Following is a list of changes made to the document.
The procedures detailed in this document borrow heavily from pastinnovators. In particular, the research done by a company in SeattleWashington called Psylocybe Fanaticus is instrumental to the viability of this innovative and elegant procedure for the novice cultivator.
Psylocybe Fanaticus sells a Technology Report for $10.00 called thePF Tek. It is stillsold in its paper form. Normally, growing Psilocybe mushrooms is next to impossible for a beginner. However, the PF process is a break through and virtually guarantees that the beginner will succeed.
The PF Tek.is the foundation for this document. The main purpose for this documentis to detail the various ways the PF Tek. can be adapted to various needs of the home cultivator.
Please treat this document as you would 'shareware software'. Try itout, and if it works for you, send $10 and a thank you note to:
The procedures detailed in this document are a mixture of mandatory and optional steps. The core document describes the basic procedure in itssimplest form and at various points there will be possible adaptationsthat can be incorporated. In general, the adaptations will summarizewhat is required and the benefit to the cultivator in the event theadaptation is implemented. You should read the entire document beforeyou attempt to implement the procedures described in it.
The first time you use the process you should follow the directionsexactly and resist the temptation to innovate. Innovation withoutexperience is the primary cause of failure. If you must innovate becauseyou can not find a particular item or for some other reason, first checkwith someone that has experience to make sure you are not doing somethingcrazy.
It is our intent to provide the first time cultivator with the knowledgeto make informed decisions about the growing process for Magic Mushrooms.The cultivator can select some adaptations that are felt to be worthwhileand reject others that don't have sufficient merit for him. It's hischoice, but he is still guaranteed that if he follows the directions hewill produce a crop of mushrooms.
This guide is published as a single document to make printing easy andsimplify acquiring a copy to your local machine. There are severalGIF files that it references in the directory that you found thisdocument. You need these also.
If you wish to examine an adaptation, simply click on it. When you'redone looking at it, there will be two links. One back to the tableof contents and one back to where the adaptation is used in theprocedure.
One last note. A terrarium is required to complete the growing cycle.You can perform the steps to inoculate the culture jars and over thenext few weeks build your terrarium. It takes time for the cultures togrow and this should provide you sufficient time to make a suitableterrarium if you are in a hurry to get started.
In order to grow mushrooms, a suitable substrate must be inoculatedand colonized by the fungus. This step requires sterility becausethe substrate contains no preservatives and can be overrun by anymold or bacteria that is present. This first steptakes place in canning jars prepared in your home's kitchen. It usesbrown rice flour and vermiculite which are both readily available.A substrate is prepared, placed in the canning jars and sterilized withheat. After the jars cool, they are inoculated with a spore syringe.This phase of the cycle can be completed for less than $25 and will produce enough substrate to yield many ounces of dried mushrooms.
After the substrate is inoculated, you wait until it is colonizedcompletely by the fungus. Once the substrate is colonizedcompletely by the fungus, sterility is less of a concern because thefungus is pretty much able to fight off invaders and the rice cakesubstrate can be removed from the jar. This typically takes between twoand three weeks to complete. At this point, the substrate is placed in a terrarium where high humidity is available to the fungus. While waitingfor the substrate to colonize completely, no effort is required.
The terrarium is kept at around 90% humidity and the carbon dioxidethat is produced by the fungus is constantly eliminated. Within aweek of being placed in the terrarium, the rice cakes will startgrowing mushrooms. Within several weeks of being placed in the terrarium, the cultivator will have numerous mature mushrooms ready for consumption.The cakes continue to produce mushrooms until either the nutrients inthe rice cake are used up or the moisture in the rice cake is depleted.Depending on how the cultivator chooses to implement the terrarium, moreor less attention is required at this phase in the cycle. With thefully automated terrarium setup described later in this document, attentionis only required every few days. Mostly, this involves picking maturemushrooms and adding water to the humidifier used in the setup.
It is very likely that the mushrooms will be produced faster than theycan be consumed by the home cultivator once the cropping phase of thecycle starts. It is fairly easy to dry the mushrooms and preserve themfor many months. In fact, some people prefer the dried mushrooms totheir fresh counterpart. Being the master of understatement, let mestate that they do not taste as good as mushrooms available in the grocery store.
Occasionally, a sterile spore print from a mature mushroom needs to be generated if the cycle is to continue. This is used to produce a sporesyringe to inoculate new culture jars. It is a little bit of effort and requires very careful, sterile procedures to be successful generating a spore print. Of course, this can be circumvented by simply ordering a new spore syringe. A 10 cc. spore syringe should be sufficient to inoculate a dozen jars of substrate. It is the cultivator's choice which path to follow for successive generations.
The canning jars need to be tapered. This means that the opening of thejar is wider than the body of the jar. This is important because thefully colonized rice cake needs to be removed intact from the jar. Yousimply want the cake to slide out when the time is right. If you usea jar that is not in the following list, check to make sure the boxsays it is a tapered jar.The following jars are acceptable:
For each 1/2 pint jar mix 2/3 cup vermiculite and 1/4 cup brown rice flour in a mixing bowl. Adaptation-23When these ingredients are well mixed, add 1/4 cup of water for each 1/2 pint jar you plan to prepare. If you are using 1 pint jars you need to double the recipe.Mix all of this stuff up well. This mixture is the substrate materialthat the fungus will consume and use for growth.
Step 3:
The next step is to fill each jar with substrate material. Adaptation-20This document used to suggest gently packing the substrate into theculture jars. It has been found that keeping the substrate as looseand full of air as possible is the best way to fill the jars. Thejars will colonize faster this way. Incidentally, the faster the jarcolonizes, the lower the risk that some competitor contamination willget a foot hold and take over the substrate.Adaptation-3Fill each jar to within 1/2 inch of the top with substrate material. If you run out of substrate material, either mix up enough for one more 1/2 pint jar or cannibalize a jar to fill up the rest of the jars. This is important because you need to make sure the substrate is high enough in the jars for the spore syringe to inject spores into it.
Shake the syringe. Make sure the spores are mixed well within the syringe. This can be accomplished more easily if you pull the plunger backon the syringe to get a little air into the syringe.
Removethe tin foil from each culture jar as you prepare to inoculate it.Insert the needle of the syringe as far as it will go into a hole in the lid of the culture jar and get the needle to press against the glass.Examine the next figure for a simple diagram of how things should look.Inject 1/4 cc of solution at a site under each hole in the lid. Adaptation-4A total of 1 cc of solution for each jar.Adaptation-5
As the time goes by, the fungus will spread throughout the jar. Eventually,the entire surface of the glass will be covered with fungus. Typically,the bottom of the jar is the last area to be colonized. Be on the look outfor any contamination.
Any odd colors that might appear are contaminationand the jar must be thrown out. Do not take any chances. If youthink the jar might be contaminated, throw it out!. Some molds andbacteria produce toxins that can kill you. Just because a mushroomis growing on the opposite side of the cake from the contamination doesnot mean you are safe. The mycelium network carries nutrients and moistureto the mushrooms from far away and can easily pick up the toxins and bringthem to the mushroom. The fact that you are using this guide means youare not an experienced mycologist. You do not know which molds and bacteriaare deadly. Do not take a chance.
The one exception tothe previous statements is the mycelium will some times change from a bright white to a very pale yellow if it has water droplets touching iton the side of the glass. It is very unusual for any area that is colonizedby the mushroom fungus to become infected while in the jar. The uncolonizedareas of the substrate are usually significantly more prone to infection.
The above pictures show a typical germination and colonization cycle.If your spores are old, or the temperature is not optimum, or you did not mix the substrate very accurately you can easily add a week to the abovetime frames.
