guide, and the grow-kit troubleshooting guide goes deeper on contamination and temperature.
Other kits
Common questions
Aim for about 24 degrees while it colonises; anywhere from 18 to 24 is fine as long as it is steady, and watch for condensation. Drop it a couple of degrees, to around 20 to 22, for fruiting. Avoid heat mats, they cause condensation.
The MycoBox is single-stage. You inject the substrate box itself and that is the only inoculation step, then dunk and fruit. The MonoBox is two-stage: you colonise a grain tub first, then mix it into the coir. The MycoBox is the simpler of the two.
Any legal gourmet species you have a culture for. The substrate suits oyster mushrooms and Lion's Mane, and wood-lovers like Shiitake will fruit on it too. We sell gourmet liquid cultures you can inoculate it with.
No. You add your own gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe, about 3ml shared across the lid ports. We stock gourmet liquid cultures separately.
The substrate sits right under the lid, so spreading the culture across several ports gets it started in more places at once. Just wipe each port first and never touch the white filter strips.
Roughly 4 to 6 weeks for the box to colonise, then a dunk, then a week or so to fruit. So around 6 to 8 weeks from inoculation to the first flush, depending on species and temperature.
Send us photos before opening it and we will replace it, that is our Sterile Guarantee. Contamination that appears after you inoculate comes down to technique and conditions, so check the troubleshooting first.
A big single-box flush, and with good care you should get three or more harvests before the substrate is spent. The first flush is always the biggest, and each one after that is a little smaller.
What customers say
Was surprised that it actually started colonising at 20c in about 4 days.Decided to make an incubator to speed things up even more.So far so good🙂
Very easy to work with
not used yet
Good product
its too early to say right now, but fingers crossed! I really like the look of the product though. The whole kit was superb.
Great!
Ask the community
Hey guys! Ive left my spores now for 6 weeks while i was away, and looks like ive got back to half the cake growing the myscilium but the base seems to have stopped. Some of the white bits in the corner have turn to yellow and the container has some water residue on it. It doesnt seem right and unsure what to do, has the first flush just not worked, is there any point going on with the next few steps?
Waiting for an answer.
Do I need to dunk the fully colonised cake before first fruiting? The instructions included suggest yes, but a prior answer on this thread states no. Cheers!
You don’t need to, but it’s highly recommended :)
Hi I am looking to purchase my first grow kit. Could you tell me the difference between the monobox and mycobox? Are they both complete kits minus the spores? Which would you recommend for a complete novice? Thanks
MonoBox is our latest offering, and we designed it to be an authentic cultivation experience - meaning that you get to create your spawn and mix it with substrate.  What you learn from that kit is pure gold. MycoBox is for those who want mushrooms with even less effort and with less learning. Both kits cover every customer type. Both kits are uniquely ours. Both are awesome.
I am 2 weeks into my spore injection and its all looking rather healthy! Once the mycialium has fully grown, how critical is time in getting the cake out of the box and into a grow bag? i.e. if I went away for 2-3 weeks and the mycelium fully grows in my absents, will I ruin the flush if I don't respond to the full growth immediately.
Hi there, it’s not a major issue tbh :) sometimes it will start trying to pin if it’s left too long, but if it does - just pick them off and follow the guide as if it never happened. All the best with your gourmet mushroom growing!
After receiving the Mycobox, how long does one have before it is not useful? If I was unavailable to personally access the mycobox after delivery would 10 days before it is inoculated going to be ok?
Sure, should be absolutely fine. We have tested them after a much longer period than that and they have worked fine. :)
ive been reading online that you can increase your yield size and speed if you use a heat mat, would you advise using one to maintain the temperature (especially if ive got the amazonian spores)?
Heat mats are a big no no. The heat is not distributed evenly and causes differentials leading to condensation and a heightened risk of contamination. We have ‘CyLab’ (search for it) which does what you are looking for. One of its many features is a heated fruiting chamber. Or you can try to build your own. Amazonian spores - I’m not sure which gourmet species that is.
The kit comes with a bag of perlite and a bag of vermiculite. I'm not sure what I should do with the bag of vermiculite. The enclosed instructions explain what to do with the perlite but the vermiculite is not mentioned.
Hi there, sorry for the confusion. We have recently upgraded our Cylocybe Special to include another technique called ‘Dunk n’ Roll’… it seems like you were given the older guide.
We’ll get the updated guide to you tomorrow.
It’s called the ‘Dunk n Roll’ technique. You don’t need to worry about that until after full colonisation though :)
I take it inoculation will happen in the tub as don't need to transfer anything over?
Waiting for an answer.
Is there anyway for me to see the growing guide before buying so I know beforehand what I'll need to do.
Waiting for an answer.
How long will it take from injection to the first flush?
Depends on quite a few things, but we often hear of 6 weeks for colonisation, sometimes longer. Then another week or so for mushrooms.
...It’s not the quickest kit we have, but it’s a well loved and very popular grow kit on our site.
The new and bigger XL (coming tonight or tomorrow) and the XXL are quicker, maybe by a few weeks.
For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only.Sold as a sterile substrate kit for home cultivation. We trust you to be responsible.
