Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Us

How to contact Sonoran Spores

The best way to get in touch with us is via email: troy@sspores.com

During the week we typically respond to emails within 24 hours. On weekends it may take us a little longer to respond, but we will get back to you as soon as possible. 

You can also find us on Instagram and Twitter @SonoranSpores 

DO NOT CONTACT US ABOUT ANYTHING REGARDING CULTIVATING ACTIVE SPORES. ACTIVE SPORES ARE FOR MICROSCOPY AND ARTISTIC PURPOSES ONLY! EVEN IF IT IS LEGAL OR DECRIMINALIZED IN YOUR CITY/STATE- WE ARE REGISTERED IN ARIZONA WHERE IT IS NOT LEGAL AND IT IS STILL FEDERALLY ILLEGAL TO CULTIVATE ACTIVE SPORES.

Ordering

Am I able to pick up my order?

We do not have a physical store location at this time so we do not do any order pick ups or personal drop offs. All orders made through the website and are shipped via USPS.

However, our products are currently in stores and available for pick up in AZ, IL, MI, NE, OK, TX, and WA (and more coming soon)! Check out our In Store Locations to see if they’re available in a shop near you!

I placed an order, but didn’t get a confirmation email.

Typically, once you place an order you will receive a confirmation email that includes all the order information. If you do not receive a confirmation email, be sure to check your spam folder. If it’s not in your inbox or spam feel free to email us (troy@sspores.com) with your name and/or order number and we can make sure one gets sent to you! 

You will also receive email confirmations when your payment is received as well as the tracking number once your order ships.

Current accepted payment methods:

  • Credit/debit: This option is done through secure online invoicing via email. Your private information will remain secure and private (we will not have access to it). We manually make the invoices so please allow 24 hours for your invoice to come through (we typically get to them much quicker than that, though). You can also complete the invoice payment with Apple Pay if preferred. Be sure to check your spam folder for the invoice if you can’t find it in your inbox.
  • Zelle: Payment instructions for Zelle will come in your order confirmation email. Please send payment to troy@sspores.com and include your order number on the memo line.
  • Cryptocurrency: We can accept many of the popular cryptocurrencies offered on Coinbase! There is a link after check out that will allow you to send the crypto payment via Coinbase. If you have any issues with the transaction, feel free to email us your preferred currency and we can send you our wallet code directly.
  • Check/money order through the mail: You can send a money order/check to our mailing address to complete payment. It is recommended that you send your payment with Certified Mail so that it comes with a tracking number and will be less likely to get lost in transit.
    • Please include your name and order number with the payment
    • Please make checks/money orders payable to Sonoran Spores
    • ALL CHECKS AND MONEY ORDERS MUST BE SIGNED

Mailing address:

OUR MAILING ADDRESS HAS CHANGED!

Sonoran Spores

3961 E Chandler Blvd Ste 111-157

Phoenix, AZ 85048

Shipping

Does Sonoran Spores ship to California, Idaho, or Georgia?

Due to the laws in these 3 states, we DO NOT ship active spores to CA, ID, or GA. These 3 states specifically prohibit the possession of spores of active species which is why we are unable to ship there. 

However, we DO ship gourmet/medicinal species, supplies, merch, and cacti to CA, ID, or GA.

Any payments that are made for orders that include active spores to CA, ID, or GA will be refunded and incur a $5 cancellation fee.

Is shipping discreet?

Yes. Your order will be shipped in either a plain padded envelope or box (depending on the size and contents of the order). The shipping label or package will not have any mention of our company name, spores, mushrooms, etc.

When should I expect my order to ship?

We ship everyday Monday-Friday so you can expect your package to be shipped the next day after your payment is received. Orders made Friday afternoon and on the weekend will ship the following Monday. 

If anything in your order is out of stock we will work as quickly as possible to get it restocked and still have your order shipped out in 1-2 days. Anything that takes more than 2-3 days to restock, we will notify you via email and discuss other options. 

How long will it my order take to arrive?

Once the package is actually shipped out, the delivery time is dependent on the shipping option you choose at check out.

  • First Class Mail: $5, 3-7 business days
  • Priority Mail: $10, 2-3 business days
  • Priority Mail Express: $35, 1-2 business days

UPS shipping is available upon request. 

We will send you an email with your tracking number after it ships so you will have a more accurate delivery estimate and can track your package and know when it’s delivered. 

What do I do if my package is delayed?

If the tracking number is showing that your package is delayed or lost, the best thing you can do is put in an online claim to the postal service. This can be done by scrolling to the bottom of the tracking page on the USPS website and clicking the blue FAQ button. 

Once we drop your package off at the post office, it is out of our hands. We are not responsible for any delays or mistakes on the postal service’s end.

Are spores temperature sensitive?

Spores are very resilient organisms. While they will survive at a wide range of temperatures, they do not do well in temperature extremes. Being left out in a mailbox in extreme hot or cold can begin to degrade the spores. For this reason, it is best to pay close attention to the tracking number so you can grab your package from the mailbox as soon as possible. They should not be left in temperatures below 32°F or above 110°F for long periods of time.

My area is experiencing either hot or cold temperature extremes, what should I do?

In the middle of winter and summer, most of the country is experiencing either hot or cold temperature extremes. But don’t worry, there are still ways to safely order spores!