Thecake must stay in the jar until the entire surface area is covered withmycelium. As the substrate gets more colonized, the growth slows down.This is a result of CO2 building up and less oxygen being available for thefungus to consume.Adaptation-7
The cakes can not be taken out of the jars while there is still uncolonized substrate.Adaptation-8
Adaptation-10Unscrew and remove the lid from the canning jars. Scrape all the loosevermiculite on the top of the substrate into the garbage. Take care notto gouge into the substrate material as this can leave areas open toinfection. You do not need to get all the vermiculite off of the cake.In fact, the only reason to remove any of it is to keep the terrariumneat and orderly. Turn the jar up side down and slam it onto a table top.The rice cake should slide out of the jar. The rice cakes will typicallyshrink a little during the colonization phase of the process and willcome out of the jars easily with a little tapping on a table top.
You can handle the cakes but remember that the less you handle them and the more gently you handle them, the better off they will be. Also, you should wash your hands thoroughly and be sure to rinse with water just as thoroughly to remove any soap before touching the cakes.
If you have disposable sterile gloves available, it isn't a bad idea touse them. You can get away without using them, but they are a good idea.Contamination is the mycophile's worst enemy.
Back to table of contents.
The Growing Cycle.
Construction of the Terrarium.
There are four different setups described in this document. The first one is a very simple, minimal terrarium that works well, butcan only handle one rice cake. The secondtwo are based on work done by Psylocybe Fanaticus. They will holdmore cakes than the first terrarium, but they still require attentionseveral times a day.
I encourage you to choose the last option. This one uses the samegrowing chamber as Psylocbye Fanaticus developed but an ultra-sonichumidifier is introduced to keep humidity up. It requires very limited maintenance and works very well.
The first terrarium, the "Poor Man's Terrariu" requires no humidification. It relies on a very small volume of air and thefact the terrarium is sealed very tightly from the outside environment.
All of the last three of the terrarium setups require the same growing chamber. The difference is the strategy for keeping the humidity high inside of thegrowing chamber. If you want, you can start with one of the simpler versions and switch to a different setup later if you are unhappy with it. Note that if you start with the ultra-sonic humidifier version, we don't expect that you will want to switch to one of the other two.
This terrarium is made by cutting a section out of a 2 liter coke bottle. This serves two purposes. First, it allows you toput a fully colonized rice cake inside the bottle. The secondpurpose is it allows the volume of the bottle to be reduced to thepoint where the moistness of the rice cake can keep it humid.
Remove a section of the bottle using the razor knife. The cut onthe lower part of the bottle is not very critical. The top cut ismore difficult to do correctly. It needs to be right at the pointwhere the bottle is starting to decrease in diameter. This is becausethe top part of the bottle is going to be inserted into the bottompart of the bottle and the two sections need to seal tightly.
The best thing to do is start lower than the diagram indicates and cut small sections off until the top piece of the bottle fits snugly and easilyinto the bottom section. Once you locate the correct place to cutfor the type of bottle you are using, you can simply cut at the sameplace and make multiple bottles to handle as many cakes as you wishto fruit at any time.
The cap for the bottle must be screwed on tightly. A damp papertowel can be placed on the bottom of the bottle to help raise thehumidity inside the bottle. Twice a day the bottle should be openedto allow new air to be available for the rice cake to consume. It isbest to fan the rice cake to insure new air is surrounding the cakebefore sealing it back in the bottle. This is the major draw back to this terrarium. If you have a dozen cakes it can become a burden to exchange the air twice a day.
The cooler needs to have a very tight fitting cover. The idea is toseal in humidity, and the looser the lid is, the more difficult this is.Except for the cooler, everything you need can be found at your neighborhoodbuilding supply store. Below are diagrams detailing the various componentsof the terrarium. There is no way to predict the dimensions of the cooler that you will use. You will need to use some common sense aswe walk you through the steps to build your terrarium.
Next, if you are going to use the hand sprayer method of adding humidity,a drip shield needs to be installed. If you are using a fish tankbubblier or an ultra sonic humidifier, it is optional but still a goodidea. As moisture condenses inside the terrarium, this protects the rice cakes from being 'rained' upon. Any moisture that forms on the lid of the cooler can drip and will be stopped by the drip shield from hitting the rice cakes. Any moisture that forms on the bottom side of the drip shield will form beads and run down to the side of the terrarium where it can drip harmlessly. If you use a piece of plexi-glass that is textured onone side, put the textured side pointing up. You want a smooth surfaceon the bottom side of the drip shield so that moisture can easily rundown to the side of the terrarium.
The drip shield is held up by several bolts sticking through the sideof the cooler. Depending on what size canning jars you use and theheight of your wire mesh, you will need to figure out where to put them.You want the drip shield to be at as steep of angle as possible to makewater run down it easily, but you want it high enough that your mushroomshave room to grow without touching the drip shield. The drip shield needs to fit well. You need a small gap on the edges to let aircirculate, but keep it small. About 1/4 inch is good. In other words,the drip shield should fit pretty well to the inside of the cooler,but it is not supposed to be air tight. Also rememberwhen shaping the drip shield that you can not go to the very top of the cooler because the lid will recess into the cooler a little ways.
If you are using a Styrofoam cooler, you should use washers on the bolts on both the inside and outside of the cooler. This will allow you to tightenthe nuts on the bolts snugly to keep the bolts from tearing up the cooler as you move the drip shield during normal maintenance.
The procedure is this: At least four times a day the terrarium needsto have humidity injected into it via the spray bottle. At least twice a day the CO2 that has built up needs to be eliminated. Once aday you need to eliminate water from the bottom of the terrarium thathas condensed and formed there.
Once a day, you need to remove the standing water from the bottom of theterrarium. You can use a turkey baster to suck the water out, or youcan gently remove each cake and turn the terrarium up side down to drainthe water out. If you remove the cakes, be very gentle. Any place youtouch the cakes will not fruit. You should pick up the cakes in thesame place every time.
Twice a day, the CO2 that has accumulated in the chamber needs to be removed.One method is to remove the drip shield and fan the inside of the coolerwith the cover for 10 or 15 seconds. Another method that works well isto have a hair dryer next to the cooler and use it. Simply lower it intothe terrarium with the exhaust jet pointing up and out of the terrarium and turn it on. It will suck all the existing CO2 out of the chamber. Besure not to hit the rice cakes with the hot exhaust air. It will damagethem. If your hair dryer has a 'cool' setting, use that instead of 'hot'.Incidentally, one cultivator recommends using a vacuum clean instead. He would simply suck the stale air out of the terrarium.
In order to create humidity in the terrarium a spray bottle that iscapable of generating a fine mist is used. There are a lot of differentproducts for use in the kitchen that have an adjustable spray nozzle, butif you choose to recycle one of these, make sure it produces a very finemist. What ever you use, make sure it is entirely clean of the originalchemicals. Let's make this perfectly clear. Make sure the bottle isclean and does not contain anything that will damage the fungus. Thesafest thing to do is go to the hardware store and buy a high qualityspray bottle. These typically produce a finer mist than most kitchentype spray bottles. The problem is that you would not be using a spray bottle if you had a little extra cash so we are telling you that you can use a kitchen spray bottle if you are careful.In order to create the necessary humid environment in the terrarium, the nozzle is slipped under the cover of the cooler andsprayed at the center of the top side of the drip shield. See the following diagram:
After spraying for 5 seconds, pull the spray nozzle out of the coolerand let the lid quickly close, sealing in the vapor. The small waterdrops will dramatically raise the humidity of the chamber. The ricecakes can not ever be sprayed directly. The mycelium is very fragileand doing that will damage it. The terrarium needs to be sprayed atleast 4 times a day. More is better.
