McKennaii Cubensis Mushroom Spores

McKennaii magic mushroom spore vials are produced under sterile conditions and should be kept dark and refrigerated (2-8°C) to increase the shelf life of the spores.

Vial vs. Syringes

Spore vials are superior to the spore syringes in most fields. Get the best results when cultivating McKennaii magic mushrooms with this quality spore vial. Using spore vials will result in a higher success rate in the colonization and fruiting process.

Reasons to go Vial:

• Longer shelf life than most spore syringes (2 years vs 6 months)
• It’s easier to get ALL spores out of the container. Plastic syringes are often charged with static electricity making the spores stick to them. Glass vials are never charged, so 100% of the spores will come out.
• Works great with liquid culture growth media. Syringes can be prepared with a different solution, rendering any liquid culture medium unusable.
• Spore vial solution has over a 1000 grow parts per milliliter, versus 500 g.p.p. ml or even less in most syringes.
• Professional look and feel
• Takes up less space
• Easier to transport

Contents

• 1x Glass Vial with 10ml McKennaii cubensis spore solution
• 1x Sterile 10ml Syringe
• 2x Alco Preps

Instructions to use a McKennaii spore vial

The vials have a cap with a circular rubber membrane. The rubber membrane, or septa, can be pierced by the needle of a syringe, but will stop any airflow, micro organisms or anything else to go through by itself.

Shake the McKennaii spore vial vigorously to spread the spores evenly throughout the vial. Remove the protective stopper cap from the top of the vial and sterilize the septa with an alco prep. Unpack the sterile syringe and remove the protective cap from the needle. Insert the needle of the syringe through the septa.

The point of the needle should be submerged in the spore solution. Pull back the plunger of the syringe slowly so that the syringe will fill with spore solution. Just 3 milliliter of spore solution is needed to colonize 1 liter / 1.05 quart of substrate. After having filled the syringe with the required amount of spore solution, slowly take out the needle from the vial.

To proceed from here to the inoculation process, there are several methods to choose from:

Dropping the spore solution onto the substrate

After having prepared your own substrate or cakes, you can drop the McKennaii spore solution directly from the syringe onto this. Press the plunger slowly so that dropplets of spore solution will come out of the needle. Every dropplet that will be in contact with the substrate is a potential mycelium growth point. Spread out these dropplets over the substrate evenly to colonize the substrate with mycelium.

Injection through injection ports

This is almost identical as dropping the spore solution onto the substrate. Open the injection port by pulling back the port protection cap. Use a alco prep to sterilize the injection port entry. Pierce the opening with the needle. Now drop the spore solution evenly over the substrate inside the spawn bag or grow box. After the McKennaii spore solution is injected, remove the syringe and close the injection port with the port protection cap.

Liquid culture for faster colonization and stronger mycelium

When injecting the McKennaii spore solution in a ‘bath of nutrients’, such as the Liquid Culture Growth Medium, the spores will form into mycelium inside this liquid suspension. This is called liquid culture or LC for short. Liquid Culture Growth Medium itself can be used to inoculate substrate and cakes. Liquid culture growth medium has a higher success rate and will be much more reliable than trying to germinate the spores without the use of  LC. In short: Using LCs will increase the chance on mushrooms.

Note: The Liquid Culture Growth Medium will not work well with our spore syringes.

Study spores and research using a microscope

Seen from a scientific point of view; all Psilocybe cubensis are alike. But they do differ slightly in appearance and fruiting speed (phenotype). There are numerous Psilocybe cubensis that have different phenotypes. These different cubensis are not considered subspecies, but different strains. The McKennaii is a strain of Psilocybe cubensis.

The differences in phenotype can be seen with the naked eye, but the true beauty lies under the microscope. TThe wondrous world of the spores. Many of our customers are scientists, doing research on these differences in a homemade laboratory. After having prepared your microscope slide, drop some of the McKennaii spore solution on it. Cover the specimen with a microscope covering glass. The best magnification for Psilocybe cubensis and Panaeolus cyanescens spore research is a magnification of 1000x or higher.

The syringe and reusing it

After using the syringe to inoculate the substrate, cake, or LC  with McKennaii, you can reuse the empty syringe after you have sterilized the needle. This can be done with a spirit burner or lighter. Burn the needle by keeping it in the flame long enough to make it glow orange. Let it cool down before you insert the needle again. Instead of reusing one, you can also order a sterile needle separately.

Storage

Store the McKennaii vial in the refrigerator between 2°C – 8°C or 35°F – 46°F. Leave the ‘septa protecting stopper cap’ in place when storing the vial. After removing this protective cap, always sterilize the septa with an alco prep before you insert the syringe.

McKennaii spore vials can be stored this way for 2 year after leaving our warehouse.