Description
About This Mushroom Liquid Culture
Our Forager's 5 Pack is a premium mushroom liquid culture: live, lab-verified mycelium suspended in sterile nutrient broth and ready to inoculate your grow medium. Each set ships with sterile needles for clean, reliable transfers.
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Product Summary
- Five 10–12cc liquid culture syringes of species prized by foragers across North America
- Includes: Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta), Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea), Maitake (Grifola frondosa), Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)
- Each syringe contains viable mycelium in a sterile nutrient broth
- Store liquid culture syringes at normal room temperature in the original packaging for 6 or more months.
- Ships with sterile needles
- Golden Chanterelle and Yellow Morel are mycorrhizal — see cultivation notes below
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Pack Overview
The Forager's Mushroom Cultures 5 Pack brings together the five species that send more people into the woods each year than anything else. Chanterelles in summer. Morels in spring. Giant puffballs in open fields. Maitake at the base of oaks in fall. Chicken of the Woods on dead logs from spring through autumn. We have carried cultures of all five for years and this pack is the best starting point for anyone who loves foraging and wants to start working with these species in a cultivation context. Two of them require a mycorrhizal host and cannot be fruited indoors. The other three are fully cultivatable on appropriate substrates. We say all of that plainly because we think you should know it before you order.
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Included Species
Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) Liquid Culture
Golden Chanterelle is the most commercially harvested wild mushroom in North America by total weight, and one of the most recognizable edibles anywhere in the world. The egg-yolk yellow fruiting body, the forked false gills running partway down the stem, the fruity apricot aroma, nothing else in the forest looks or smells quite like it. Cantharellus cibarius is an obligate mycorrhizal fungus that forms a symbiotic partnership with living tree roots and cannot complete its life cycle without a host. Indoor fruiting is not possible. What this liquid culture is genuinely useful for is inoculating prepared outdoor woodland beds near compatible host trees including oak, pine, beech, and fir, as part of a long-term establishment project. Customers who have done this work with patience report seeing fruiting bodies two to four years after inoculation. We carry this for researchers, woodland gardeners, and anyone serious about chanterelle establishment on their property.
Golden Chanterelle — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Obligate mycorrhizal — outdoor woodland bed establishment near living host trees only |
| Host trees | Oak, pine, beech, fir — inoculate near established trees |
| Timeline | 2 to 4 years to first fruiting bodies in successful establishment projects |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Golden Chanterelle Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Cantharellales
- Family: Cantharellaceae
- Genus: Cantharellus
- Species: Cantharellus cibarius
Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta) Liquid Culture
Yellow Morel needs no introduction to anyone who has spent time in the woods in spring. The honeycomb cap, the hollow stem, the brief season that ends before most people realize it has started. We include it in the Forager's pack because it is the quintessential foraging target and because the cultivation pathway, grain spawn to outdoor beds near host trees to long-term sclerotia development, is exactly the kind of project that appeals to the same cultivator who is interested in chanterelle and maitake establishment. It is a multi-season commitment and not a quick grow, but that is true of most of the most interesting things in mycology.
Yellow Morel — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Outdoor bed inoculation — sclerotia formation required before any fruiting |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized grain for spawn production |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Yellow Morel Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Ascomycota
- Class: Pezizomycetes
- Order: Pezizales
- Family: Morchellaceae
- Genus: Morchella
- Species: Morchella esculenta
Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) Liquid Culture
Giant Puffball is the most immediately recognizable fungus in the forager's handbook, a white sphere the size of a volleyball or larger sitting in open meadows and woodland edges, entirely edible from the inside out when the flesh is pure white throughout. Calvatia gigantea is saprotrophic and one of the genuinely cultivatable species in this pack, colonizing grain and establishing in outdoor beds without the mycorrhizal requirements that make chanterelle and morel cultivation more complex. Customers who grow it in garden beds report that it comes back year after year once established, spreading mycelium through the soil and producing new fruiting bodies each season without reinoculation.
Giant Puffball — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Saprotrophic — fully cultivatable; outdoor bed establishment works well long-term |
| Soil preference | Rich, slightly alkaline, good moisture — meadow and woodland edge conditions |
| Returns each season | Yes — once established, mycelium spreads and fruits without reinoculation |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Giant Puffball Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Agaricales
- Family: Agaricaceae
- Genus: Calvatia
- Species: Calvatia gigantea
Maitake (Grifola frondosa) Liquid Culture
Maitake is one of the most prized edible and medicinal mushrooms in Japanese and Korean culinary traditions. In the wild it grows as a massive overlapping cluster of fronds at the base of oak trees in late summer and fall, and a single specimen can weigh over 50 pounds. Grifola frondosa has a complicated relationship with oak root systems that makes it behave partly like a mycorrhizal species even though it is technically a wood decayer, which explains why outdoor oak log and stump inoculation consistently produces better results than indoor block cultivation. We have worked with this culture for a long time and the honest answer is that consistent indoor fruiting remains difficult. Outdoor methodology near established oaks is where we see the best results from customers, and our grow guide covers that in detail.
