Mushrooms
How To Grow Magic Mushrooms
Psilocybe cubensis Growing Technique (page 4)
Fruiting (Producing Mushrooms) and Harvesting ***** The Fruiting Chamber (Terrarium)
Many different things can be used for a fruiting chamber, including large plastic containers, camping coolers, aquariums, etc. Rubbermaid brand or similar containers work great.
The fruiting chamber (also called a growing chamber or terrarium) must be at least 6-8" (15-20cm) tall, and have enough floor space for the cakes to be arranged with at least 1" (2.5cm) of free space on all sides. Spread the cakes out as much as possible so that the mushrooms have room to grow.
If the chamber is too tall or too large, it may be difficult to keep the humidity high enough. The bottom of the chamber must be able to contain water, and the lid must be somewhat airtight in order to keep the humidity inside high. Light must be able to shine into the terrarium.
If you are using a cooler or non-transparent plastic container, you will need to cut a window into the top of it and seal it with some sort of transparent material so that light can get in but humidity can't get out. For this reason, glass aquariums make very nice fruiting chambers if they are kept at the right temperature and humidity range.
***** Birthing The Cakes
Once a cake is completely covered in white mycelium, you can wait up to 2 more weeks before taking the cake out of the jar. When you are ready, and in a fairly clean room, begin transferring the cakes from their jars into their fruiting chamber (described in the next step).
Remove the lid of each jar, and dump out the dry vermiculite on top. Then, put the lid back over the top of the jar. Slowly turn the jar upside down, so that the cake is resting on the jar lid. You may need to gently tap the jar to knock the cake loose.
Take the jar off the top of the cake and then carefully pick up the cake and turn it over, so it is sitting right side up on the lid. It is very important that the cake is fruited in the same orientation (with the same side up) as it had when it was incubating.
If it is turned over during birthing, it will try to fruit from the original "top" side of the cake, even if this side is now facing down. This is bad, because the mushrooms can't grow correctly from the underside of the cake, and you will grow very few mushrooms.
Leaving the cake sitting on the jar lid, put them both into the fruiting chamber. Once all the cakes have been transferred, you're ready to induce fruiting.
***** Inducing Fruiting (Producing Mushrooms)
In order to initiate fruiting, three main conditions must be met for the cakes:
First, they need light. Only a dim light is needed, anything bright or warm will harm the cakes. A fluorescent lamp or indirect sunlight is plenty of light. Mushrooms do not gain energy from the light like plants do, but in this particular species of mushroom light sends a signal to the mycelium that it is time to produce mushrooms.
A source with a wide spectrum of light, especially containing lots of blue light (daylight and fluorescent plant lights are very good examples of light with lots of blue) is best, but a low wattage (15 watts is plenty) incandescent light bulb will supply enough light.
Second, they need a fairly high humidity. 90-95% humidity is a good range for fruiting. The best and easiest way to do this is by lining the bottom of the fruiting chamber with damp perlite.
A common mistake is to get the perlite too wet, and end up with a swamp of water and perlite that is very difficult to clean up, and will drown the cakes. Get enough perlite to make a 1" (2.5 cm) thick layer on the bottom of the fruiting chamber, and put it into a colander, strainer, or cloth enclosure that it can't slip out of.
Wet it thoroughly with normal tap water, and let the water drain out. Then move the perlite into the fruiting chamber and smooth out the surface. You now have a layer of damp perlite that the cakes can be set directly on, and which will keep the humidity in the chamber high enough for the cakes to fruit.
By the time your cakes have stopped producing mushrooms, the perlite might start getting a little bit skunky smelling. If you want to reuse it, put it in a baking pan and cook it at 350 degrees in your oven until it is dry. Let it cool, and it's ready to be used again. You can add some Hydrogen Peroxide to the wet perlite to help it stay clean a bit longer.
Third, make sure the temperature is in the proper range to initiate mushroom growth, about 75-80 degrees F. Like the light, 75-80 degree temperatures signal the cakes to begin fruiting.
***** Pinning, Fruiting, And Harvesting
For the first week or two, the colonized cakes will generally not do anything. Then, very small black-brown bumps, called "pins," "pinheads," or "primordia" will begin to grow out of the surface of the cake.
These are the beginnings of mushrooms. Many will never grow any larger. However, some will grow until they are full-grown mushrooms. After you see the formed mushroom start to grow, temperatures of 80-90 degrees will promote the fastest growth rate.
A mushroom is fully mature and ready to be picked when the edge of the cap tears away from the "stem" (the stem of a mushroom is called the stipe). Often, there will be a thin veil between the cap and stipe. If this is present, you can wait until the veil tears before picking the mushroom. To pick a mushroom, grasp it near the base where it is joined to the cake, and gently twist it until it comes off.
Immediately begin the process of preserving it, either by refrigerating it or by drying it, mushrooms will begin to rot immediately. After all the mushrooms have been picked, a cake can be made to produce more mushroom by lowering the temperatures to the fruiting range, 75-80 degrees.