This setup and procedure will work and is very inexpensive, but that is the only good I have to say about it. You become a slave to your terrarium.If you miss a couple sessions, your fungus will most definitely suffer because of it. Also, you can only support a few growing mushrooms at a time using this procedure. The mushrooms pull a lot of humidity out of the air and this method doesn't provide much excess.
This method is inexpensive and allows the terrarium to exist without yourconstant attention. It's major limitation is that depending on how it isimplemented, it can only raise the humidity by 15% over ambient. Theminimum acceptable amount of humidity needed by the fungus is 85%. Ifambient humidity is going to be less than 70% during the growing cycle,you will experience problems even with a fully optimized setup. If you have more than a few mushrooms growing, it is possible this system will fail to keep the humidity high enough. You still need to hand spray theterrarium occasionally to boost the humidity above what the bubblier cando. Several times a day is sufficient.
All of the materials needed can be obtained at any pet store or petdepartment in a department store.
The basic strategy is to place a container of water inside the terrariumand slowly bubble air through the water. A hole should be cut in thedrip shield to allow the container to stick up through it. The topof the container should be above the drip shield to protect the fungusfrom water droplets that will get produced. There are several ways thesystem can be implemented. If the air pump is setup outside the terrariumwith just an air line going into the terrarium, the humidity will beraised less than 10% over ambient. The one benefit to this setup isthe fact that air is constantly being exchanged and the home cultivatordoes not need to eliminate CO2 every day. A small hole can be put atthe base of the terrarium to let CO2 and water escape. The hole shouldbe just big enough that water does not bead up and plug the hole. A3/8 inch hole will accomplish this nicely. Note that a small, snug holeneeds to be drilled in the side of the cooler to allow the air line toget inside the cooler. You can not just loop it over the side of thecooler and slam the lid on it. You will not get enough humidity if thelid does not fit tightly. See the following diagram:
A second method to implement this strategy is to put the air pump insidethe terrarium. This way the same air is constantly recirculated, constantly increasing its humidity. This can increase the humidityto close to 15% over ambient. This implementation has several disadvantages.First, the key to getting the higher humidity is recirculation of thesame air over and over again. This means no hole can be placed at thebottom of the terrarium to allow water and CO2 to escape. You willneed to eliminate CO2 at least once a day. The seconddisadvantage is the fact that the air pump generates some heat andcan warm the terrarium by over 10 degrees F. This may or may not be acceptable. One point needs to be noted. The air pump will create some vibration. It is best to suspend the air pump from a rubberband to absorb this vibration. A stiff piece of coat hanger wirecan be suspended from one side of the terrarium to the other and theair pump hung from it. Instead of the air tube going through the sideof the terrarium, the power cord for the pump goes through the side. Alsonote that the positioning of the stiff wire to hold the air pump is notcritical. It may be better to rotate it 90 degrees from what is shown inthe following diagram so that it is easier to remove the drip shield whenservicing the terrarium. Also, the power cord and air tube should have some slack in them so that are not being pulled on as the pump vibrates.The ideal scenario is to tie wrap them to the supporting wire. See the following diagram:
A steam humidifier is not easy to integrate into this terrarium setup. First,the vapor it emits is too hot and will kill the fungus. The second reason is they typically run full blast. They do not have a control to throttlethem way back like the ultra sonic humidifiers do.
First, a small hole needs to be placed in the Basic Growing Chamber to let water and CO2 escape. It should be at the very bottom of the cooler.It needs to be big enough that water will not bead up and plug it. 1/2 to3/4 of an inch is good.
This setup uses the ultra sonic humidifier to produce air that is closeto 100% in humidity. The air flow out of the humidifier is limited bythe fact that it has to travel through the 7/16 inch vinyl tubing. That isOK, because we want to limit the amount of air we feed into the terrarium.The humidifier will generate very humid air, but the air will also havemany suspended water particles in it. Any time one of these waterparticles touches another water drop, they will merge. We don't wantmoisture forming on the rice cakes, so limiting the number of suspendedwater drops we allow into the terrarium is a big step towards this goal.
Even so, the air must be dried further. Adaptation-21The air is passed through severalstages where it is allowed to swirl and condense. Each one of thesestages is comprised of an empty 2 liter coke bottle or some other suitablecontainer. These stages are connected together using the 7/16 inch vinyltubing.
Every time a piece of vinyl tubing is used, it needs to be fluted. Thismeans it is not cut off square, but rather at a very sharp angle. Thisis necessary to help moisture that condenses inside the line to drip outonce it reaches the end of the line. Otherwise, it will form a big dropand eventually plug up the line. At that point you have no humidityentering the terrarium.
Drill a 7/16 inch hole in the center of the exhaust lid for the humidifier.Insert a grommet. Apply a bead of silicon glue to the slit through whichvapor normally exits. You want to plug this slit up. The only exit forvapor should be through a piece of vinyl tubing that will be placed insidethis grommet.
Remove the labels on the coke bottles. Any large plastic container canbe used but the 2 liter coke bottles are real nice because they allowyou to see inside. Adaptation-24 This is useful to determine if the terrarium is running correctly later. Also, you will be able to see if moisture thathas collected in the bottle needs to be emptied out of it.
Heat up the threads on the 3/8 inch bolt using a propane touch or burner on a gas stove. A cigarette lighter will work, but it will take a long time. Hold onto the bolt with the pliers. When the bolt is hot,quickly and neatly poke two holes in each 2 liter coke bottle. Adaptation-15See the following diagram for details:
The bolt that is used is deliberately a little smaller than the hole thatneeds to be generated. The hot bolt will melt the hole a little bitbigger than it is when it pokes through the plastic bottle. You mayneed to insert the bolt a second time into the hole and let it touchthe sides to expand the diameter of the hole. Some times little chunksof plastic stick to the side of the hole. Use a sharp knife to cleanup the edges and insert a grommet. Check the fit of the vinyl tubingthrough the grommet. It should be very snug and air tight, but it shouldnot collapse the inner diameter of the tubing very much.
Connect a piece of tubing from the humidifier to the first coke bottle.Flute both ends of each piece of vinyl tubing. Connect the this cokebottle to the next. Do this until you have all four coke bottles connected. The picture shows 3 coke bottles because that is what isnormally required, but for now connect in all 4. Now connect the last coke bottle to the terrarium. You will need to poke a hole in the side and insert the tubing. The tubing should be blowing humid air into the part of the terrarium that is above the drip shield. It should be setup as follows:
Set the humidity level at the minimum setting. This is still more thanyou should need. Adaptation-19After you give it time to stabilize, you should seethat each stage of the coke bottles has less fog in it than the precedingstage. Usually, 3 bottlesis the right amount, but depending on your humidifier and ambient humidity,it could be more or less. You want the last coke bottle to just have theslightest hint of fog in it. Add or delete stages as necessary.
The humidity in the terrarium should stabilize at about 90%. The idealamount of humidity is as much as you can get without moisture forming onthe rice cakes. Keep in mind that most humidity meters you get atdepartment stores are not very accurate.
Once you place a fully colonized rice cake in the terrarium it just needsseveral things to grow mushrooms. It needs high humidity, temperaturesbelow 85 degrees F. and a little light. Once the mycelium network hasgained access to enough nutrients the cake can initiate mushrooms if conditions are right. The initiation of mushrooms requires some lightand temperatures in the mid to upper 70's F. The mushrooms can growat higher temperatures, and in fact grow faster at higher temperatures. But the fact remains that the temperature range is fairly narrow tostart new mushrooms. Normally, it takes about a week for pin heads toform if the rice cake was removed from the culture jar as soon as it was 100% colonized. It can happen after just a couple days if themycelium network is well established, or it can take several weeks if things aren't just perfect for the cake.
