The Mushroom Spore Syringe FAQ Guide: What to Expect in a Cubensis Spore Syringe

What is a Spore Syringe?

When you’ve been involved in a certain field for a long, long time, it can be so easy to gloss over the basics such as education on cubensis spore syringe buying. Before the publication of this comprehensive guidepost on What is a Spore Syringe we may have been guilty of not fully educating our site visitors on their mushroom spore syringes questions.

As microscopists and mycologists studying psilocybe spores, we’ve been working with mushroom spore syringe containers for a very long time. While these tools are simple, on several occasions our customers have approached us with their spores in syringe questions that simply made us say, “Oh, yeah ..I wouldn’t have known that about cubensis mushroom spores as a beginner either….and what’s a mushroom spore kit anyway? All valid questions.

And thus, we’re pleased to present to you our comprehensive guide about mushroom spore syringes, presented in an easy-to-navigate Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) format. Even if you consider yourself an experienced microscopist in mushroom syringe topics, the information contained herein will serve as a good brush-up.

If you’re a first time buyer and you’ve never handled psilocybe spore syringes before, this is all good knowledge to have, even if it all seems a bit tedious! By the time you’re done reading about the psilocybe mushroom spore syringe devices, you’ll know what to expect from a high quality mushroom spore vendors.

What Can I Expect When I Get Spore Syringes From Quality Spores?

This is perhaps the question we get the most often in one incarnation or another. What are you really getting in a mushroom syringe?

First, we’d like to very clearly state: when you order exotic mushroom spores from us you’re getting quality psilocybe cubensis spores. You’re guaranteed to always receive well-packaged spore syringes full of viable mycology spores that arrive safely. The spores within will be contained in a non-nutrient distilled water solution (which, for reasons we’ll discuss in the next section, is important!). However, the spores will always be viable and free from contaminants. Unless otherwise noted, each syringe is 10ml. Each syringe you receive will be clearly labeled and individually wrapped inside your package.

We also guarantee that our psilocybe syringe products will be “loaded” with spores – while this is another topic deserving of its own examination further on in this article, what we mean by that is that you’re going to get the maximum amount of spores possible. We don’t “skimp” on spores. Once you know where to get psilocybe cubensis spores of superior quality you’ll always be a satisfied customer of ours.

Also included with each spore syringe is a sterile needle, also individually packaged. The sterile needle will never come pre-attached to the syringe for both safety and sterility purposes. The needle and syringe use the well-known (and in our opinion, best) Luer-lock system, which is very common.

We suggest only attaching the sterile needle to your syringe when you’re ready to use your spores to maximize cleanliness. If you don’t use all of your spores in one go, discard the needle and use another. This minimizes the chances of contamination on your microscopy slides or other applications.

What Features Should a Spore Syringe Always Have? Are Mushroom Spore Syringes Safe?

Any syringe is a relatively simple tool, especially as it pertains to mycology or microscopy, but there are a few things to look out for.

You’ll recall in the last section we mentioned that our spores are delivered in a non-nutrient liquid solution (distilled water). This is very, very important! Mushroom spores are alive and viable—meaning that if introduced to the right nutrients and environment, they will begin to colonize (become mycelium). You do NOT want that to happen. If suspended in a non-nutrient solution, colonization is impossible.

This is the difference between a spore syringe and a liquid culture. A liquid culture does include nutrients, which the spores will “eat” and prompts the early stages of colonization. For some kinds of mushroom spores a liquid culture is desirable—it gives mushroom cultivators a head start on growing.

However—that’s a big however—­since we’re dealing with psilocybe mushroom spores, we need to ensure that no colonization takes place. “Exotic” mushroom spores are legal in 47 of the 50 states because they contain no psilocybe or psilocin, which are illegal almost everywhere. (A noteworthy exception exists in New Mexico at the time of this writing, where it’s legal to grow mushrooms as long as they are never preserved; see several of our legal topics to learn more).

Since mycelium contains psilocybe, even at the early stages, liquid cultures of psilocybe mushrooms are illegal almost everywhere in the United States. This is why it’s very, very important that you always purchase spore syringes like ours, which suspend spores in a non-nutrient solution. This is a very key understanding to have to make sure that you remain within the bounds of the law!

For more information, we suggest reading our article about the difference between a liquid culture and a spore syringe.

