Mushroom Growers Guide
Pinning Fruiting and Harvesting of Mushrooms
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 just as good for eating as full-grown mushrooms, but they 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
The Best Overall Method for Drying Mushrooms
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 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.
Birthing the Cakes
Once a cake is completely covered in white mycelium, wait at least 1-2 more days 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...
Mushroom Spore Liquid Culture Honey Tek
Sterilize them and allow to cool. To break the mycelium up while in the syringe, Draw air through the needle while flaming it. Then give the syringe a shake for 2 minutes. Then inoculate the jars with the syringe that was made. There you have it. Colonization should complete in about one to two weeks. Now the jar you injected the Karo into doesn't ever need to be birthed. It could be taped and put into the refrigerator to be re-used. You'll never need another...
Bulk Substrate Growing
This section is for the mycrophile that has some experience and desires to cultivate a large crop of mushrooms. This section is intended for someone that has already grown several crops using the PF Tek procedure detailed earlier in this document. This section assumes a certain amount of experience and expertise. Please do not attempt this technique without first gaining the experience you will most likely fail if you do so. The procedure detailed earlier in this document is the best one known...
What are common contaminants of the mushroom culture
Most specialty mushrooms are grown on sterilized substrates, and once a contaminant gets a foothold, it flourishes in the absence of competition from other contaminants. In nature, complex interactions among hundreds of other fungi, bacteria, nematodes, etc. maintain an ecological equilibrium. In a sterilized medium, the grower provides ideal conditions for the contaminant to prosper. In sawdust bags, contamination usually involves another fungus living off the waste products or on the remains...
Incubator A
The inoculated jars develop fastest if they are stored at a temperature of 27 C (80 F) (According to Stamets the best incubation temperature for P. cubensis would be 86 F, but since the jars themselves are a few degrees warmer than the surroundings (mycelium emits heat when growing) 80 F is a good and safe incubator temperature) You can build an effective incubator by using two plastic boxes of the same size and an aquarium heater. There are several types of aquarium heaters. When you're buying...
A few little things we will need
Wide mouth quart jar and normal dome lid with ring as used in PF jars. 2. Piece of 2 wide PVC pipe any length 2 or over will do. OK, let's get started. First off our mini terrarium will be sitting upside down with the lid on tightly. To allow the cake to create a nice fruiting environment for itself we will allow airflow through four l 8 holes equally placed around the lid. The temperature must be held as near to 76 degrees as possible for the proper fruiting environment to be maintained. I...
How To Use Damprid To Dry Mushrooms
Put your shrooms in front of the fan on a plate or tray of some sort. Crank the fan on high. Then after a day of Fan, Switch to the Damp Rid method. In a container, add a layer of Damp Rid, then have the screen suspend 1 4 somehow over the Damp Rid. Do this for 2 days. Weigh your shrooms, if they loose any weight over a 24 hour period, keep them for another 24 hour period. right, After they have been fanned for 24 hours, I used to put my shrooms in this thing. it's just a...
Drying and Preservation of the Mushrooms
Once you have grown and harvested some mushrooms, you need to think about preserving them. They will only keep for a short time in their fresh state. Sometimes a single mushroom needs to be harvested and it isn't enough for a dose. Other times, too many mushrooms will be fully grown for a single dose. Either way, you will be in a situation where you want to preserve them for later. And, even if this didn't happen, you may find your self in a situation where you simply don't have the time or...
The Ultra Richmans Terrarium
This terrarium was made by a plastics fabrication expert. It isn't cheap (like a poor mans Whalmart plastic storage box) but if you can find the right person - the cost is a bit more than the richmans dome above. It is made out of acrylic clear plastic. It is one piece, with a removable spray shield. At the top, is a spray hole with a rubber stopper. It is designed to hold one fruiting cake to maturity, but it can hold 4 cakes tightly. The cake inside is a first flush PF spore race cake -...
The Canning Jar Lid loose or tight
There are two choices with the lids during incubation - tight or loose. With a very high moisture content (good for fruiting), a tight lid can cause water to collect in the bottom of the jar. This is to be avoided. If it happens, the lid should be kept on loose during incubation. Tape the canning jar lid to the band to make the lid act as a one piece lid for raising and lowering. If the substrate is on the dry side, a tight lid will preserve the moisture content. It is all a matter of the...
D Fruiting Producing Mushrooms and Harvesting The Fruiting Chamber Terrarium
Many different things can be used for a fruiting chamber, including camping coolers, aquariums, and large plastic containers (Rubbermaid brand or similar containers work great). The fruiting chamber 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 much too tall or too large, it may be difficult to...
Paper Towels Fruiting Chamber
The fruiting of the cakes can be accomplished in any sort of container that can be loosely sealed and has at least one translucent side, preferably on the top. Suitable containers are a plastic bucket, rubbermaid container, terrarium, aquarium Put an V2 inch layer of moistened perlite or expanded clay pelets or even a wet paper towel at the bottom of the container and birth the cakes onto this layer by letting them slide from the jar upside down. If you have a bigger fruiting chamber (a bigger...
Syringe preparation
Draw boiling water into a syringe and squirt it out several times. Refill the syringe with boiling water, replace the needle quard and wrap the syringe in tin foil. Prepare several syringes like this. Drop the syringes into the boiling water and boil them for one hour. Let them cool before using. The main point of this technique would be to expose the interior of the jar to as little room air as possible. Always protect the holes in the lid by placing tin foil or sterile...
Data On Various Psiocybian Species
Found from May through September usualy in dense shade scattered among mosses, and in wet soil around bogs, swamps, and ditches in the northwestern USA and as far east as Michigan. Carpophores grow well in sphagnum moss having a range of pH 7-8. Found in early summer through late autumn scattered, grouped, or clustered on cow dung, or rich soil in Florida and other southern states. Spores germinate easily easily on all agar media. Optimum growth occurs on MEA at 80 degrees F. Carpophores can be...
Small Perlite Shroomariums by Bacchus
If you're using the PFTek formula (rice flour and vermiculite), instead of a using a large humidified aquarium, try making individual shroomariums. Each one is a gallon jar with 1 2 of wet perlite at the bottom. When the cake is ready to be birthed, it is placed in the jar on a plastic lid or something similar. This method may not yield quite as many or as large shrooms as a fancier, larger, more expensive setup, but it should be more than adequate for most appetites. This may still benefit...