If you keep the terrarium's temperature in the mid to upper 70's F. you will be constantly initiating new mushrooms (pin heads) while providing a good environment for the growing mushrooms to mature.This is the simplest way to grow if you can arrange for this to be thecase. Adaptation-16If you deviate outside of this temperature range, you willstill get a few mushrooms, but the fungus will initiate new pin headsonly occasionally. You will spend a lot of time waiting for a mushroomto form.
The rice cakes need a small amount of light to initiate pin heads. Mushrooms are not plants and do not need light to grow. However,P. cubensis is a phototropic mushroom. This means it needs light totrigger a hormonal response in order to form mushrooms. If you cansee the rice cakes, there is enough light for this to happen. Manymycologists believe the reason light is important in the growing cycleis because it provides a reliable clue to the mycelium that it hasreached the boundary of the substrate in which it is growing. In nature,P. cubensis often lives in a pile of cow manure. Once it has grownthrough the entire substrate and reaches the edge, light hits it andprovides the mycelium with the information that if it forms a mushroomthere, it can release spores into the air for distribution. It isnot productive to form a mushroom inside the substrate because thespores can not be distributed in that case.Any normal spectrum of light that you have available will work. Sun light, fluorescent or incandescent are all fine and will work. A few minutesof light a day is sufficient but an hour or two will guarantee thatpin heads form if everything else (temperature, humidity, the mycelium network is well established, etc.) is right. Be careful not to heat your terrarium too much if you use artificial light near theterrarium.
The rice cakes will have a very bright white appearancewhen they are first placed in the terrarium. Soon, they will be coatedwith a thin layer of fluffy mycelium. If the cakes refuse to fruit butcontinue to form more and more fluffy mycelium this is an indication thatthe humidity is too high and needs to be adjusted downward. For peopleusing a humidifier in their terrarium setup, this is the single biggestcause of failure assuming they get the rice cakes colonized successfully.
When pin heads form, they will looklike a short section of a common pin. Hence, the name. The end ofthese pin heads will soon grow dark brown. This is the cap beginning toform. When the rice cakes are fresh, the small mushrooms will startadding bulk rather than grow longer. They will form balls the size ofa marble. Then, they will start to thin out and grow long, adding bulkthe whole time.
If the mushrooms have mycelium growing on the caps, it is an indicationthat your humidity is too low in the terrarium. In this case, youhave just enough humidity to allow the cakes to fruit, but you areright on the edge of failure.
You should avoid the temptation to grow the mushrooms as large as possible.Significantly more psilocybin is produced during the early periods ofgrowth. By letting the mushroom grow too large you are simply consumingnutrients and moisture from the rice cake for no purpose. Also, the mushroomstaste increasingly bad as they get larger. Lastly, the mycelium networkin the cake can only provide so much in the way of nutrients and water tomaturing mushrooms. If you let the mushrooms grow too big, they will hurt the development of other mushrooms on the cake. The mushrooms should be picked just as the veil underneath the cap is starting to tear away from the stalk.
On the average, you should expect to get between 4 and 6 average sizemushrooms per 1/2 pint cake. On the average you should expect eachcake to produce 1 mushroom a week but this number can vary in eitherdirection greatly.
As the cakes get older, they will produce less and less and it will bemore difficult for the mushrooms to grow. Adaptation-17 This is a result of the moisture in the cake being consumed by the earlier mushrooms. You will eventually see mushrooms form and start to grow butnever bulk up during the initial phase of development. These mushroomswill seldom get big enough to develop caps. You can harvest thesemushrooms but it is an indication that the rice cake is about exhausted.
There are several ways to dry them, but we will only cover the best way.What ever you do, don't use heat to dry them. Heat is very harmful tothe psycho-active compounds. You will drastically reduce the mushroom'spotency if you use heat to dry them.
Materials needed:
Several pounds of calcium chloride can be purchased for a couple of dollars at any large building supply outlet. It will usually be found in thepaint department because it is used to dry the air in musty closetsbefore painting and things like that. If possible, get the bulk refill containers. It will be cheaper than the calcium chloride that comes with the units to hold it and the moisture pulled from the air. You won't be using the unit, so don't buy it unless you have to.
The drying chamber needs to have a space at the bottom for water to collect. This allows the calcium chloride to function well forextended periods of time. As it pulls moisture from the air, itdrips to the bottom of the chamber. The calcium chloride is held abovethe water by a circular section of the 1/4 inch wire mesh with a wash cloth spread out on it. See the following diagram for details.The wash cloth keeps the calcium chloride from falling through thewire mesh but any water that forms can drip through it to the bottomof the chamber.
Cut another circular section of mesh so that it fits above the calciumchloride and leaves a nice air gap. The mushrooms will be placed onthis mesh in order to dry them. Make sure the calcium chloride is not touching the bottom of this screen. There should be an air gap between the top of the desiccant and the bottom of the screen. You do not want your mushrooms to touch the calcium chloride while they are drying because some of it will dissolve into the mushroom if this happens.
That is the entire preparation for preserving your mushrooms with minimal loss of potency. In order to dry your mushrooms, simply harvest them and place them on the wire screen. Close the Tupperware container so it is air tight. The mushrooms will shrink and shrivel over the next couple of days. After about three days, they will be fairly hard and contain very little moisture. If you are not pushed for space inside the dryingchamber, you may was well leave them there for five or six days to thoroughly dry them.
After the mushrooms have been in the drying chamber for three days, they can be moved to a zip-lock bag for long term storage. Remember that the dryer the mushrooms are, the longer they will keep.Adaptation-18
The reason this system works so well to dry the mushrooms is the calcium chloride is a good desiccant. It has a very strong affinity for moisture and can pull almost all the moisture out of the air. Eventually however,liquid will start to collect in the bottom of the drying chamber. Mushrooms are 92% water by weight. This moisture has to go somewhere when the mushrooms are dried, and it will eventually find its way to the bottom of the container.
When moisture starts to collect in the drying chamber you can simply drain it out and continue to use the old desiccant. The chamber will continue to work as long as there is sufficientcalcium chloride in it. You should be careful not to contaminate the sides of the container or the top screen with residue from the desiccant. You do not want your mushrooms to touch the residue. For one thing, it tastes terrible, but in additionto this, the mushrooms will not dry completely. The residue will attractmoisture. Whenever you empty the moisture, it is best to wash the Tupperware container completely.
OK, you've decided that your going to dose. After all, why did yougrow these little devils if you weren't going to trip?The most important question to answer is how hard do you want to trip?If a 170 pound person had never done alcohol before, this is the advise I would give him. Dosage could be anywhere from 1 beer to 12 beers. 1 beeris just enough that you might feel something, but everything will bepretty normal. 4 beers is enough you will have a strong sensation of whatalcohol does, but you will be in complete control. At 6 beers, you will start to be drunk. At 12 beers, you are pig drunk and may pass out. I would recommend 4 beers the first time out. This would give you a goodfeeling for what alcohol is about, but still keep you out of trouble.
These mushrooms will be fairly consistent in potency. They are all grown onthe same medium under the same circumstances. If you take 4 average P. cubensis mushrooms, that will put you at the same relative spot on the spectrum as 4 beers. But remember that psilocybin is more powerful than alcohol. What you experience will be more intense than4 beers. However, on the spectrum of what is possible, you will still beon the low side. What are average size mushrooms? Mushrooms are like snowflakes. No two are the same. I would call a mushroom that has a stalk 3 inches long and a cap 1 inch in diameter average.