Maitake — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Best approach | Outdoor oak log and stump inoculation — most reliable path to fruiting bodies |
| Colonization | Slow on grain; performs better on supplemented hardwood sawdust |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized hardwood substrate |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Maitake Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Polyporales
- Family: Meripilaceae
- Genus: Grifola
- Species: Grifola frondosa
Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) Liquid Culture
Chicken of the Woods is the bright orange and yellow bracket fungus that stops hikers in their tracks and earns its name from a flavor and texture that genuinely resembles chicken when cooked young. Laetiporus sulphureus grows in large overlapping shelves on dead and dying hardwood, particularly oak and cherry, and it is one of the more accessible species in this pack for standard cultivation. Customers who inoculate fresh-cut oak logs consistently report good results. One note from years of selling this culture: this species has variable reactions in some people, particularly from specimens grown on black locust or conifers. Oak-grown specimens are universally reported as safe and mild.
Chicken of the Woods — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Substrate | Supplemented hardwood sawdust; fresh oak logs work very well |
| Host note | Oak-grown specimens universally safe; avoid black locust and conifer hosts |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized hardwood |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Chicken of the Woods Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Polyporales
- Family: Polyporaceae
- Genus: Laetiporus
- Species: Laetiporus sulphureus
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Cultivation Overview
This pack covers the full range from straightforward saprotrophic cultivation to long-term mycorrhizal establishment projects. Giant Puffball and Chicken of the Woods are the most accessible for standard cultivation workflows. Maitake rewards patience and the right outdoor oak setup. Golden Chanterelle and Yellow Morel are outdoor establishment cultures that require multi-season commitment. All syringes store at room temperature in the original packaging and ship from our Illinois lab ready to inoculate.
Related Liquid Cultures & Collections
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack | Mushroom Liquid Culture
Description
About This Mushroom Liquid Culture
Our Forager's 5 Pack is a premium mushroom liquid culture: live, lab-verified mycelium suspended in sterile nutrient broth and ready to inoculate your grow medium. Each set ships with sterile needles for clean, reliable transfers.
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Product Summary
- Five 10–12cc liquid culture syringes of species prized by foragers across North America
- Includes: Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta), Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea), Maitake (Grifola frondosa), Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)
- Each syringe contains viable mycelium in a sterile nutrient broth
- Store liquid culture syringes at normal room temperature in the original packaging for 6 or more months.
- Ships with sterile needles
- Golden Chanterelle and Yellow Morel are mycorrhizal — see cultivation notes below
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Pack Overview
The Forager's Mushroom Cultures 5 Pack brings together the five species that send more people into the woods each year than anything else. Chanterelles in summer. Morels in spring. Giant puffballs in open fields. Maitake at the base of oaks in fall. Chicken of the Woods on dead logs from spring through autumn. We have carried cultures of all five for years and this pack is the best starting point for anyone who loves foraging and wants to start working with these species in a cultivation context. Two of them require a mycorrhizal host and cannot be fruited indoors. The other three are fully cultivatable on appropriate substrates. We say all of that plainly because we think you should know it before you order.
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Included Species
Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) Liquid Culture
Golden Chanterelle is the most commercially harvested wild mushroom in North America by total weight, and one of the most recognizable edibles anywhere in the world. The egg-yolk yellow fruiting body, the forked false gills running partway down the stem, the fruity apricot aroma, nothing else in the forest looks or smells quite like it. Cantharellus cibarius is an obligate mycorrhizal fungus that forms a symbiotic partnership with living tree roots and cannot complete its life cycle without a host. Indoor fruiting is not possible. What this liquid culture is genuinely useful for is inoculating prepared outdoor woodland beds near compatible host trees including oak, pine, beech, and fir, as part of a long-term establishment project. Customers who have done this work with patience report seeing fruiting bodies two to four years after inoculation. We carry this for researchers, woodland gardeners, and anyone serious about chanterelle establishment on their property.
