All-In-One Grow Bag Instructions: Step by Step Guide
So you just got your All In One Mushroom Grow Bag + a mini liquid culture jar! Here’s what you need to know before you begin:
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The LC is not ready to inject into the bag right away.
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Its purpose is to germinate spores into healthy mycelium first.
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This process takes several days, so plan accordingly.
What to Do With Your LC Jar
Before you begin:
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Put on gloves and sanitize them with alcohol.
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Wipe down your workspace and the LC jar’s injection port with alcohol.
Then:
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Flame-sterilize your spore syringe needle until it glows red hot, then let it cool a few seconds.
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Inject 1–2cc of spores into the LC jar through the self-healing port.
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Swirl gently to distribute.
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Store at room temperature (60–75°F) for 5–14 days.
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Swirl once a day to aerate and spread growth.
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Once you see wispy strands of mycelium (not cloudy, slimy, or clumpy), the LC is ready to use in your grow bag.
If you already have ready LC or a spore syringe you can use directly:
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Set aside the LC jar – it can still be used as a backup or to expand your culture for future grows.
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Proceed directly to the Grow Bag Instructions below.
1. GATHER YOUR MATERIALS
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Sterile Grow Bag (included)
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Alcohol Wipe (included)
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Gloves (included)
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Flame source (e.g., lighter or alcohol lamp)
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Spore or LC syringe (not included) – if your spore syringe or liquid culture has been refrigerated, remove it several hours before use so it reaches room temperature.
2. SANITIZE YOUR WORKSPACE
- Wipe down a clean hard surface with 70% isopropyl alcohol.
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Put on the gloves included with the grow bag. Before handling anything, wipe the gloves down with alcohol.
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Clean the injection port on the bag with the included alcohol wipe.
NOTE: Contamination is the #1 reason grows fail. Always work as clean as possible.
3. INOCULATE YOUR GROW BAG
- Flame sterilize the needle tip until it glows red, then allow it to cool for a few seconds.
- Insert the sterile needle directly through the injection port.
- Inject 5cc of spores or LC into the bag.
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Thicker LC = lots of visible white strands or clumps of mycelium swirling in the liquid. Since it’s dense and active, you can use less (around 2–3cc).
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Thinner LC = mostly clear liquid with only a few wispy strands of mycelium. Since it has less growth to start with, use more (around 5cc) to give it a stronger start.
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Spore syringes: Always use the full 5cc, since spores need more material to reliably germinate.
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Place the inoculated bag in a dark, cool spot (60–75°F / 15–24°C).
TIMELINE: With LC you may see growth in days; with spores, expect about 3 weeks.
👉 Store any unused LC or spore syringes in the fridge (not the freezer) to keep them viable for longer.
4. STORAGE & COLONIZATION
- Over the next 2–3 weeks, watch for white mycelium spreading from the injection point.
- Once the grain looks at least 50 to 100% colonized, gently massage the bag to break it up and mix it evenly with the substrate.
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0% colonized: The grain looks like plain brown/tan kernels, no white growth.
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25% colonized: You’ll see small patches of white mycelium spreading from where you injected, but most of the grain is still uncolonized.
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50% colonized: About half of the visible grain is covered in a solid white layer of mycelium. At this point, you’ll see large white patches but also some uncolonized areas.
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100% colonized: All visible grain is coated in a thick, solid white mycelium. No bare grain is left.
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Place it back in the dark spot and allow the substrate to become fully colonized (about 2 to 3 more weeks).
Break and Shake (Optional Speed-Up)
When you see 2–3 inches of solid mycelium growth spreading through the grain:
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Don’t cut the bag open. Keep it sealed.
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Hold the bag firmly by the top seal (above the filter). This allows gravity to help pull in clean air through the filter patch.
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Gently massage and shake the bag so that the thick mycelium clump breaks apart and mixes evenly through the rest of the grain.
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⚠️ Do not shake if there is less than 2 inches of growth — there won’t be enough mycelium to spread.
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After shaking, compress the contents back down into a solid cake at the bottom of the bag.
👉 This “break and shake” step helps the mycelium spread faster and can save 1–2 weeks of waiting time.
Note on Rubber Band & Hooding
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After 100% colonization, you may cut a small slit in the corner of the bag for fresh air. Fold it over and secure with a paperclip to maintain humidity.
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Wrap a rubber band around the bag, about 1 inch above the block. This prevents mushrooms from forming along the sides of the bag (aka sidepins) by cutting off oxygen flow to those areas.