Drying the mushrooms as described in this document will have minimalimpact on their potency. Many sources claim that dried mushrooms aresignificantly less potent that fresh ones. If you use the method to drythe mushrooms described in this document, you'll find that claim is not true. It's your choice whether to eat them fresh or in their dry state. Some people have strong feelings one way or the other because of their taste. Most people agree that these mushrooms will never win any culinary awards. Try some each way. Find out if one way or the other is better for you.
Some people find that these mushrooms cause some nausea. AN165023@anon.penet.fisuggests the use of digestive aids available over the counter at any pharmacy.This will make consumption of the mushrooms a lot easier on you if you aresusceptible to nausea. Also note, that most people should avoid consumptionof alcohol while using these mushrooms. When the mushrooms are mixed with alcohol, even people with cast iron stomachs can loose their lunch.
If you find the taste of these mushrooms particularly distasteful, you can always bury them in a burrito or peanut butter sandwich. If youdo this, it will slow the onset of the effects some what. Somepeople just chew them up and wash them down with orange juice.
Some people dislike the taste so much, they are willing to go to extraordinary measures to disguise the taste. Several popular recipesfollow. With the exception of the first recipe, these recipes all suffer from a common problem. They use heat. Heat will cause some of the psilocybin to break down and as a resultyou will need to use more mushrooms for the same effect than if you hadingested them directly. This fact in and of itself is not too big ofa deal. After all, you can grow as many mushrooms as you need. A 25%to 50% loss of efficiency is not ideal, but it may be worth it to somepeople in order to avoid the nasty taste of these mushrooms. The realproblem is it is impossible to predict how strong the effect is goingto be. It depends on how hot you heat them when you do the preparationand how long they are hot. Use caution!
Put several spoonfuls of frozen juice concentrate into a blender. Dole's Orange-Pineapple-Banana works especially well but regularOrange Juice or Lemon Aid will work. Add a bit of water, but keep the resulting juice on the strong side. Throw in a few ice cubes and your shrooms (fresh or dry) and whiz on high for a minute or so. Let it sit for a few minutes after you turn off the blender, then drink.
A 500 mg vitamin C capsule can be added and will make the juicemore tart which is beneficial in masking the mushroom taste.
Using Ramen Pride or any other dried noodle soup, followdirections on package, except put cut and cleaned mushroom piecesin the broth. Prepare as usual. If the mushroom pieces are smallthey are relatively unnoticeable.
Cook your favorite frozen pizza according to directions. Several minutes before the pizza is done cooking, add finely sliced freshmushroom pieces to the pizza. Optionally, you can add some gratedcheese on top of the newly added mushroom pieces. Adding cheesewill help encapsulate the mushroom pieces and dramatically helpmask the taste. Place pizza back in oven and cook until done.
Obviously, some of the people that grow these mushrooms are going tobe looking for a 'mind melting' experience. Bad trips on mushroomsare rare, but they do happen. One of the most common reasons forbad trips on mushrooms is taking a high dose of mushrooms that havegrown on cakes that also have contamination growing. Toxins getabsorbed by the mushrooms growing on these contaminated cakes andas the dosage gets higher it starts to become an issue. Care shouldalways be taken to avoid contamination but if you plan to dose onthe high side, it is absolutely mandatory. Think about it. How funwould it be to have a nasty allergic reaction to some toxin whiletripping hard. The email I've received on the subject suggests it isnot very pleasant. Throw out any cake that is contaminated and anymushrooms that were grown on that cake even prior to when the contamination was noticed.
One final note. If you ever find that you have dosed too heavily, justremember that 90 minutes after ingestion will be the peak experience.Things will start to settle down after that. The good news is that medicallyyou can't overdose on psilocybin. If you remember these things, andbelieve them, they can help ease you through a high dose experience.
In order to use the process detailed in this document, you need asterile, viable spore syringe. The spores should be Psilocybe Cubensisspores. Preferably, they should be of the Amazonian strain. The Amazonianstrain has wider parameters for fruiting and is more tolerant of mistakes.However, any Psilocybe Cubensis strain will work. Thereare several ways to get started. The easiest way to get started is toorder a spore syringe but alternatively, you could obtain a spore printand use that to prepare a spore syringe.
Once you have grown some mushrooms, it is worth while to learn how togenerate your own spore prints so that you can produce spore syringeswhen ever you need one. Currently, you don't have to do this if youchoose not to because the spores are still readily available frommail order suppliers. Many people believe the day is coming when thiswill not be true. Many of the sources of psilocybe spores have quitselling to the public and others have destroyed their cultures becauseof mandates given by the DEA. If you have a sterile, viable spore print, you can eliminate your dependence on these suppliers.
If you are outside the United States, there is a $10.00 shipping charge. All their packages are shipped in a discrete manner. However, be aware that outside the US, a customs sticker with the description "mushroom spores in blunt-tipped pipette" is stuck on the box.
If you wish to minimize the paper trail, you can send cash to Psylocybe Fanaticus. They are totally reliable and you will get what you order.Psylocybe Fanaticusadvertises that they do not keep customer files andby sending cash, you can distance your self from any records of thetransaction.
If you learned about Psylocybe Fanaticushere on the Web, please mentionit when you order. Currently, Psylocybe Fanaticus doesn't believe muchbusiness comes their way because of the net. We would like for thatto change.
Also of interest is the fact that this supplier can provide you witheither the standard strain of Psilocybe cubensis spores or 'Gulf Stream'Psilocybe cubensis spores. The 'Gulf Stream' strain is slightly moretolerant of heat and fruits a little easier in warmer temperatures. The standard strain is more appropriate for cooler climates. Simply specify which one you prefer when you place your order.
Check, Diners Card and American Express are accepted.
Mostly, this section is included just for completeness. In the eventyou can not obtain a spore syringe for some reason, you can get aspore print and use that to make a spore syringe.
The following information was pilfered from the mushroom FAQ on Hyper-Real.
Homestead Books P. cubensis spores ($25), kits ($70), andP.O. Box 31608 books/videos about growing.Seattle, WA 98103 (Phone: +1-206-782-4532)Pacific Exotic Spora Panaeolus cyanescens and Coplandia cyanescensP.O. box 11611 spores. Very expensive, $40-$75.Honolulu, HI 96828The Shroom King Str. cubensis print and a book for $25, aboveP.O. Box 17444 above plus compost and agar for $35.Seattle, WA 98107 (Phone: +1-206-784-9328)SYZYGY $15 + $1 (S&H) for a Str. cubensis printP.O. Box 619 on a slide.Honaunau, HI 96726J.L.F. Supposedly sells some rare species readyP.O. Box 184-SC to and lotsa weird stuff. Free catalog.Elizabethtown, IN 47232 (Phone: +1-812-379-2508)
Materials needed:
Several things need to be accomplished. First, we need to sterilize ashot glass to easily mix the spore solution and we need to sterilizea syringe to hold the solution. We also need some sterile water inwhich to suspend the spores. The following procedure will accomplishall of this.
Fill a coffee mug with water and place a shot glass inside the coffeemug. Make sure the shot glass is completely submerged. Place thecoffee mug in the microwave oven and get the water to a full boil for 10 minutes. It does not need to be a violent boil. Adjust theheat level of the microwave oven to keep too much water from beinglost if necessary.
Remove the shot glass and empty the excess water out of the shot glass.Place another glass over the shot glass. This will keep air born contaminates from settling in the shot glass while you wait for the shot glass and water in the spore syringe to cool.
