Spore Syringe vs Liquid Culture

What is the difference between a spore syringe vs liquid culture?

Multispore syringes and mushroom liquid cultures are distinctively different and easy to tell apart. A mushroom spore syringe will have small (sometimes barley visible) black specks called spores. Liquid mycelium syringes on the other hand will have a cloud of white clumpy mycelium.

What is the difference between a spore syringe and a liquid culture?

Multispore syringes contain mushroom spores that are basically seeds, whereas liquid culture mycelium is like the already developed roots of the fungi. In this sense, the liquid culture has already got a head start on the growth process. The spores still need to become mycelium. This makes for quicker colonization times for liquid culture mycelium, where as multispore syringe inoculation can take a very long time.

Do spores take longer than liquid cultures?

Yes, they do, but you can just make liquid culture from spores via spores to liquid culture. Keeping multispore syringes or spore prints is a great way to preserve genetics and store long term, as spores last a very long time (at least 12 months if made correctly, can last many years). Liquid cultures on the other hand have a shelf life of about 6 months when kept in the fridge.

What is a multispore syringe?

A multispore syringe is spores taken from a spore print and suspended in distilled sterilized water. There are thousands (sometimes millions) of microscopic spores in a multispore syringe or on a multispore spore print. Each one of these single spores contain a unique genetic code, that when combined with other spores has a randomized and unique genetic make up for the later growing fungi. For this reason, when using a multispore syringe, the resulting mycelium and fruiting bodies will have totally random genetics that are based off of a specific set of genetics for that particular mushroom variety, strain, species, etc. Check out more about mushroom spores here.

At the end of the day when it comes down to spore syringe vs liquid culture, both mushroom liquid cultures and multispore syringes and spore prints have unique uses of their own depending how you would personally like to utilize them.