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North Spore vs Midwest Grow Kits: Which One Should You Actually Buy?
I’ve grown mushrooms with both of these and I’ll save you the 30-minute comparison crawl: buy North Spore if you want mushrooms this month, buy Midwest Grow Kits if you’re building a real home cultivation setup.
That’s the honest answer. But the longer version matters because these two products are solving different problems, and buying the wrong one based on price or a vague “best mushroom kit” recommendation will waste your money and your time.
Here’s everything you need to know.
The Short Answer
North Spore is the right choice for most people reading this. Their Blue Oyster Spray & Grow kit ($24.95) arrives pre-colonized, requires zero additional equipment, and produces harvestable pins in 6-14 days. If you have never grown mushrooms before, or just want to know what the hobby feels like, this is your kit.
Midwest Grow Kits is the right choice if you already own (or plan to buy) a pressure cooker and a still air box, and you’re comfortable working with liquid cultures or spore syringes. Their All-in-One 3 lb bag ($19.95) has a higher yield ceiling and a lower sticker price, but it requires inoculation skills that beginners simply don’t have yet.
The price difference is only $5. The skill gap between them is enormous.
What You’re Actually Comparing
Here’s the thing most reviews miss: North Spore and Midwest Grow Kits are not competing products in the traditional sense. They serve different growers at different stages.
North Spore sells a fully ready grow kit. The substrate is sterilized, inoculated, and colonized before it ships. You open the box, cut an X in the plastic, mist it twice a day, and mushrooms grow. It is genuinely that simple.
Midwest Grow Kits sells a sterile substrate bag. You have to inoculate it yourself using a liquid culture or spore syringe, wait 3-5 weeks for colonization, then manage the fruiting conditions yourself. If you contaminate the bag during inoculation, which beginners do constantly, you start over. There is no shortcut.
So when people ask “North Spore vs Midwest Grow Kits,” they’re usually asking the wrong question. The right question is: am I a beginner or an intermediate grower? That answer determines everything.
North Spore: Who It’s For and Why
What You Get
The North Spore Blue Oyster Spray & Grow kit ships as a pre-colonized straw substrate block, sealed in plastic, inside a cardboard box. The block weighs about 5 lbs. A small humidity tent and a spray bottle are included. Price: .95 on Amazon and directly through North Spore.
The substrate is pasteurized straw. Oyster mushrooms thrive on it, contamination rates are lower compared to grain, and it produces consistent first-time results even when you do everything slightly wrong.
Setup and Results
Setup takes five minutes. You cut an X or several slits in the plastic, mist the exposed surface, put the humidity tent over it, and wait. First pins appear in 6-14 days depending on temperature and airflow. The 65-75 degree Fahrenheit range works best.
First flush yields run between 80-150g of fresh blue oyster mushrooms. After harvesting the first cluster, you soak the block in cold water for a few hours and get a second flush in another 7-14 days, typically 50-100g. Total expected yield: 130-250g over 4-6 weeks.
At $24.95 and 130-250g total yield, you’re paying $0.10-$0.19 per gram of fresh oyster mushrooms. Grocery store oyster mushrooms run $0.45-$0.65 per gram in most cities, so you’re not growing to save money. You’re paying for ultra-fresh mushrooms and the experience of watching them grow, which has its own return on investment.
The Replacement Policy
North Spore offers a documented 30-day contamination replacement policy. If the kit arrives contaminated or becomes contaminated within 30 days of delivery due to a defective block, they replace it. No other major kit brand I’ve found advertises this as explicitly.
This matters for beginners because green or black mold on a grow block is alarming when you’ve never seen it before. Having a documented replacement path removes the anxiety of wondering whether you broke something or received a defective product. You have 30 days of coverage.
Midwest Grow Kits: Who It’s For and Why
What You Get
The Midwest Grow Kits All-in-One Bag is a 3 lb sterilized grain substrate bag with a casing layer already added. It comes with a self-healing injection port and a filter patch for gas exchange. Price: .95 on Amazon and directly through Midwest Grow Kits.