Fill the syringe with hot water from the mug. Eject the hot water and repeat several times. This will insure the inside of the syringe and the needle are clean and sterile. This is especially important if you are using a syringe from a previous crop. When the needle is inserted into the substrate, it is possible to get nutrients up inside the needle and for contamination to grow. The last time you fill the syringe with hot water, do not purge it. Let it sit in the syringe until it is cool. This is useful for two reasons. First, the continued heat from the water can still work to eliminate any remaining contaminates. Secondly, once the water is cool it can be used as the sterile water needed to fill the syringe. Make certain that nothing touches the needle of the syringe.
The Psilocybe mushroom spores will be killed if they come in contact with anything too hot. You need to wait until the shot glass and spore syringe are at room temperature. When it is safe to proceed, usethe cigarette lighter to flame sterilize the X-Acto knife and the needleof the syringe. Let the blade of the knife cool, but make sure it does not touch anything. When it is cool, carefully open the spore print and scrape a fleck of spores into the shot glass. A fleck 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch is more than sufficientfor a 10 cc. spore syringe. Use the needle of the syringe to stir thespores into a few drops of water. Usually, there will be a few dropsleft over in the shot glass from when you emptied it. Otherwise, youcan get the drops from the syringe. Stir the fleck of spores untilthey are well broken up and 'dissolved' into the water. Purge the water out of the syringe into the shot glass. Pull the water back into the syringe, being sure to suck the spores in also. Do this once or twice more to make sure the spores are well mixed in the spore syringe. Often, it takes several tries to get the spores fully broken apart and well mixed.
If the spores in the print have been dried and are not fresh, it isbest to wait six hours to use the spore syringe. The spores need to rehydrate. If your in a hurry, the spores can still rehydratein the culture jars.
Sterility is key. Adaptation-25Be careful not to do anything that will compromisethe sterility of your spore print. The typical procedure is tocut the stalk off of a mature mushroom very close to the cap. A sterilizedknife or razor blade is used to do this. The cap is then laid on a sterilepiece of tissue paper or card stock and a small glass set over it. The glass is neededfor two reasons. First, it keeps the spore print insulated from airbornecontaminates. Secondly, it helps keep the humidity high so the mushroom cap can continue to live and drop its spores. One note ofcaution. Some humidity usually needs to be allowed to escape. Youwant the environment inside the glass to be slightly less humid thanthe environment in which the mushroom was grown. If you have problemsgetting a cap to drop its spores, try using a piece of paper for theprint that fits entirely inside the glass and spreading out a wash cloth flat on the table. Let the edge of the glass seal to the washcloth instead of the paper. This will usually allow enough humidityto escape to cause the cap to drop spores.
If everything goes well, after a day or two the cap will drop its spores. Adaptation-26There will be a purple-brown dust underneath the cap. These are the spores.
Once you have a spore print on the paper, remove the glass and cap.Fold the spore print in half and seal the edges so air can not getin. A piece of scotch tape on each side will do nicely. The spores willstay viable for 18 months if they are kept in a cool, dry and dark spot.If you place a small amount of desiccant in the bottom of a film containerand place a cotton ball on top of the desiccant, you have an ideal containerto keep the spore print. The cotton ball will keep the desiccant fromtouching the spore print. Seal the spore print in the canister and placethe canister in your refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Note that if you want to be self sufficient, it is a good idea to havemultiple spore prints and store them separately. You just never knowwhen you are going to be surprised with a massive contamination problem orthermal death. The safest thing to do is have a couple viable spore printsso it is easier to recover from disaster. A spore print is typicallyviable for about a year if it is stored in a cool, dark location. Asa print ages, germination gets slower and this process becomes moreprone to contamination.
If it is your intent to use a mushroom to immediately generate inoculantfor a successive crop, you can eliminate some of the above steps andreduce the risk of contamination.
Poke a small nail hole in the cap of a wide mouth jar. Cover the nailhole with a piece of electrical tape. A 1/2 pintcanning jar similar to that used for the cultures is fine. Sterilizeboth the jar and the lid.
Place the harvested cap in the sterilized, wide mouth jar. Seal thetop with the lid and wait until a spore print has been generated onthe bottom of the glass. Open the jar and remove the mushroom cap.Add 3/4 cup of sterilized water. Seal the top of the jar with the lidand shake the jar. The spores need to be mixed well into the water. Thisprocedure elements the need to transfer spores from a print tosome container to make the solution. The spore print is generated insidethe container and the only extra step is adding water. It also has thebenefit of making a large amount of solution that is easy to use.
Now, any time you need inoculant, you can shake the jar and peel the tape back to expose the nail hole in the lid. Simply insert the needle of the syringe into the inoculant and pull some into the syringe. The syringeneeds to be sterile or you risk contaminating the entire jar of solution.The solution will keep longer if you refrigerate it.You still should keep some spore prints on paper because it is possibleto contaminate the entire jar of inoculant if you make a mistake.
I never was around people that used psychedelics much. The few timesI had the opportunity, I was unable to find out enough about the source and quality to put my ignorant self at ease. It seemed likeI was never going to get to have a psychedelic experience.
Well, I was surfing the net one day and decided to test the reach ofinformation contained on it. I was trying one exotic topic afteranother in Yahoo. I was amazed at the knowledge contained on the net.I decided to push it to the limit. I asked about psilocybin. Tomy amazement, a few indexes to documents came back. I quickly down loaded them and started studying them. I was astonished to findout that the spores for Psilocybe mushrooms could be mail ordered because the spores did not contain any controlled substances. And bestof all, there was no overdose for psilocybin.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what I was thinking!The net contained bits and pieces of information. I was able to learnsome of the basic concepts for growing shrooms but there was a lotof uncertainty and contradictions in the information I had. I keptincreasing the depths of my searches on the topics. It eventuallybecame obvious that my best chance of success lay with Psylocybe Fanaticus' method. I promptly ordered their Tek Notes and a sporesyringe.
I followed their directions and had cultures well under way soon enough.But, I was frustrated with their humidification techniques. They didnot work for me even though I experimented like crazy. My jobinvolves doing research and development at a high technology computercompany. I was determined to solve the problem and make it easy forothers with access to the net to succeed. I found a few people on thealt.drugs news group that had vast mushroom growing experience and theyhelped me with advice that got me over some of my initial problems.
I was going home in a few months on vacation to visit old buddies.I told them I thought I was going to be able to bring some shroomsso we could all trip together. They freaked with joy. I have a basic personality flaw. Anything worth doing, is worth doing to excess.I didn't know how many shrooms I would need so I figured I had better grow a couple pounds. I worked out the problems I washaving and simultaneously ramped production. I had a couple poundsof dried mushrooms by the time I headed north on vacation.
We were at a friends cabin on the lake when the time was right. I broke out my stash of shrooms as we prepared to go out on the lakefishing. Of course I offered some advice about what I thought wasa reasonable first dose, but then I made the mistake of trying to comfort them with the information that it was impossible to overdoseon psilocybe mushrooms. My friends have my same basic personalityflaw about doing things to excess as I do, except worse. The closest Ican figure, I ate about an eighth of a cup of crushed, dried shrooms and they all ate about twice that. My first dose was significantly higherthan the Dosage section of this document recommends. Just because I gotaway with it, doesn't make it a smart thing to do!
Being the scientific type, I grabbed my camcorder just in case we neededto document anything and we headed to the boat to go fishing. Thefirst 25 minutes seemed pretty normal, but then I started to feel myselfcoming on. I had done enough research to know that the peak experiencewas a good hour away. I kept fishing. Soon I had to put down my fishing pole and just watch my buddies. I just had way too much stuff going on to be holding my fishing pole.
I had heard that the most basic visual experience was how colors became vibrant while tripping. I kept looking for this, but never noticed it. I was wondering if we dosed high enough or if I had gone to all thetrouble to grow these damn things and eat those awful tasting shrooms for nothing. I started to feel a little down. I just stared atthe seat where one of my buddies was sitting.
