Liquid culture syringes may be preferred over spore syringes for a variety of reasons.
Among them are the following few:
Faster Colonization: Liquid culture syringes feature live, actively growing mycelium-the vegetative part of the fungus-capable of colonizing a substrate much quicker compared to spores. Spores need to germinate and establish themselves first before they are able to grow, adding several days onto the process.
Greater Success Rate: With spores, there is an inherent possibility of contamination taking place. Liquid cultures are generally cleaner if prepared and stored properly and can be directly injected into the substrate with less fear of introducing contaminants.
Predictability: Spore syringes are a mixture of genetic material that may all vary in characteristics like speed of growth, yield, and potency. Liquid cultures are usually the result of a specific, cloned strain, meaning consistency with results such as mushroom size, shape, and other characteristics.
Ease of Use: Liquid culture syringes generally are easier with which to work because they already contain actively growing mycelium. Fewer syringes will be required to innoculate a substrate, and visible growth can be observed much sooner than it would be possible to observe with spores.
That said, spore syringes remain highly useful for the initiation of new genetic lines and for making fresh liquid cultures if that becomes necessary. For fast, reliable cultivation, however, liquid culture syringes are usually better.