  1. Be sure to check out our In Store Locations page to see if our products are in a store near you!
  2. You can have your package delivered as General Delivery. This means that it is addressed to your nearest post office and they will hold it for pick up. This is a great option because once the post office has the package, they will keep it inside until you come to pick it up. To have your package delivered as General Delivery, enter your name and the post office address as the shipping address. Under “Company” write “GENERAL DELIVERY”. Feel free to email us for more information about using General Delivery.
  3. Temperature sensitive packaging is available upon request for $15. The temperature sensitive packaging will include
    • Ice or heat pack (depending if it’s hot or cold weather)
    • Insulating packaging
    • Priority 2-3 day mail

Does Sonoran Spores ship internationally?

Yes, we are able to ship to most countries. However, shipping costs are more expensive and shipping times are slower.

  • First Class Mail: $20, 2-4 weeks
  • Priority Mail: $55, 1-2 weeks
  • Priority Mail Express: $75, 5-9 days

UPS shipping available upon request.

Please note that when ordering internationally, you are taking on the risk of your order getting held up by customs or lost. Although we have an extremely high success rate of international orders being delivered, there is always a possibility that something will go wrong. Once the package leaves the US, we have absolutely no control of what happens to the package next. 

We are not responsible for any international packages that are held by customs, delayed, lost, or not delivered. Products are declared as “Microscope samples” on the customs form.

AUSTRALIA: Australian customs DOES NOT allow the importation of syringes. With that being said, we can only ship swabs or prints to Australia.

Your Order

How should I store my samples?

  • Spore syringes: Best kept in the refrigerator and out of direct sunlight. If kept this way they will remain viable for about 1 year. You can store them at room temperature in a cool, dry area but it may shorten the shelf life. More information on how to store and use spore syringes can be found HERE!
  • Spore swabs/prints: Can be easily kept in either the refrigerator or in a cool, dry place. Because the spores on the swab/print are dry and not suspended in water like in the syringes, they are much less temperature sensitive and also last much longer. They will remain viable for around 2-4 years. However, some have reported viable prints that were over 10 years old!
  • Gourmet/Medicinal agar plates & liquid cultures: Storage conditions are dependent on the species so it’s best to research the best conditions for what you ordered.

What goes into making good spore solution?

Well, making a good batch of spore solution is quite the process. I will quickly break it down below. You can find our blog post that goes more in depth about making syringes HERE!

  • Selecting prints:

We begin our process by selecting the highest-grade spore prints. Instead of counting how many prints we add to the solution, we base it off of how many spores actually go into the solution. The reasoning behind this is not all spore prints are created equally. Prints vary greatly in size and density, so just adding 2 prints to every batch of solution will lead to inconsistent spore samples. 

Another way prints can contrast each other is the fact that spores on some prints are more readily homogenized than others- meaning some spores are easier to break apart while others like to clump together. Why is this important to know? Because it can make the spore syringes look very different from each other. Spores that break apart more readily will produce spore syringes that can look completely clear. While spores that have a tendency to clump together will produce the opposite effect and the syringes will have very large visible clumps of spores floating around. 

However, this doesn’t mean that the one with visible, large clumps of spores is better than the one you can’t see large clumps in or vice versa. It just means that one had spores that were easier to break up or homogenize in the solution than the other.

  • Homogenizing the solution:

Homogenizing is defined as “make uniform, or similar”. In the case of making a viable spore solution, it’s the process of stirring water so that it breaks apart and evenly distributes spores throughout the solution. 

To do this, we use a magnetic stirrer to mix up the spores into the distilled water. After everything is properly homogenized, the solution is evenly distributed with spores so that every syringe will receive approximately the same amount of spores. 

How small are spores?

Most of the spores available in our shop range in size from 11-17 X 8-11 micrometers (µm) which is one millionth of a meter. Some species like Pan Cyans and Psilocybe Subcubensis are even smaller than that! It’s important to keep in mind spores are about 1/10 the diameter as the tip of hair. It takes thousands of spores clumped together before a tiny spec can be seen with your eye. This is crucial to note as despite not being able to see spores in every single drop, we load the solution with many spores so that each drop is more than viable.

Why isn’t my syringe black or purple?

The prints that we source are as clean as they come with many precautions taken to prevent as many contaminants as possible. The most crucial precaution we take is always working in front of a HEPA flow hood. However, there are still factors that you can never control or prevent. 

For example, it is important to note that taking a spore print can never be 100% sterile, even if printing it in front of a HEPA flow hood. This is because by nature, the fruiting bodies themselves can never be sterile (although some are cleaner than others). This fact alone is why overloaded, or “black” syringes can be very much a bad thing. Think about it. If spores can never be 100% sterile, then the more spores you add to the solution the higher the chance you are also introducing a contaminant. 

It is also important to keep in mind that, as previously mentioned, the spores are extremely tiny, microscopic in fact. So while you may not be able to see a huge cloud of spores with the naked eye, it doesn’t mean there are hundreds of thousands of them free floating in the syringe. We work extremely hard to provide our customers with quality samples that will yield the best research results. 

I’m happy with my order & the service. How can I leave a review?

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us a review! It is sincerely appreciated and it greatly helps out our shop. Plus you will receive a 15% off coupon code for leaving a review! Reviews can be posted directly onto the website by going to the product listing and clicking the “Reviews” tab (located above the product description). 

NOTE: Whatever you put on the name line of your review, will show up on the website. If you do not want to leave your real name feel free to use an alias or your account username instead!

Still have questions?

No worries at all! Feel free to get in touch with us with any questions or concerns you may have. We will be sure to respond as soon as we can!

 

Thank you all so much for your support. Mush love.