5. INITIATE FRUITING
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Once your block is solid white with mycelium (⚠️ you should not see mushrooms yet — just a solid white block):
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Gently open the top of the bag just enough to let clean air in, then close it again so the bag stays inflated. (⚠️ Do not cut the bag open yet — that only happens at harvest.)
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Move the bag somewhere with 8–14 hours of indirect light per day.
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Mushrooms prefer light in the 5000–6000k spectrum. A simple desk lamp or indirect daylight works fine.
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Maintain temperatures between 60–75°F.
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TIMELINE: Pins (baby mushrooms) usually appear in about 1–2 weeks. These will soon grow into full-sized mushrooms.
6. HARVESTING
- After fruiting, you’ll see mushrooms grow from your colonized block.
- Harvest when the veil (the thin covering under the mushroom cap) just begins to tear — this means the mushroom is mature.
- Cut the top of the bag open.
- Twist mushrooms off gently at the base.
⚠️ Note: The veil breaking is a natural sign of maturity — not something you cause.
7. SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT FLUSHES
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Many growers get one large flush (2–3 oz dried from a 5 lb bag).
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A second flush is possible but usually smaller. To attempt a second flush:
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Keep the block in the bag.
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Mist clean water lightly into the bag to restore humidity.
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Keep the bag loosely open for fresh air.
IMPORTANT: If you see contamination (odd colors, bad smell) — toss it and start fresh.
8. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Mushrooms fruit when four main triggers align: light, fresh air, humidity, and temperature.
LIGHT
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Mushrooms don’t “eat” light, but they need it to grow properly.
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Indirect sunlight or a simple fluorescent/LED bulb (5000–6000k) works.
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12 hours on / 12 hours off is ideal.
FRESH AIR
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As CO₂ levels drop, mushrooms “know” it’s time to fruit.
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Inflating or opening your bag gives the fresh air exchange they need.
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Not enough air = tall, skinny stems and fuzzy growth.
HUMIDITY
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Mushrooms are 90% water, so a humid environment is essential.
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The bag helps hold moisture, but if conditions dry out, mist lightly inside (avoid spraying pins directly).
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Dry spells = cracked caps or stalled growth.
TEMPERATURE
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Ideal fruiting range: 60–75°F (15–24°C).
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Too warm = contamination risk.
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Too cold = slow growth.
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Pick strains suited to your indoor environment.
9. TROUBLESHOOTING COMMON ISSUES
- No growth: Be patient, spores can take weeks. Keep temps stable.
- Fuzzy stems / tall mushrooms: Increase fresh air by inflating or opening the bag slightly.
- Dry or cracked caps: Raise humidity (mist lightly into the bag, avoid spraying pins).
- Pale mushrooms: Provide more light or lower the temperature.
- Contamination (colored spots, slime, bad smell): Discard immediately.
10. SAFETY & LEGAL NOTICE
Our products are intended only for lawful mushroom cultivation. We do not condone the use of our products for producing hallucinogenic mushrooms where prohibited by law.
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Support Questions
Sure! You can reach us by:
- Our contact form.
- Chat widget in the bottom right.
We have a human support team that will assist with any question that we are able to answer.
Shipping Questions
Our fulfillment team is fast! In most cases your order will ship the same day if the order was placed before 1pm or within 1 business day.
Even sterilized grains and all in one bags we can fulfill quickly because we run our autoclaves daily.
Custom orders, or large orders may need extra time to cook.
It depends on weight of the package.
- Small packages ship out via priority or express mail and are super speedy.
- Heavy packages ship out via ground.
- Super heavy packages or oversized items send out via freight.
As of now we do not offer internal shipping.
You will receive a tracking number once your order ships. You can also use the chat widget and receive your tracking number there also.
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General Questions
Yes! You do not need previous experience to enjoy our products.
Each product has been crafted to save you time, and ensure success regardless of your experience level.
Yes. Just a brown box.
We are very fair.
Just email us and we will discuss options.
“Mushroom Grow Bag Instructions Zombie Mushrooms”
for more detailed instruction.
Well, this could get quite lengthy. To recap:
We cook products fresh daily.
- Some companies cook extremely large batches once a month. The first guy gets a fresh bag. The last get gets a stale bag.
We ship our own products daily.
- Some companies use warehousing services which require the vendor to store 10,000 units there. Our products generally don't sit on shelves for more than 1 business day.