The grain substrate is the key technical difference. Grain colonizes faster than straw, holds more nutrients per pound, and supports significantly higher yields. It also fails harder when conditions are not right.
Setup and Results (and What Can Go Wrong)
This bag does not arrive pre-inoculated. You inject it yourself using a liquid culture syringe or spore syringe through the self-healing injection port. The injection must happen in a clean environment because sterilized grain contaminates easily at the inoculation stage. Without a still air box or a flow hood, your contamination rate as a beginner will be discouraging.
After a successful inoculation, colonization takes 3-5 weeks. You watch white mycelium spread through the grain. Any other color appearing means contamination. Once fully colonized, you trigger fruiting conditions.
With proper technique, first flush yields can reach 200-300g from a single 3 lb bag. A skilled grower can expect 400-500g across multiple flushes. That is a substantial improvement over North Spore’s ceiling. But Midwest publishes no replacement guarantee for contaminated bags, which means bad runs cost you the full $19.95 plus your time.
The Skill Floor
To use the Midwest All-in-One bag successfully, you need to know how to work with liquid cultures or spore syringes, maintain sterile technique during inoculation, recognize healthy mycelium growth versus contamination, and induce fruiting conditions intentionally.
If you’re already growing, or if you’ve studied these techniques and are ready to practice them, the Midwest bag is excellent value. If you’re still Googling “what is liquid culture,” start with North Spore.
Head-to-Head Comparison Table
| Feature | North Spore Blue Oyster Kit | Midwest All-in-One Bag |
|—|—|—|
| Price | $24.95 | $19.95 |
| Substrate | Pasteurized straw | Sterilized grain |
| Arrives pre-colonized | Yes | No |
| Inoculation required | No | Yes |
| Time to first pins | 6-14 days | 4-8 weeks total |
| First flush yield | 80-150g | 200-300g (with skill) |
| Total yield potential | 130-250g | 400-500g (with skill) |
| Skill level required | True beginner | Intermediate |
| Contamination guarantee | 30-day replacement | Not publicly documented |
| Extra equipment needed | None | Syringe, sterile workspace |
The Yield Math (Cost per Gram)
No one else runs this calculation, so here it is.
North Spore Blue Oyster Kit:
- Total cost: $24.95
- Expected total yield: 130-250g (two flushes)
- Cost per gram: $0.10-$0.19
Midwest All-in-One (beginner inoculating for the first time):
- Bag: $19.95 plus spore syringe if you don’t already own one ($10-20) = $30-40 total investment
- Realistic yield for a first inoculation attempt: 100-200g if it doesn’t contaminate
- Cost per gram: $0.15-$0.40, and that’s assuming it works
Midwest All-in-One (experienced grower with an established liquid culture):
- Bag: $19.95 plus negligible liquid culture cost (pennies per use once your setup is running)
- Expected yield: 400-500g total across flushes
- Cost per gram: $0.04-$0.05
That last number is genuinely compelling. If you already have a setup running, Midwest’s bags are among the most efficient options on the market. The economics only make sense once you’ve crossed the skill threshold, though.
Final Verdict
Buy North Spore if: you have never grown mushrooms before, you want results within two weeks, or you don’t want to buy any additional equipment. The $24.95 covers everything you need. The 30-day contamination guarantee gives you a safety net. You will grow real oyster mushrooms with zero prior knowledge, and you’ll understand why people get obsessed with this hobby.
Buy Midwest Grow Kits if: you have already completed at least one successful grow, you own or are building a home cultivation setup, and you’re ready to work with sterilization and inoculation techniques. The $19.95 bag offers a yield ceiling that North Spore cannot match, and the economics become extremely favorable once you’re past the learning curve.
For most people asking this question, North Spore is the right answer. Not because Midwest Grow Kits is inferior (it isn’t), but because it’s the wrong product for where most beginners are right now. Buy the kit that matches your current skill level, not the one that matches your aspirations.
For more options, the best mushroom grow kit guide for beginners covers six kits side by side. For a deeper look at oyster varieties specifically, the oyster mushroom kit review goes further on substrate comparisons and first-flush expectations. And if you decide to go the Midwest route, read through mushroom contamination prevention before you open the bag.
