The rice is just about taken over, but I had to cut off about maybe 20% of it due to contamination. It's not that that much was contaminated, just that I have to cut off a lot to make sure it's all gone. I was a bit too careless after the first week or two, and I made the mistake of turning on a fan in the room before i opened the top. This dish of rice will produce, in maybe a couple weeks.

NewGrowth - not sure, I never used syringes. If you can spread the spores out in the jar though, they will take it over faster, which means you can get mushrooms faster. Any amount of spores can colonize a jar, it's just a matter of how long they will take. But if you use my method, there is probably more likely to be contamination so you want the spores to act as quickly as possible. You can always make more spore prints after you get mushrooms just so you know.

Oh, and I would cut back on the water a bit too. Maybe 1/3 cup of water for every 1/4 cup of rice.