Guide To Growing Magic Mushrooms "Psilocybe Cubensis" | GARDENS NURSERY (2024)

Guide to Growing Magic Mushrooms “Psilocybe cubensis”

Let me start this thread off by saying I AM NO EXPERT AT GROWING MAGIC MUSHROOMS. This thread is to share the experiences I’ve had in the short months of my research and experimentations and to share what I have found at this time.

I am open to any and every comment, question, or concern about this post and hope that some of my fellows, more knowledgeable mushheads will help aid not only myself but all of you to grow your mushrooms. Starting at the base of my experiment, I gathered the following items to start my growth: (Keep in mind, I made both BRF cakes and Popcorn bulk to see which worked better for me)

• horticulture vermiculite (verm for short)
• coco coir brick (bought online, but can be bought at pet stores)
• mason jars (I used the standard 8oz jars I believe, see page for jars)
• popcorn kernels (bought at your local grocery store)
• brown rice flour ( bought at a local grocery store)
• liquid cultures (bought from a reputable source) (in my case, jet fuel cookies)
• polyfill (bought at your local arts and crafts store)
• pressure cooker (I used one from one of my friends, I believe you can boil your jars as well to sterilize them)
• something to put your substrate and fully colonized cake/grain into fruit

The first step I took was gathering all of the above ingredients/items I would need to start the process. I believe it’s very important to have everything you already need before you start this process because of how tricky and sanitary this entire process is. After gathering everything, I took a portable stove (because I work as a chef and have access to one, plus, I’m doing this all secretly) and measured out 6, 8oz mason jars with popcorn kernels and let them sit in tap water for 24 hours. After that, I boiled the kernels on the stove for about an hour, an hour, and fifteen. While my corn boiled, I prepared my jars.

I did this by making a hole the size of a pencil’s width if not bigger in the center of the lid for my jar. I then filled the hole with polyfill. I filled the hole with about a handful of polyfill. After my jars were prepped and my corn had boiled, I let it sit for about 30 minutes outside. (The temperature that night was about 67° which helped dry out my corn quicker) after running my hands through the corn to make sure it was dry enough, I filled my jars right before the lip for the cover and put 6 jars into the pressure cooker.

I let the jars cook for 90 minutes at 15psi and then cool at room temp for about an hour. ( I had gone out to dinner that night so the jars sat on a concrete floor until I returned ) Once my jars were cooled, I took the liquid cultures that I had shaken up real good and heated the needle tip until red hot. Once the tip was cooled, I inoculated my jars. (3ml per jar) and sterilized the tip after each jar. 6 jars total. After all, the jars were inoculated, I labeled each jar of the strain and put them in my closet in my room where it ranges between 70° to 80° depending on if the air conditioning is on. I’ve had my jars in these conditions for at least 2 weeks and I have only had one contamination.

I haven’t made it to the stage of spawning my grains in a substrate yet but once I do, I will add the steps and precautions I took during these steps. Thanks for reading and hope this helped, please add opinions and comments as to what I’m doing right or wrong. (All information above is given using the Popcorn tek) A quick rundown of what I did for the BRF cakes: I took vermiculite and brf and did 1 of verm grow cup plant to 3 cups of brf. (Maybe my rations were off because I’ve had no spawn) I inoculated 3 jars and put them in an incubator at 78°. Saw nothing in the first 5 days so I moved them into my room.

Still, I haven’t seen any growth, but I do see signs of cobwebs. Any information on how I can redo my briefcakes would be very helpful. I am trying to experiment with as many different methods as possible to find the one that will work best for me. (Source)

A Simple Guide to Growing Magic Mushrooms “Psilocybe cubensis”

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms or Psilocybe cubensis

To start mushroom cultivation or Psilocybe cubensis you will need a grow Magic Mushrooms kit or any Grow Kits Promotional Products. Also, you might want a thermometer (optional but can be handy – get it from a hardware store). Buy a standard plastic storage box with a lid, needs to allow at least a few inches of space around all sides of the mushroom,

Put about 2 inches deep of perlite inbox (about 1/2 bag). Be careful about breathing in the dust (use a mask or add some water to the bottom to help stop dusk).Add water to 1 inch deep in a box (about 3 pints). Place the magic mushroom grows box kit (without the lid on) in the middle of the box.

