Out-Grow
At a glance
- Categories
- Spawn, Substrate, Cultures, Kits, Equipment
- Ships to
- United States
- Price range
- Mid-range ($$)
- Shipping speed
- 1–3 day production + ~3 business days to ship
- Free shipping
- Orders over $150
- Founded
- 2009
Who it’s best for#
Out-Grow is the supplier you graduate to once you’ve harvested a few kits and want to start inoculating your own grain, pouring agar, or working with liquid cultures. The catalog assumes a grower who is running their own sterile workflow — liquid cultures and agar plates on the culture side, grain spawn jars and bags on the spawn side, bulk substrates by the grain, plus heat sealers, burners, and filter discs to tie it all together. They also carry a full grow-kit line for anyone who wants an easier on-ramp without leaving the site, but kits aren’t the main act.
What they do well#
The culture library is the standout. 36 species are exposed as $12 liquid culture syringes on the public storefront — one flat price regardless of whether you’re buying blue oyster or bioluminescent panellus — and the About page claims a broader internal library of 200+ cultures. That includes uncommon items most direct-to-consumer suppliers don’t carry: Agarikon, California Landscaping Morel, Black Truffle, Giant Puffball, Corn Smut. If you’re building a home culture library or hunting for a species nobody else sells, Out-Grow is where to look first.
They also cover the full DIY supply stack in one place. Grain spawn in jars and bags, bulk substrate in multiple grains, all-in-one grow bags, agar powder, gypsum, dextrose, heat sealers, and microscopes are all in the same catalog — so you can assemble a sterile lab workflow without cross-shopping half a dozen vendors. The operation runs out of a family-owned manufacturing facility in northwestern Illinois that has been producing its own substrate since 2009, and most of the team has been there for 7–15 years.
Where they fall short#
Every order is made fresh, so you need to plan around production lead time, not just shipping transit. Small and medium orders take 1–3 business days to produce before they ship, and orders over 100 lbs can take up to 5 business days to dispatch. That is the right model for live goods, but it is slower than the same-day fulfillment you get from larger shops like North Spore.
Out-Grow’s refund policy is also strict on the stuff most people buy from them: substrates and cultures are explicitly non-returnable. They will replace products that arrive damaged or defective free of charge, but there is no satisfaction refund on live goods otherwise, and buyers pay return shipping on eligible items.
Shipping is US-only — all 50 states, but no Canada or international service — and the customer service window is narrow (weekdays 7am–3pm Central). Canadian growers and anyone who likes evening or weekend support will need to look elsewhere.