Now, a couple of “less important” but good things to know about what makes a good, high-quality mushroom spore syringe:

First, ensure that the syringe is using a Luer lock. This is a needle fitting style which, fortunately, is used almost everywhere around the world. However, some outliers do exist and you may wish to avoid them; they will be incompatible with the other equipment you may have in your microscopy lab. Luer locks are the standard because they’re simple yet effective. All of our syringes utilize Luer locking mechanisms and compatible sterile needles. In the previous section, we discussed why a sterile needle is important, so we won’t go over that again.

Packaging Considerations: Individual Wrapper/Packaging, Clear Labeling – More Than an Afterthought!

Let’s move on to packaging. We admit it’s a bit boring of a topic but it does make a difference; make sure that your spore vendor follows the simple standards we outline here.

Individual wrapping is important for both the spore syringe and the included sterile needle. This is the way we do things. While the spores are safely contained in the syringe, the individual wrapping is a small extra layer of protection, helps you recognize which syringes are unused, and helps keep the outside of the syringe clean.

Individual wrapping is less important for the syringe itself than for the sterile needle, where it is absolutely critical. If you ever receive a supposedly sterile needle without packaging, either discard the needle or sterilize it thoroughly yourself. This is very unlikely to happen, however.

Clear labeling for each syringe is extremely important. Obviously, without the labels, you couldn’t know which spore syringe contains what. Considering that we offer dozens of different kinds of psilocybe spore strains, this would get confusing very quickly. Accurate labeling is important for microscopists who wish to study a particular strain of mushroom spore. We recommend to never remove labels from your syringes.

Is it True That The Amount of Spores in a Syringe Can Vary From One Vendor to Another?

Yes, unfortunately, many mushroom spore vendors will include fewer spores than one may desire in each spore syringe. In other words, you’re getting a syringe with plenty of distilled water and not much in the way of quality spores for sale where you actually get your money’s worth.

To make matters worse, this is impossible to detect with the naked human eye since psilocybe mushroom spores are microscopic; mushroom spore syringes generally appear to contain nothing more than a clear liquid, regardless of how densely-packed with spores (or not) they actually are. The only way to be sure is to put a sample under your microscope—which we have.

Our goal is to ensure that each spore syringe we send out is packed with spores (i.e., the non-nutrient solution will be as dense with microscopic spores as possible). When you place a sample from one of our products under your microscope, the results will speak for themselves. If you were to compare our sample with a sample from another vendor, we’re quite confident even a novice could tell the difference.

Why Are Spore Syringes Better Than Spore Prints?

While it really all comes down to a matter of preference and experience, we strongly believe that spore syringes are superior to psilocybe spore prints.

See how to make spore prints, where we go into great detail about the differences between spore syringes and spore prints (you’ll even learn how to make a spore print yourself!). We want to be clear: spore prints aren’t “bad”, they’re just not the optimal choice for 99% of amateur microscopists.

Here’s a quick coaching session on why spore syringes are better for most people:

• They’re far easier to use.
• The risk of contamination is significantly lower.
• They’re simpler to store for later use.

What to Do After Receiving Your Psilocybe Mushroom Spore Syringe

After you receive your psilocybe mushroom spores, we recommend studying them right away in your microscopy lab. If you cannot, we suggest using them within 30 days of receipt; in the meantime, store them in a cool, dry place. Never freeze spore syringes—it can damage the spores or the syringe itself. If you wish to store your spore syringes for a long time, we cannot guarantee their viability—however many mycologists have reported that spores can remain viable for up to a year when refrigerated.

➢ See our post answering Can mushroom spores go bad?

Not Sure What to Start With? Consider Beginner Psilocybe Spore Strains

If you’ve read this far, we assume you’re interested in buying psilocybe spore syringes—perhaps for the first time.

Firstly, congratulations! You’re about to embark on a mind-expanding journey where you’ll learn about things you never could have dreamed of. We are, of course, talking about the of the microscopic world, as most of our customers are amateur microscopists seeking to discover more about psilocybe mushroom spores.

Secondly, you may be wondering which kind of spores to get or whether to buy on ebay, Amazon, or Etsy or from a quality specialized source like Qualityspores.store. With so many options available you could be overwhelmed. We recommend starting with any of the spores found in the “beginner” category; these mushroom spores are among the most well known and well-researched, and they’re very popular to study for good reasons. Strains like Golden Teacher or B+ cubensis will rarely be a bad choice for those just starting out.

If you can’t decide, we have a really fun option: the Mystery 6 bundle pack. This economical variety pack includes six spore syringes—and is the only time we break our “clearly labeled” rule. The syringes are unlabeled, but each contains a different strain of psilocybe mushroom spores. Even experienced mycological taxonomists love this discounted pack, because they really get to test their skills—can you identify each of the different strains under your microscope?