We implement batch testing.
- Every autoclave cycle is tested and tagged. It doesn't pass unless a physical test strip reads, "sterile".
We like to experiment.
- We constantly change up formulas when we realize there is a better way. This ensures you are getting the best of the best.
We do things the "hard way".
- Some vendors like to take shortcuts. We like to as well, however it will never be at the cost of the product quality. We don't employ a "no soak" or "no simmer" method because while it does work, its just not as good. We soak our grains, and simmer our grains to get optimal grain moisture content every day.
Generally speaking, you should try to work with mushroom liquid cultures when possible, however there are many things to consider.
Mushroom spores and Mushroom liquid cultures are very different and have different pros, cons, and restrictions.
Mushroom Spores: Spores that have not germinated yet, and are collected in open air environments.
Mushroom Liquid Cultures: Mycelium that is suspended in a liquid broth, and was created in sterile environments.
Without going to deep, Mushroom Liquid Cultures are:
- faster to colonize vs spores.
- contain less contamination (when created properly).
- perform more consistently vs spores.
You can still use a spore syringe, however results may not be guaranteed as spores are collected in open air environments, and may have some other contaminants present.
Mushroom grow bags are much easier to use, however Monotub's will yield heavier flushes.
If you are new to mycology, stick to the all in one mushroom grow bags for your first few grows. They perform very reliably and still output alot of mushrooms.
After a few grows, you can attempt to do a Monotub grow by using mushroom grain spawn, and mixing manually with CVG.
Mushroom Grow Bag Questions
Our all in one mushroom grow bags include everything except the spore/lc syringe.
There are so many varieties to choose from, we focus on the bags, and let you guys choose what you want to grow.
We can recommend vendors that that sell spores for gourmets and medicinal mushrooms. Sometimes we even get discount codes for you guys, but we never get compensated for these referrals. It is strictly from the feedback of our purchasers.
No, you never want to open your all in one mushroom grow bag until the final stage or after 100% colonization.
Opening a bag too early can cause any uncolonized grain to contaminate.
This is why we have an injection port and filter patch.
It is a self contained ecosystem until the final stage.
When you want to mix your bag, you may find it hard to mix without any air in the bag.
Knowing you can't open the bag, you can use gravity to help pull in some air through the filter patch.
Use a coat rack (or just manually hold). Hang for 3 min. Gravity will pull clean air through the filter. Then you take it down. It is simply a useful trick to get clean air into the bag.
We do not operate with the "No Soak" Tek as it provides inferior results to soaking grains. This allows even the toughest endospores to germinate.
We do not operate with the "No Simmer" Tek as it provides inferior results to cooking grains. This ensures the proper moisture content is nailed before it hits the autoclave.
Mushroom grow bags can be safely stored on a shelf without refrigeration for 2 weeks without significant performance declines. However, you should use your mushroom grow bags immediately upon arrival, as this is when the moisture content will be ideal.
If you cannot use your mushroom grow bag immediately, it is recommended to store in the fridge to help preserve its freshness.
The simplified answer is 3-5cc's per bag.
However, if you have access to more Liquid Culture, you can inject up to 10cc or a full syringe per bag. This will give even faster colonization and save you up to 3-7 days to full colonization.
No, you should never mix the bag after injecting mushroom spores because it could reduce mushroom germination success.
If you are injecting mushroom liquid culture instead of spores, you want to make sure to rotate the bag to spread the liquid culture across the grain as best as you can.
Make sure the bag is left "grain side down" for the first day to let the solution be in contact with the grain. After that you can flip the bag grain side up to allow any remaining inoculant to get absorbed.
You will see mycelium growth within 3-21 days after injecting into your mushroom grow bag. There are many factors that can influence this time including:
- Mushroom genetics used
- Liquid Culture vs Spores
- Temperature
- How clean your inoculant was.
Keep in mind, Liquid cultures may show signs of growth the first week, however some spore syringes may take up to 3 weeks (sometimes longer) to show any signs of growth.
Mushroom Fruiting Questions
- 5lb mushroom grow bags can yield 3oz of dried mushrooms per bag.
- 3lb mushroom grow bags can yield well over 1.5oz of dried mushrooms per bag.
There are many factors that can influence your results including:
- What genetics were used.
- How clean the genetics were.
- If sterile procedures were followed.
- What conditions was the bags kept at.