Suddenly the seat was alive. I became mesmerized by how the grainin the wood seats of the boat would not stay still. Every time I lookedat the seat, it would ebb and flow. Too cool! The surface of thewater was even more intense. The patterns formed by the little ripples and waves were unbelievable. I was frying big time. Even though mybuddies dosed way higher than me, they seemed unaffected. They justkept fishing and cracking jokes. I was still 30 minutes from peak.
I was looking across the lake at the far shore. Therewere lots of clouds blowing across the sky. I was enjoying just watching them. Then it happened. It became obvious to me whichclouds were going to break apart into little clouds and whichlittle clouds were going to combine to make bigger clouds. I spenta lot of time trying to figure out if I was just imagining this abilityor if I could really do it. I just kept watching the far shore. Eventuallymy buddies noticed my fascination with the far shore and I became the focusof their jokes. They still didn't seem like they were tripping. Itold them about my new found ability. That only encouraged them to makemore jokes. I challenged them to predict which clouds weregoing to break apart and which ones would combine. They admitted thatwould be impossible. When I told them I thought I could do it, thejokes really started.
Naturally, I had to prove I wasn't making up this ability. I startedpointing and telling my buddies which clouds were going to do what.They were real skeptical at first, but finally I convinced them. Oneof them realized that we ought to get this on the camcorder tape ornobody would believe this had happened. It was a little work to get the camcorder setup because we were so fucked up, but I got about 5 minutes of this on tape. This was real valuable in making me a believer that psychedelics really can expand your mind and give you insight that you never had before.
Later that day, everybody commented on how they thought they were theonly one affected by the shrooms until the cloud incident happened. We were all having a good time, but nobody recognized that the others were tripping hard. I was only at 1/2 the dose my buddies were at, so it's not too hard for me to believethey were really looped.
The next day, everybody wanted to trip again. I gave them some advice. I told them that a person's tolerance builds quickly to psilocybin and that they would have to dose significantly higher to get the same effect. Interestingly enough, they all thought they wanted a little less ofan experience. The first trip had tired everybody emotionally andintellectually. Strangely enough, that day, straight or tripping, I was unable to repeat my cloud predictions. It seems to have been a onetime experience. Yet, I know and have proof I was able to do it thatone time. It turns out the real life value of being able to predictcloud behavior is pretty small, but the important point is thatpsychedelics can give you insight you would not have had otherwise.
When we got back to town, all my buddies wanted me to teach them howto grow shrooms. My buddies are not very scientifically minded people.I have been trying to get them to use computers and get on the netfor a long time with no success. I did not think I could just explain the steps and have much probability of them succeeding. I thought about this problem for a little while. I wanted to write a comprehensive guide for the people on the net and I wanted to get my buddies on the net. Icould kill two birds with one stone. I told them that if they figured outhow to get on the net, I would have a simple guide there for them to follow.
This section is for the mycrophile that has some experience anddesires to cultivate a large crop of mushrooms. This sectionis intended for someone that has already grown several crops usingthe PF Tek procedure detailed earlier in this document. This sectionassumes a certain amount of experience and expertise. Please do notattempt this technique without first gaining the experience; you willmost likely fail if you do so.
The procedure detailed earlier in this document is the best one known formaking it possible for a first time cultivator to succeed. But itis very inefficient and the culture jars take a significant amountof time to manufacture and colonize. If you desire to grow a large quantity of mushrooms, you will find it is not practical for your needs.
The following procedure is an adaptation of the traditional mushroomcultivation techniques. It assumes you have some experience anddon't need to be warned about this and that. The following descriptionof the bulk growing procedure should be sufficient for an educatedperson to follow. There are many fine books on the subject and rather than compete with them, I suggest you get one if you start having difficulties The Mushroom CultivatorHowever, if you are careful, these directions should get you a truck load of shrooms.
There has been such a demand for instructions to accomplish growingon a bulk substrate, the author has decided to help. But the followingprocess has not been 'idiot proofed' yet. You will need to use common sense and adapt as issues arise. Please note that this process depends on sterile procedures being in place. If you fail, it will most likely be because you introduced contaminates.
Materials needed:
The first step in the process is to generate several spawn jars. Place 2/3 cup of Rye in each canning jar. Add 3/4 cup of water to each jar. Loosely screw on the caps andsterilize the jars in the pressure cooker. 45 minutes at 15 PSI isusually good. Note that a pressure cooker is necessary for severalreasons. First, bulk grain is more difficult to sterilize. Secondly,in order to get the grain to absorb as much water as possible, pressureis required.
As the Rye cooks, it will expand and all of the water should soak into the rye. Let the jars cool to room temperature. The rye should be loose and break apartif you rotate the jars. That is the main reason rye is used insteadof some other grain. This will be important later.
At this point you need mycelium to inoculate the grain. You will need a clean food processor and set of blades for it.If you can sterilize it in the pressure cooker, this is best. Ifnot, throw it in the dish washer with lots of soap. Don't openthe pressure cooker or dish washer until you are ready to use it.
If you are using a mushroom, perform the following steps.Sterilize 1/4 cup of water. Let it cool. Put the water and the mushroominto the food processor and turn the mixture into a slurry. Don't mixthe slurry more than you need to. You are creating small fragments ofmycelium by chopping up the mushroom. The more you chop it up, themore damage you do to the small pieces of mycelium.
Open each spawn jar and place 4 or 5 cc's of the prepared slurry inthe jar. Close the lid and rotate the jar so the Rye kernels tumbleand mix inside the jar. The idea is to get as many kernels as possible to have mycelium fragments on them. Loosen the lid and place the jars in a warm, dark location.
There are several reasons why tissue from a mushroom is preferred to spores for the inoculation of the spawn jars.
If you are using a 100% colonized culture jar, perform the followingsteps. First, the culture jar should have been 100% colonized forat least a week. This lets the mycelium grow into the cake and resultsin more of it being available for the inoculation. Birth the cake,and place it in the food processor. Turn it into little pieces smallerthan a pea. Dump the sterilized rye into the food processor and turnit on just long enough to mix things up well. Place the contents ofthe food processor back into the jar and cover it loosely.
The cleaner your environment the more likely you will get through thisstage without introducing contaminates. This is the most likely placeto induce failure.
Loosen the lid and place the jars in a warm, dark location. In 3 or4 days you should see isolated spots with white mycelium growing. Check the spawn jars periodically. When you see large areas of aggressive growth, tumble the Rye to mix things up.Rotate the jar enough to thoroughly mix the kernels. The idea of mixing the Rye is to get kernels with mycelium growing on them scattered throughout the jar. Ideally, no kernel should be too farfrom a kernel with mycelium growing on it. Repeat this process every3 or 4 days when the mycelium growth has been aggressive for a while.Once there is mycelium growing within 1/2 inch of every other locationno further mixing is needed. At this point just let the myceliumexpand outwards until it is every where.
Once every kernel has mycelium growing on it, leave the jar sit undisturbed for a week. The idea is to let the mycelium grow asfast as possible.
Sterilize more jars filled with rye and water. Let the jars cool.
Most food processors have a plastic blade that comes with them forthe purpose of mixing things instead of cutting things. Use this ifpossible. Make sureyour food processor and blade are clean. Empty the contents of acolonized spawn jar into the food processor. Turn it on until the Ryekernels are all broken apart. Add some of the freshly cooked Ryeto the food processor. Depending upon your confidence and the sterilityof your environment you can add anywhere from 4 to 20 times the amountof grain in your spawn jar. The less you add, the less likely youwill have problems with contamination. The more you add, the fasteryou can create substrate. Initially, you should stay on the low side.Turn on the food processor and mix the freshly cooked Rye with thecolonized Rye from the spawn jar.