Place the box somewhere fairly free from draughts and with some light available (doesn’t have to be bright or for very long each day).Keep a box at around mid-70s Fahrenheit. This will ensure a decent temp to help to pin (formation of Magic Mushrooms) and also encourage growth.Take the lid off a box (the big storage box) and use it to gently fan the air in the box, to remove the CO2. Do this at least once a day.

After around 1 week to 10 days should have fully formed mushrooms. Once the mushroom’s cap splits away from the stem when they are ready to pick. You should do this by grasping the mushroom firmly at its base and then twisting it. From this point on the Magic Mushroom may grow, but will not be producing any more grow psilocybin mushrooms, and therefore just taking nutrients from the cake.

After the first crop, the cake will have shrunk slightly. Turning upside down onto something clean you can take the cake from the box and place it directly on the perlite (the same way up as it was originally). This will make the cake soak up moisture and help with further flushes of mushrooms.

Harvesting Magic Mushrooms

When magic mushrooms have been picked you can either eat them raw or dry them. Drying causes some of the potency to be lost, so dry them gently i.e. in an airing cupboard. If some of the Magic Mushrooms are very big, then slice them in half lengthways to speed up drying. Do not put them in the oven or any other source of heat. Once dry put in airtight plastic bags and store in the freezer.

Once picked, for larger mushrooms, slice them in half lengthways to increase the speed of drying.Place them on a sheet of wire mesh, or something similar, (not paper as they stick), and put them somewhere warm, but not hot. (Airing cupboard would be ok.) Once they are completely dry (2-3 days) place them in sealed plastic sandwich bags in the freezer. Consumption

Although we do not recommend the ingestion of magic mushrooms due to the strong effect they can have on a person certain guidelines should be followed if you do take them.

• Never take them alone mix them with other substances or alcohol
• Never operate equipment / drive a car under the influence
• Keep them away from children
• Always use discretion

Procedure for Growing Magic Mushrooms or Psilocybe cubensis

• Make sure your work area is draft-free.
• Set up the pressure cooker, and make sure you follow instructions.
• Wash the jars and lids. Don’t towel dry them, you will just wipe germs and dust back on them.
• Wash, too. Some people recommend that you wear a long-sleeved shirt, I wear a T-shirt and disinfect my forearms when doing shroom work.
• For each canning jar, add 1/4 cup brown rice and 1/3 – 1/2 cup water.
• I use bottled water, but boiled tap water is fine.
• Fill 6 1/2 pint jars or as many as will fit into your pressure cooker, without stacking or jamming them in there.
• Place the lids on the jars, and leave the lids very loose.
• Place the jars on the bottom of the pressure cooker.
• You want about 1.5 inches of water in there.
• Now follow the directions for sealing the pressure cooker.
• Allow the pressure inside the cooker to build up to 15 lbs.
• Once the pressure inside the cooker has reached 15 lbs, you want to maintain it at that level for one hour.

You may have to turn it down so that the pressure doesn’t rise to unsafe levels above 15 lbs.

• When the hour has passed, turn off the stove and let it cool before you open it.
• After 10-15 minutes – remove jars from the cooker.
• Don’t try to rush the cooling process, as the jars may crack.
• I would suggest leaving jars to cool for at least 2 hours. 4-6 if you can.
• Too much heat and your mushroom spores will die.
• Wash up again, use your bleach, etc.
• Wash your hands and forearms, put your hat on.
• Long sleeves and a hat etc is recommended because millions of germs are falling off your body
  at any given moment.
• Sterility and the absence of drafts are of utmost importance from here on.
• Use your face/dust mask now if you have one.
• I recommend filling a spray bottle with a 10% bleach / 90 % water solution.
• Use it to mist the air in the room to further reduce airborne contaminants.