Scientifically speaking, the amount of mushrooms you get out is capped to the amount of nutrients (grain) in your mushroom grow bag. Mushrooms can never grow more output than what was given as an input. If contamination or stressors were present, your yields will be far less.
Your mushroom grow bags are likely to support multiple flushes, or sometimes will yield 1 single large flush.
This is highly dependent on the genetics of what type of mushroom you are trying to grow. Try not to focus on the yield of each individual flush, but calculate all flushes in total.
After your first flush, you can try for a 2nd flush if you came up short on your yield goals. There should be enough water already inside the bag for a second flush, however you may gently mist the cake to get it ready for another flush, and place a paperclip over the top of the bag to keep the moisture in and create a "humidity dome" out of the bag.
There are alternate methods for "dunking" or "re-soaking" your cake overnight, however that may not be necessary and may add extra stress and contamination vectors.
Remember, if your first flush was large, and within 30% of your target, it may not be worthwhile to attempt a second flush. If contamination was present at all, then surely do not attempt another flush as it will not be successful.
Mushroom fruiting conditions are the ideal conditions to recreate for the specific mushroom you trying to cultivate. Each mushroom variety has different temperatures, humidity levels, gas exchange requirements, ambient light needs.
Refer to your instruction card to confirm you are dialing in your bag properly.
Generally speaking, for most dung loving mushrooms, you want to find a cool place around 60-75 degrees, and you want to start introducing light only after you see mushroom pinning (baby mushrooms). You do not need a lot of light, but you should try to find a light source in the 5000-6000k spectrum, but don't over think it, a simple florescent bulb, or indirect light from a window is most of the time totally fine.
Keep in mind, mushrooms don't need alot of light (sometimes, they grow just fine with no light at all). Mushrooms are not like plants where they photosynthesize, they mainly use light as a sense of direction. So don't fry them!
Mushroom Liquid Culture Questions
Mushroom liquid cultures can last quite a long time if stored properly and are contamination free. Some people have reported using mushroom liquid cultures over 2 years old, however this is not recommended.
As a rule of thumb, try to use mushroom liquid culture jars within 2-3 months of inoculation, and store in a cool dark place.
If contamination is ever detected, throw out the jar immediately. Do not open the jar unless you know what you are doing.
Sometimes the mycelium grows on the surface layer of the liquid culture that is exposed to air, which is not ideal and could effect how much gas exchange the liquid culture broth will get going forward.
If this happens just mix the jar rapidly to try to break up the floating mycelium cake.
You need to agitate the liquid culture solution regularly to avoid this from happening.
You may inject a mushroom spore syringe or mushroom liquid culture syringe into your jar by using the included injection port.
This allows you to expand your existing mushroom spore syringe and turn them into hundreds of liquid culture syringes.
You must follow the sterile instructions provided to ensure success including flame sterilizing your needle tip, and sanitizing your workstation. Working behind a HEPA flow hood is ideal, however is not required.
Your liquid culture jar comes with a stirring utensil which will help you agitate the broth.
Green Cap jars come with a marble which allows you to just hand shake the jar.
Blue Cap jars come with a stir bar allowing you to use the jar on a magnetic stir plate.
Mushroom Agar Plate Questions
Mushroom agar plates can last months when sealed properly and stored correctly. If your genetics will survive in the refrigerator, we recommend storing used and unused cups in the refrigerator inside of a large ziplock bag to ensure freshness.
Don't worry, this is completely normal.
The agar is just breaking down the food coloring. This does not mean anything is wrong.
No, you will not be successful opening agar in normal open air environments. You might get lucky once, but this will cause many problems going down the road as some contaminants may not present themselves immediately.
Agar cultures are only reliable when using sterile procedures behind a HEPA flow hood or FFU that is capable of filtering out ≥99.99% @ ≥0.3μm.
If you don't have access to a HEPA Flow Hood, you may want to build a "still air box" which should increase your success rates, however is still not a reliable practice long term.
We think Mushroom Agar Cups are the best because they don't require Parafilm to seal the cup. This provides significant cost and time savings, and are very easy to use.
Bulk Mushroom Wholesale Account
Yes we do. Please reach out using our contact form and the appropriate team will reach out.
Bags:
- Any single order size over 1000lb may qualify for extra discounts.
Liquid Culture:
- Any single order size over 250 Jars may qualify for extra discounts.
Other:
- If your order size is substantially larger than the quantity listed in the listing, we can discuss bulk orders.
More questions?
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