Golden Chanterelle — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Obligate mycorrhizal — outdoor woodland bed establishment near living host trees only |
| Host trees | Oak, pine, beech, fir — inoculate near established trees |
| Timeline | 2 to 4 years to first fruiting bodies in successful establishment projects |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Golden Chanterelle Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Cantharellales
- Family: Cantharellaceae
- Genus: Cantharellus
- Species: Cantharellus cibarius
Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta) Liquid Culture
Yellow Morel needs no introduction to anyone who has spent time in the woods in spring. The honeycomb cap, the hollow stem, the brief season that ends before most people realize it has started. We include it in the Forager's pack because it is the quintessential foraging target and because the cultivation pathway, grain spawn to outdoor beds near host trees to long-term sclerotia development, is exactly the kind of project that appeals to the same cultivator who is interested in chanterelle and maitake establishment. It is a multi-season commitment and not a quick grow, but that is true of most of the most interesting things in mycology.
Yellow Morel — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Outdoor bed inoculation — sclerotia formation required before any fruiting |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized grain for spawn production |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Yellow Morel Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Ascomycota
- Class: Pezizomycetes
- Order: Pezizales
- Family: Morchellaceae
- Genus: Morchella
- Species: Morchella esculenta
Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) Liquid Culture
Giant Puffball is the most immediately recognizable fungus in the forager's handbook, a white sphere the size of a volleyball or larger sitting in open meadows and woodland edges, entirely edible from the inside out when the flesh is pure white throughout. Calvatia gigantea is saprotrophic and one of the genuinely cultivatable species in this pack, colonizing grain and establishing in outdoor beds without the mycorrhizal requirements that make chanterelle and morel cultivation more complex. Customers who grow it in garden beds report that it comes back year after year once established, spreading mycelium through the soil and producing new fruiting bodies each season without reinoculation.
Giant Puffball — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Cultivation type | Saprotrophic — fully cultivatable; outdoor bed establishment works well long-term |
| Soil preference | Rich, slightly alkaline, good moisture — meadow and woodland edge conditions |
| Returns each season | Yes — once established, mycelium spreads and fruits without reinoculation |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Giant Puffball Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Agaricales
- Family: Agaricaceae
- Genus: Calvatia
- Species: Calvatia gigantea
Maitake (Grifola frondosa) Liquid Culture
Maitake is one of the most prized edible and medicinal mushrooms in Japanese and Korean culinary traditions. In the wild it grows as a massive overlapping cluster of fronds at the base of oak trees in late summer and fall, and a single specimen can weigh over 50 pounds. Grifola frondosa has a complicated relationship with oak root systems that makes it behave partly like a mycorrhizal species even though it is technically a wood decayer, which explains why outdoor oak log and stump inoculation consistently produces better results than indoor block cultivation. We have worked with this culture for a long time and the honest answer is that consistent indoor fruiting remains difficult. Outdoor methodology near established oaks is where we see the best results from customers, and our grow guide covers that in detail.
Maitake — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Best approach | Outdoor oak log and stump inoculation — most reliable path to fruiting bodies |
| Colonization | Slow on grain; performs better on supplemented hardwood sawdust |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized hardwood substrate |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Maitake Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Polyporales
- Family: Meripilaceae
- Genus: Grifola
- Species: Grifola frondosa
Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) Liquid Culture
Chicken of the Woods is the bright orange and yellow bracket fungus that stops hikers in their tracks and earns its name from a flavor and texture that genuinely resembles chicken when cooked young. Laetiporus sulphureus grows in large overlapping shelves on dead and dying hardwood, particularly oak and cherry, and it is one of the more accessible species in this pack for standard cultivation. Customers who inoculate fresh-cut oak logs consistently report good results. One note from years of selling this culture: this species has variable reactions in some people, particularly from specimens grown on black locust or conifers. Oak-grown specimens are universally reported as safe and mild.
Chicken of the Woods — Out-Grow Lab Notes
| Parameter | Out-Grow Notes |
| Culture medium | LME + dextrose, 2% + 2% in distilled water |
| Substrate | Supplemented hardwood sawdust; fresh oak logs work very well |
| Host note | Oak-grown specimens universally safe; avoid black locust and conifer hosts |
| Inoculation rate | 2 to 3cc per quart of sterilized hardwood |
| Storage life | 6 or more months at normal room temperature |
Chicken of the Woods Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Division: Basidiomycota
- Class: Agaricomycetes
- Order: Polyporales
- Family: Polyporaceae
- Genus: Laetiporus
- Species: Laetiporus sulphureus
Forager's Liquid Culture 5 Pack — Cultivation Overview
This pack covers the full range from straightforward saprotrophic cultivation to long-term mycorrhizal establishment projects. Giant Puffball and Chicken of the Woods are the most accessible for standard cultivation workflows. Maitake rewards patience and the right outdoor oak setup. Golden Chanterelle and Yellow Morel are outdoor establishment cultures that require multi-season commitment. All syringes store at room temperature in the original packaging and ship from our Illinois lab ready to inoculate.