Inoculation for Psilocybe cubensis

• Heat your wire loop/scalpel until it is red hot.
• Put on your dust mask or pull your shirt up over your nose and mouth.
• I suggest using a glovebox (homemade will do)
• Lift the lid off the jar and place it face down on a sterile surface.
• Get out your spore print and hold it over the open jar at an acute angle.
• Use the sterilized wire/scalpel to gently scrape and tap the spore print to get the spores onto the rice cake. If you can see dark specks fall onto the rice, you’ve done it sufficiently — anything you can see is probably several thousand spores.
• A spore print the size of a penny is enough to inoculate 12 1/2pint jars.
• Screw on the lid tightly and shake the jar until the rice cake breaks up.
• This will allow the spores to spread throughout the rice medium.
• When you’ve done this to all the jars, put them in a safe place with a fairly constant temperature.
• A dark place is best as light can induce fruiting too early.
• In 3 days to 2 weeks, you should see white, fluffy mycelia appear.
• Any other color ie. green, black, etc. is mold. Dispose of the jar.
• Bacterial infections usually give off a putrid odor.
• With experience, bacterial infection will become easy to recognize.
• Now sit back and wait for nature to take its course.
• It will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 month for the mycelia to completely permeate
• the rice medium, then it will start getting these stringy-looking or fan-shaped runners in the white fuzzy growth.

Fruiting

Now exposed to a couple of hours of light per day.
The edible mushroom formation is not far off now.
Of course, at all stages be on the lookout for any possible contaminants in containing living mycelium.
As the mycelium matures it may start staining blue in spots, due to bruising,
so don’t mistake this for a mold infection.

Fruiting Chamber

• I would suggest using a plastic crate as a fruiting chamber.
• Sterilize some compost in the pressure cooker.
• Disinfect the fruiting chamber, and add soil to the container.
• Then place rice cakes on the soil.
• Mist with distilled water. Replace lid.
• The mushrooms first appear as tiny white pinheads and then the caps will darken to a lovely reddish-brown.
• Mushrooms grow best in an environment with a humidity of over 90%.
• So if you think that your edible mushrooms may need a more moist environment,
• Simply respray boiled or distilled water directly over rice cake/mushroom soil.
  You don’t want things too wet, however, as this will promote mold/bacteria growth and inhibit mushroom formation. Air exchange must take place in the storage area, this becomes more important as fruiting occurs, as the mycelia give off CO2 and need O2.

Harvesting Magic Mushrooms

Mushrooms are ready as soon as the white membrane connecting the cap to the stem starts to rip. Although you don’t want to pick them before they have reached their full size, be careful not to let the spores cover the cake or you will get fewer shrooms. To harvest your mushrooms, wash your hands and forearms well, or use rubbing alcohol. Take the lid off the fruiting chamber, grasp the Magic Mushroom firmly near the base, and twist.
A brisk twisting motion will help to free the ‘shroom from the mycelia.

Some Tips for Optimal Yields

-Here are some more tips. 86 F is the best temperature for starting the growth process.
-The temperature inside the jars will be several degrees higher than the surrounding air temperature.
-The growth of the mycelia generates small amounts of heat. I would build/buy a simple growth chamber.

This will serve some purposes:
-it will create a more sterile environment, guarding against contamination.
-it will help keep the temp. high and more constant.
-it will help keep the humidity high and more constant.

You can also use those cool boxes people used when I was a kid for picnics.

• Get one that’s large enough to hold the 12 jars you’ve got.
• Cut a hole in the lid. Cover with clear plastic.
• Now you have a lid that allows light into the grow chamber, but it also keeps out dust, mold, and other contaminants.
• I suggest leaving the jars in total darkness for the first week or two.

Optimal Growth Parameters for Magic Mushrooms

Spawning stage:1st stage of growth

Relative Humidity = 90%
The substrate containing living Temp = 84-86 F.
Thermal death limits at 106 F.
Duration = 10-14 days.
Light Incubation in total darkness.

Primordia formation:pinhead formation

Relative Humidity = 90+%
Air Temperature = 74-78 F. Duration = 6-10 days.
Light Diffuse natural or exposure for 12-16 hours/day of grow-lux type fluorescent.
High in blue spectra at the 480-nanometer wavelength.
Regular fluorescent works fine, but use natural daylight whenever possible.

CROPPING:Harvest

• Relative Humidity = 85-92%
• Air Temperature = 74-78 F.
• Flushing Pattern = Every 5-8 days.
• Harvest Stage = When the cap becomes convex and soon after the partial veil ruptures.
• Light Diffuse natural or exposure for 12-16 hours/day of grow-lux type fluorescent.
• High in blue spectra at the 480-nanometer wavelength.
• Moisture Content of Mushrooms = 92% water and 8% dry matter.
• P. cubensis has up to 1% psilocin and/or psilocybin per dried gram.
• The medium adult oral dose is 4-8 mg psilocybin.