Mushroom Spores

 Welcome to InoculateTheWorld, Your Trusted Mushroom Spore Provider

Mushroom spores, so tiny yet so full of life. Fascinated by the world of mycology InoculateTheWorld hosts the largest collection of mushroom genetics available on the web. Since 2016, we’ve been scouring the globe for unique and rare spores, following their stories to damp forests, mountainous regions, muddy cow fields, and windy sand dunes.

Our library consists over 100 strains of Psilocybe cubensis spores, including popular strains such as Albino Penis Envy, Enigma, Stargazer, and dozens of other wild species of magic mushrooms. We have an extensive library of rare species including Psilocybe cyanescens, Psilocybe semilanceata, and multiple different Panaeolus species. We have a large selection of gourmet and medicinal mushroom liquid cultures, including species such as Cordyceps, Pink Oysters, Shiitake, and Lion’s mane.

We are proud to provide you with these various mushroom spores in all the different forms you could need. With these tools, you can perform your spore research however you see fit, and we hope you decided to take that journey with us.

What are Mushroom Spores Exactly?

Mushroom spores are fungi’s reproductive units. They can be thought of as similar to seeds. Their name comes from the Greek word sporā, which means seed, but in their biological make-up, they are much different. Mushroom spores are microscopic single celled organisms that mushrooms produce and disperse. Plant seeds, on the other hand, are typically visible to the naked eye. Additionally, plant seeds contain all the genetic information needed to grow an entirely new plant, whereas mushroom spores only contain half the necessary material to birth a new mushroom.

It is when two spores from the same type of mushroom meet that the magic of reproduction happens. Imagine this: it’s a warm summer night, the stars are twinkling above, and you’re a spore—one of a billion released by your parent fruiting body—that’s been blown far from home on a gentle summer breeze. You land on just the right conditions you need to survive: sweet decaying leaves on the forest floor. Jackpot. You start sending your hyphae out in search of food, and maybe with a little luck, a mate.

The moon glows down and your hyphae happens upon the hyphae of another spore of the same type of mushroom. It’s love at first sight. You embrace, intertwining yourselves, and eventually fusing into one complete fungus. First as mycelium, and eventually into a fruiting body, ready to spread your spores of the next generation far and wide.

It’s this fascinating process that makes mushroom spores so special, and why we’ve dedicated our working lives to spreading the mycelial network far and wide with so many different varieties of spores.

History and Evolution of Mushroom Spores

The endlessly fascinating nature of mushroom spores is what compells scientists, (and citizen scientisits like ourselves) to study them. Part of spores’ intrigue is their individuality. They vary in shape and size depending upon the species.

Spores are single-celled organisms with a solid cell wall, and even though their function is similar to seeds, they’re theorized to be at least 150 million years older. Their cell walls are complex, consisting of a structure of polysaccharides, including glucan, chitin and glycoproteins. These thick cell walls makes it tough, allowing spores to survive extreme conditions like excessive heat, cold, salt and highly acidic or alkaline pH levels. The cell walls of mushroom spores are so unique they’re still rather mysterious to scientists, leaving much to be learned via microscopy research.

Where are Mushroom Spores Located?

Mushrooms are made up of so much more than just the visible features, a cap and a stem. In fact, those are just the fruiting bodies of many species of fungi. What lies deeper is the mushroom’s mycelium, the vast underground web-like system that collects food and nutrients for the whole of the fungus, and communicates with other mushroom and plant-life through its network.

This brings us to our favorite part, mushroom spores, who’s main function is to spread to new locations in search of food and a mate—ensuring the mushroom’s survival while also possibly creating new strains. These are born from spore producing structures of the fruiting body called sporiferous hyphae, and their structure varies from species to species. On a species with a mushroom cap, like a typical Psilocybe cubensis or the famous Amanita muscaria, the spore producing structures are the gills on the cap’s underside. Many of the world’s most popular and well-known mushrooms have gills, and you can think of the mushroom cap as the umbrella or shell that protects these delicate yet vital reproductive organs.

Of course, not all fruiting bodies have caps and stems. In mushrooms like Lion’s Mane, the spore-producing organs are teeth or needles, and in those with caps but a spongy underbelly, spores come from pores, released when the time is right. Exotic looking mushrooms like chanterelles, morels and puffballs have their own unique ways to produce and spread spores.

How are mushroom spores spread?

Part of the beauty of mushroom spores is how they’re dispersed. Most often, they’re released into the air for something to carry them—wind, water, animals, even insects are great contenders. With a little luck, these flecks of dust in the wind will be blown toward a favorable habitat: decaying matter with the right temperature, humidity and UV levels, and other factors that play a major role in their chance of survival.
If conditions aren’t right, many mushroom spores can remain dormant and wait, sending out their thread-like hyphae when the mood is right and hopefully starting the whole process of reproduction all over again.

Different Forms of Mushroom Spores

Deciding which form of mushroom spore is right for you will depend on what kind of research you plan to do. There are many different options when it comes to the way the spores are stored. Below, we will go into each variant and note the differences between them.

Mushroom Spore Syringe

Mushroom spore syringes are syringes filled with thousands of mushroom spores floating in a sterile aqueous solution. Our spore syringes are made by scraping mushroom spores from a spore print into a sterile aqueous solution, commonly distilled water. The liquid solution is then mixed thoroughly to ensure an even distribution of spores throughout the distilled water.

Then, mushroom spore syringes are filled with the spore solution and caped off until they are ready to be used. InoculateTheWorld spore syringes are supplied in 12cc luer-lok sterile syringes with a removable sterile tip cap and a 1.5 inch 16 gauge needle. Our whole process is done in a sterile environment in front of a Laminar Flow Hood, and you can learn more about it in our article, Spores: A How-To Guide.