Place this material in a container that can be loosely covered. Thismaterial should be treated exactly as the earlier spawn jars were treated except you should see quicker growth of the mycelium patches. The amount of spawn you have can be compounded again and again until you have enough to inoculate massive substrates.
Once you have sufficient spawn colonized and available for your substrate,lay it out in a deep cake pan to a depth of 1.5 inches. Attempt to keep the surface even. If you have a very clean environment, you canperform a mass expansion and lay out the uncolonized grain instead ofwaiting for it to colonize in the jar. This will save several days anda little effort, but in general it is not worth the risk.
Cover the pan with a sheet of plastic wrap. Do not seal it absolutelytight, but make sure that very little air is exchanged. Note thatsome air does need to be exchanged to keep the CO2 level from gettingtoo high. But air exchange increases the likelihood of contamination.Keep it to a minimum.
This is one of the big benefits to bulk substrate growing. Whatevergrain is not used to prepare a substrate can be used as spawn fornew jars. When you get to this point in the process, you can easilybe preparing a new bulk substrate every couple of days. You justmake sure you never use all of the colonized grain as substrate. Youhold back some to use as spawn for the next set of jars.
Wait a few days until the freshly laid out substrate is showingaggressive growth. Laying out the grain breaks up the myceliumnetworks, and it takes several days for the mycelium to recover.
Step 9
Casing the substrate is the next step. Various recipes are availablebut the simplest one consists of course ground vermiculite and water. Course ground vermiculite is a requirement because the fineground vermiculite packs too tightly and seals the substrate.
Soak the vermiculite in water. Wring it out, but leave it fairlydamp. Later versions of this guide will have exact measurementsbut for the moment, you will need to adapt. If any of you thinkyou have an optimum mixture, please post it in the alt.drugs.psychedlicsand rec.drugs.psychedlic newsgroups.
Lay out the casing material to a depth of 3/4 of an inch. Try tokeep it smooth because this will result in the mycelium poking through everywhere at the same time. Cover with plastic wrap andwait. Typically, it will be about a week for the mycelium to break through the surface of the casing.
Step 10
Initiate fruiting. Take the plastic off of the pan and place itin your terrarium. Make sure you have the temperature at about 75 F. Have some indirect lightavailable. As pins start to develop, use a hand sprayer to mistthe casing and keep it moist. But be careful. Do not saturate itto the point of being wet and having water drops that will not soakinto the vermiculite.
Step 11
After the first flush, you can get a smaller second and third flushif you let the substrate rest for a while. There are a lot offactors affecting this. One particularly important factor is homemuch of the first flush's moisture came from the substrate and howmuch came from the casing. If you can mist your casing several timesa day, that will help the longevity of your substrate.
If you can not find an ultra sonic humidifier, you can use otherhumidifiers. Don't get too hung up with this item. The big problem to watch out for is heat. If you get forced to use a humidifier that is not ultra sonic make sure it does not put out a warm mist of air. Any ultra sonic humidifier can be made to work.This statement is not true of other humidifiers.
Prices vary dramatically, but a big bag of it with several cubic feet ofvermiculite usually runs less than $10.00. Much smaller bags are availableand sell for several dollars.
If you can't find vermiculite in any of the well stocked gardencenters in your area, you can call Piedmont Pacific. They are a large supplier of vermiculite. Their phone number is 1-770-725-6853. You canask them for the name of a store in your area that sells vermiculite.
Back to preparing the substrate.
Back to Terrarium Construction.
Back to table of contents.
If you have a suggestion, you can get it to the author of thisdocument by posting it to these same newsgroups. If you have something you only want the author of this document to read, pleaseencrypt it with PGP and post it to the above newsgroups. I willsee it. My PGP key is:
Type Bits/KeyID Date User IDpub 2047/B9182FE9 1996/08/24 MMGG Author-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----Version: 2.6.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=fEDH-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
You may notice mushrooms trying to grow inside the jar before the substrateis 100% colonized. This is not ideal because you are using up moisturein the cake for something that you won't consume, but it is a fact oflife using the 1 pint jars. It is normal.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
One caution. Do not release the pressure until the unit is fullycooled. The substrate in the culture jars will be at 250 F. Ifpressure is released, moisture will boil out of the substrate.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
If you are doing twice as many jars aswill fit in your terrarium, pack half of the jars very tightly.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
The main reason why this is sometimes worth while has to do with contamination. By far, the most likely spot for contamination toenter the culture jar is at the site of the inoculation. If you have a spore syringe that may not be entirely free of contamination,you can increase your probability of keeping the culture free ofcontamination by only inoculating one site. Note that commercialspore syringes are typically very sterile. If you do nothing tochange this fact, it is best to inoculate at four sites in theculture jar.
In order to illustrate the point, assume that the spore syringe hasslightly 'dirty' contents but is still viable. Assume any given injection site has a 50% chance of becoming contaminated. If you inject only one site, the culture has a 50% chance of becoming contaminated. If you inject four sites, the culture has a
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
If you inject 1 cc of inoculate at each site, you will get many germination's and the cake will colonize significantly faster. You shouldplace the beveled side of the syringe needle against the glass so that theinoculate is coming out of the syringe and heading towards the glass. Itshould form a thin puddle of liquid between the glass and the substrate.1 cc of inoculate should produce a puddle several inches in diameter.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
There are several easy ways to accomplish this. If you have a floorheater with a pilot light and it is summer time (so the heat is not goingto come on), you might be able to put the cakes in a shoebox and set them on the unit. The top of your water heater might be a goodcandidate. You can fill a cake pan half way with water and put a submersible fish tank heater in the water set to 80 degrees. Then simplyput the jars in the cake pan.
However you choose to do this, make sure the temperature does not getabove 90 degrees. Check out the heat source before you subject yourcakes to it.
If you plan to have your terrarium at normal room temperature, thencolonizing at 80 degrees will help you initiate a massive flush of mushrooms when you place your cakes in the terrarium.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
The second reason you will want to avoid doing this is the initiatingof the fruiting process is triggered by three things. A drop in temperature,a drop in the CO2 level and light. You may confuse the fungus and inhibita massive flush when you take the cake out of the jar. You will stillget a crop, but it may take longer to consume the cake.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
Secondly, the process assumes that when the cake is removed from the jarit has sufficient networks in place to provide the nutrition needed forthe fruiting process. If you take the cake out too early, this may notbe the case.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
Back to preparation and colonization of substrate.
Back to table of contents.
Back to construction of basic growing chamber.
Back to table of contents.
Check all the gauges on the shelf. Most likely, some will deviate greatly from the rest. You want to pick one that seems to be accurate!Bare in mind that usually there are several different brands of gaugesavailable. Check and see what various gauges from different brands arereading. Use some common sense to eliminate the obviously inaccurategauges. Even so, you are making the assumption that at the high end of thehumidity spectrum the chosen gauge will be accurate. Remember thatabsolute accuracy is not so important as knowing the relative conditionsinside you terrarium over time. Even if you gauge is off a little bit,it will tend to be off in the same direction all the time. The easiestway to use a gauge during the growing process is to know what it used to read during previous growing cycles and keeping close to that reading.If a problem does develop, it will provide a clue which direction youneed to move.
Back to construction of basic growing
Back to table of contents.
Back to Method 2, Using a Fish Tank Bubblier.
Back to table of contents.
Back to Method 2, Using a Fish Tank Bubblier
Back to table of contents.
Back to construction of Ultra Sonic support system.
Back to table of contents.
Back to the Growing Cycle.
Back to table of contents.