When you see the new mushroom start to grow, increase the temperature to between 80 and 90 degrees. Each cake will produce another 1-3 waves or "flushes" of mushrooms, normally with 2-5 days of dormancy between flushes. After about 2-4 flushes, most cakes will be spent, and will not produce any more mushrooms.
***** Aborts
Some of the pinheads will begin to grow, then suddenly stop before they become full-grown mushrooms. These are known as aborts (aborted mushrooms).
Aborts are the strongest mushrooms by weight. That is, a gram of aborts will get you more stoned than a gram of fully developed mushroom. From my clinical observations, by weight, aborts will get you two to three times more stoned than fully developed magic mushrooms.
But aborts must be picked before they begin to rot. A mushroom that has mold growing on it or which has black goo in the center of the stem is rotten and is not safe to eat. It is often difficult for beginners to identify an aborted mushroom before it begins to decompose.
Early warning signs include a halt in growth of the mushroom, and a greenish tinge around the dark colored tip of the primordia that will eventually become the cap of the mushroom.
Always completely remove aborts from the cake, even if they are too rotten to eat, because they can get moldy and cause the cake to get infected.
Preservation Methods
***** Refrigeration
If you will be consuming your mushrooms fairly soon after picking them, you can keep them in your refrigerator, in a paper bag. Don't use a plastic bag to store fresh mushrooms, this will cause them to mold.
Fresh mushrooms are reportedly stronger than dried ones, but can be more difficult to dose. Also, Cubensis is a particularly nasty tasting species of mushroom, especially when fresh.
Many people prefer to dry their mushrooms before consuming simply because drying will kill some of the bad flavor. It should also be noted that some people like the taste of Cubensis, and that the flavor of Cubensis can vary depending on which strain was used and under what conditions it was grown.
***** Drying
The best way to preserve mushrooms is to dry them as soon as possible after picking. It is very important when drying that the mushrooms never be exposed to heat. Psilocybin and Psilocin, the main active chemicals in Psilocybe mushrooms, are very heat-sensitive chemicals that will break down if exposed to heat.
You can get away with drying them in the sun, but expect some loss in potency. Another common method of drying is to put the mushrooms in an enclosed container, like a covered bowl, that also contains some desiccant.
While drying mushrooms using desiccant will dry them very thoroughly, it will also take a very long time, giving the mushrooms more time to decompose.
Another way to dry mushrooms is with the use of moving air. Simply place them in front of a fan (not a heater), and the moving air will dry them very quickly.
An even easier way to air-dry mushrooms is with a food dehydrator. If the dehydrator doesn't have a switch for turning off the heat, you will need to take it apart and disconnect the heating element, making sure to take any necessary safety precautions.
Air-drying is by far the fastest way to dry mushrooms, but will not always remove all of the water from the mushrooms. The drying process can be accelerated substantially by slicing the mushrooms lengthwise into halves or quarters, thus increasing the surface area of each mushroom.
The best overall method for drying mushrooms is to first dry them using moving air, then, if necessary, put them into a desiccant chamber to remove the last little bit of moisture that remains in the mushrooms.
You want your mushrooms to be bone dry and brittle. If they feel flexible, they are probably not totally dry. Store the dried mushrooms in a sealed container, away from heat and light.
You can make sure that they stay dry by putting some desiccant into the storage container with them.
The little desiccant packets that come in vitamin bottles will work to some extent. You can also make your own desiccant packets by wrapping up about a teaspoon of desiccant granules in a paper towel and securing the packet with rubber bands or tape.
I Overview II Equipment III Procedure IV Fruiting V Extras
Books Let's Grow Mushrooms!
If information found on the web and books is hard for you to follow, this movie is the alternative. While the intent of the video is to teach about growing all types of mushroom, most (if not all the info) can be applied to grow magic mushrooms.
Disk 1 contains clear instructions on growing mushrooms with brown rice flour, grain, straw, manure, or sawdust and wood chips. Disk 2 covers more advanced techniques. About 3.5 hours long on two dvd's.
Let's Grow Mushrooms! Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook:
Easy Indoor and Outdoor Mushroom Cultivation
Compared to previous mushroom growing books, this is a fairly easy to understand, accurate, illustrated guide to growing mushrooms that contain high concentrations of psilocybin (the primary chemical that produces intoxication when a person takes most types of magic mushrooms).
Based on Oss&Oeric, Psilocybe Fanaticus, and other growing methods. Takes the accumulated knowledge of growing magic mushrooms and puts them together in one book. Shows basic and reliable methods for growing psilocybin mushrooms that can be adapted as the grower gains experience.
This book was written for the first timer but and also has information that intermediate and advanced growers might benefit from. Primarily about growing indoors, there is a chapter about growing outdoors. About 200 pages with black and white images that illustrate the text being discussed. Includes 32 page section of color photos.
Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook
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