Isolated Spore Syringe

Isolated Spore Syringes are stabilized mushroom genetics, optimized to be completely sterile and to provide the most robust mushroom genetics for your microscopy research. ‘Isolated spore syringe’ is a coin termed by InoculateTheWorld’s founder to describe our most stable strains.

Sometimes known as “Isolates” or simply “ISOs,” these curated varieties offer the most consistency for your research. Isolated Spore Syringe genetics are extremely fast, hardy and resilient—that’s why they are one of our most popular magic mushroom spore products here at ITW!

Spore Print

Remember when we explained how spores are dispersed—by dropping from the gills, pores or teeth of a fruiting body? Well, Spore Prints are created when you collect those spores in mass. For a gilled, cap and stem mushroom like most strains of cubensis, spore prints are created by cutting a mature mushroom cap from its stem, and placing it on a surface (here at ITW, we use sterile aluminum foil).

If you wait anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours, that mushroom cap will release thousands of spores onto your surface, creating a spore print. Spore prints are super useful in identification of wild mushrooms because their color and other attributes can help distinguish from otherwise similar mushrooms.

Spore prints are also useful for microscopy and laboratory research. For microscopic viewing, simply use a tool to transfer the spores to a glass slide where they can be easily viewed under a microscope. Because spore prints are taken directly from mushroom caps, their size can vary, but they are all very useful to citizen scientists and mycologists alike.

Spore Swab

Some mushrooms do not produce a ton of spores, and with these strains and species collecting a spore print can be nearly impossible. That’s where Spore Swabs come in. Spore swabs are created by running a cotton swab on the upside of a mushroom’s gills, thus collecting some spores in the process. These spore swabs can then be used for microscopy and other types of laboratory research. Here at ITW, our spore swabs are created using medical-grade cotton tipped applicators to ensure their sterility and vigor.

How to Store Mushroom Spores

Once you get your mushroom spores, it is recommended to keep them sealed in their original packaging until you are ready to use them. Since InoculateTheWorld spores are packaged in a sterile environment, leaving the packaging closed until they are ready to be used is a good way to ensure the spores stay contamination free.

Then, the most important thing to remember is to keep mushroom spore syringes, prints, isolated syringes and other spore products in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight. To get the longest lifespan out of your spore syringes, seal them in a clean airtight container, like a vacuum sealed bag, mason jar, or airtight kitchen container to protect them from oxygen, moisture, and contamination.

If you’re planning on storing spores for a while, you may also want to place a desiccant packet in the container to ensure moisture levels stay low. You could also choose to refrigerate your spore syringes, isolated syringes and liquid cultures if you’ll be storing them for a while, but keep temps between 36-46°F (2-8°C), and never freeze them.

If stored correctly, spore syringes can last for years. Liquid cultures and isolated syringes, on the other hand, should be used within 6 months of purchase to ensure they are as fresh and healthy as possible. With that said, we have seen properly stored isolated syringes still viable after 2 years. Read more about mushroom spore storage in our blog!

Why choose ITW mushroom spores?

Not only do we have the largest collection of psilocybin mushroom spores on the web, but we’re also a thoughtful, passionate family company, run by mushroom enthusiasts who want to spread mycelial knowledge throughout the planet. Or, in other words: Inoculate The World! Mushrooms have changed our lives for the better, and it gives us joy to wake up every morning and work on a project that brings them into the households of so many people across the US and beyond. Learn more about the creative, intentional people behind InoculateTheWorld on our Meet the Team page!

What also sets us apart is our commitment to quality control and customer support. We have a very rigorous QC process for all our mushroom spore products to ensure they never arrive on our customer’s doorsteps in less than optimal conditions. You can read all about it in our article: How Our Products Are Made.

We also don’t put anything on the site without knowing exactly where it came from. That means for all our Psilocybe cubensis mushroom spore strains, we can trace exactly where the original mushroom was foraged, and then who domesticated it and brought it to market. We even forage many of the new landrace strains and wild specimens ourselves, using our decades of training and experience.

Plus, we also know the importance of top-notch customer support, and work around the clock to always answer any question, issue or concern our customers might have. We are dedicated to providing a seamless checkout experience with fast and discreet shipping, so our community can feel secure with their purchase. Because we know choosing to investigate mushroom spores is a big and meaningful endeavor, we strive to put it within reach of anyone who’s curious.

Are Psilocybin Mushroom Spores Legal?

Yes! Because magic mushroom spores don’t contain any psilocybin—the active chemical compound that is a Schedule 1 substance in the United States—spore syringes are totally legal to possess, sell and use for microscopy and other research purposes. The DEA even recently made this clear in a January 2024 letter stating: “If the mushroom spores (or any other material) do not contain psilocybin or psilocin (or any other controlled substance or listed chemical), the material is considered not controlled [by the DEA].”

MORE ON MUSHROOM SPORES

If you’re interested in continuing your education on mushroom spores, check out our blog! We’re constantly coming up with new articles to educate our community on the fascinating world of mushrooms and their spores:

• • Spores from InoculateTheWorld Illuminate the Evolution of Psilocybin
  • APE Mushrooms Explained
  • Panaeolus cyanescens vs Psilocybe cubensis: What’s the Difference?

We also have an educational newsletter on all things mushroom spores! Sign up today for new releases, big discounts and a whole world of sporacious education. Don’t worry, we only send them out about once a week and we’ll never spam you with useless content.

DISCLAIMER: Spores are intended for legal microscopy and taxonomy purposes only. Pictures and information are for educational purposes, and originate from cultivators outside of the US. InoculateTheWorld.com does not sell mushrooms, we strictly sell mushroom spores. Cultivation of these species is illegal in many countries including the US, please follow all local laws and regulations.