Hillbilly Mushroom Liquid Culture (2024)

FAQs

What is the best temperature for liquid culture? ›

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.

This should take 10-14 days at warmer temperatures, or 16-21 days at temperatures around 70 degrees. Please research the specific species of mushroom you are cultivating in order to incubate at correct temperature.

To make liquid culture, mix a sugar source (like light malt extract or honey) with water, sterilize the solution, and then introduce mushroom mycelium. Use a canning jar with an airport lid for the culture and a pressure cooker for sterilization.

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.

Usually bacterial contamination with liquid culture. The agar plate from a rotten jar will have an outline of the sample but no white mycelium. If there is any mycelium, it looks weak and poor and not white, aggressive and fluffy. Contaminated LC jars will be cloudy and smell sour.

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.

The higher the inoculation rate or amount of spawn added to the substrate, the faster the mycelium will grow through the substrate. The substrate likely will not produce a larger amount of mushrooms, so a high inoculation rate means more money spent on spawn per pound of mushrooms.

Mycelium transferred from agar plates into liquid culture will grow until the container is fully colonised and ready to incoulate your spawn. You can also inoculate freshly made jars of liquid culture with a sample of your now colonised culture to generate even more…

How much liquid culture per jar or spawn bag? As mentioned, it's best to use around 1–5cc (i.e. ml) of liquid culture per grain spawn jar or bag. As you're inoculating with already developed mycelium, you need very little for it to begin its work.

How long does it take to see growth in liquid culture? ›

Wait 7 – 14 days to allow for colonisation, once you begin to see growth, give the jar a gentle swirl/stir and repeat as needed to break up the structures and ensure the whole broth is colonised.

Think of it this way: a liquid culture is just nutrient broth with mycelium floating inside. The culture makes inoculating substrates easier.

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.

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.

As a rule of thumb, we will store liquid culture at room temperature if we plan on using it within a few days to a week. If you plans on inoculation or preparing other materials in the mean time, it is best to store the liquid culture in the refrigerator to slow down the metabolism of the mycelium.

Once you have a bottle of sterilised 'broth' you drop a sample of your desired culture into it. Within 7 – 14 days you'll see the mycelium has 'clouded' the culture and expanded throughout; this is aided with semi-regular mixing/shaking.

Upon receiving the culture, store it in the refrigerator (unless it is Pink Oyster) until use to maximize the shelf life. Avoid freezing and hot temperatures. Liquid cultures will remain viable for 6+ months if properly stored.