Ordering spores and cultures in the Australian summer: a heat guide

The short answer

Ordering spores and cultures in the Australian summer comes down to format and timing. Spore prints, swabs and spore syringes are far hardier in heat than anything alive, so they post well even in January. Liquid cultures, agar plates, colonised plates, gourmet cultures and grain are heat sensitive. For those, order early in the week, use the faster postage option if the vendor offers one, make sure the parcel will not bake where it lands, and get it somewhere cool the day it arrives. If a heatwave is forecast, message the vendor first.

Which formats handle the heat

Spores are dormant cells, and dry spores sit out heat that would harm living mycelium. A liquid culture or a colonised plate is alive and sitting on food, and warmth speeds up everything inside it, including any stray contaminant.

Hardy: spore prints, swabs and syringes

Prints and swabs are dry, so there is nothing for bacteria to grow in. What The Fungi lists deluxe spore print and swab sets; the guide to spore prints and swabs explains both.

A spore syringe holds spores in sterile water. A syringe left hot for a long time is more likely to turn cloudy, but it is far more forgiving than a live culture. What The Fungi lists spore syringes such as the wild Australian landraces Mt. Cotton and Frilli Vanilli (background in Australian landraces and native species), Leucistic Swamp Ghost, Galactic Gorilla and a Panaeolus cyanescens Eungai isolate. The spore syringes Australia page gathers the rest.

Heat sensitive: liquid cultures, plates and grain

Liquid cultures and Australian heat are a poor mix: a liquid culture is living mycelium in a nutrient broth, and warm broth suits bacteria too. Summer Breeze Mycology lists a large range of 10ml LC syringes, including Jack Frost, Tidal Wave, True Albino Teacher and Steel Magnolia, plus colonised cubensis agar plates. What The Fungi lists 10cc isolated liquid cultures such as Black Betty Gates, True Albino Melmak and Blue Voodoo.

Shipping agar plates in summer in Australia has its own problem: a sealed plate that warms and cools on the road gathers condensation, and any contaminant inside has warmth on its side. Aus Myco Kingdom lists pre-poured agar plates in high and low nutrition versions, and, for gourmet growers, sterilised grain bags and all in one grow bags, with gourmet liquid cultures and colonised grain bags marked coming soon. Sterilised grain is not alive, but warmth and delay still work against it. See the liquid cultures Australia and mycology supplies Australia pages for current listings.

Order early in the week

A parcel posted on a Monday or Tuesday has the working week ahead of it. One posted late in the week can sit in a depot or a van from Friday to Monday, and a closed metal shed in an Australian summer is no place for a culture.

Vendors set their own dispatch days and some items are made to order, so check the vendor's dispatch note on the store page before you buy. Allow extra time around public holidays and before Christmas, when parcel networks are busiest.

Express Post or Parcel Post

Australia Post's Express Post is the faster service and Parcel Post is the standard one. Fewer days in transit means fewer hours in hot vans and depots, which matters far more for a liquid culture than for a print. Neither is temperature controlled and delays happen on both, so Express shortens the risk rather than removing it.

Which services a vendor offers, and what they cost in AUD, is up to each vendor. For a print or swab, standard post is usually fine.

Letterboxes, parcel lockers and sunny doorsteps

A padded bag in a metal letterbox on a west-facing fence can get very hot by mid afternoon. A box on a front step in full sun is no better.

Use the carrier's delivery instructions to ask for a shaded safe place, send it to a work address where someone is in during the day, or choose collection from a post office. An outdoor parcel locker in direct sun can still warm up, so pick an indoor one where you can, such as in a post office or shopping centre, and collect promptly.

Heatwave days: ask the vendor first

If the forecast shows a run of very hot days at your end or the vendor's, message the vendor before or just after you order and ask whether they would rather hold dispatch until the weather breaks. Holding a live culture for a few days is often better for both sides than posting it into a heatwave, but it is the vendor's call. Mention your town and whether the parcel will be left outside.

Regional and remote addresses

Distance adds days, and days add heat. Parcels to north Queensland, the Northern Territory and regional Western Australia travel further and change hands more often than city-to-city parcels, and the tropical north is hot and humid for much of the summer.

For these addresses, lean towards prints, swabs and spore syringes. If you want a liquid culture or plates, message the vendor first, ask about the fastest option to your postcode, and avoid ordering mid heatwave. A cooler week, or the end of summer, may suit live material better.

What to do when the parcel arrives

Open live material the day it arrives; a week on the bench undoes the care taken in transit.

• Spore syringes and liquid cultures: into the fridge, on a middle shelf rather than the door, cap on, in a sealed bag. Not the freezer: ice damages spores and mycelium and can crack a barrel. More in the guide to storing spore syringes.
• Agar plates: keep them cool and out of direct light, stored upside down so condensation collects in the lid rather than dripping onto the agar. More in the agar plates guide.
• Prints and swabs: somewhere cool, dark and dry, in their sealed packaging.
• Check by eye: a spore syringe should be clear water, perhaps with dark specks of spores. A liquid culture should be clear broth, sometimes with wisps or clumps of mycelium. Milky, evenly cloudy liquid or coloured spots on a plate are warning signs. If something looks wrong, photograph it and message the vendor promptly.

Why an Australian vendor makes sense in summer

Australia has strict biosecurity rules on fungal and other biological material arriving from overseas. Parcels can be inspected, held or destroyed at the border, live cultures in particular may need an import permit, and the import conditions are set out in the Department of Agriculture's BICON database. A parcel held at the border in January is also sitting somewhere warm.

Buying from an Australian vendor avoids both problems: the parcel never crosses the border and the journey is shorter. Summer Breeze and Aus Myco Kingdom ship within Australia, and What The Fungi ships within Australia and worldwide. Several overseas vendors on Culture Cave also ship to Australia; if you go that way, check BICON first; dry formats cope with a border delay far better than live ones. The mushroom spores Australia page lists everything from the Australian vendors, and Australian spore vendors compared sets out how the three differ.

A checklist for ordering spores and cultures in the Australian summer

1. Prefer prints, swabs or syringes where they suit your work; save live cultures for cooler spells if you can.
2. Read the vendor's dispatch note on the store page.
3. Order live material early in the week, not before a long weekend.
4. Pick the faster postage option where offered.
5. Plan a shaded safe place, a work address or post office collection.
6. Message the vendor before a heatwave or if you live somewhere remote.
7. Open it the day it arrives: syringes and liquid cultures in the fridge, plates cool and upside down.

Start with buying mushroom spores in Australia, read liquid cultures in Australia before ordering live material, and gourmet growers will find grain and agar notes in the mycology supplies guide.

Psilocybin and psilocin are controlled substances in Australia, and spores contain neither. Psilocybe and Panaeolus spores and cultures on Culture Cave are sold for microscopy and taxonomy use only, and buyers must check the law in their own state or territory. This guide is not legal advice.