Disclaimer

Growing psychedelic mushrooms is illegal pretty much everywhere in the world. Dont do it. Dont use this guide to do it. I dont take any responsibility for you using this guide to do anything irresponsible. Psilocybin is a dangerous psychedelic compound, and you should treat it with respect. If you do use this guide to grow magic mushrooms, you must treat them with respect. They are not recreational drugs, they are entheogens. You should use them for spiritual enlightenment, and not just to trip for kicks. You can do serious damage to your mind when you are in an entheogenic state if you arent careful. If you do mushrooms too regularly, you can develop a tolerance. If you do choose to grow magic mushrooms, you should do so for personal use and enlightenment only. Do not sell magic mushrooms!!!. If you do decide to give them away to someone, ensure that they have no prior history of psychotic episodes, arent on any prescription medication, especially for depression or anxiety disorders. They should be a responsible adult, with the same or similar virtuous reasons to your own. If you do not follow sterile procedure during cultivation, you could grow contaminated mushrooms. In extreme cases, these contaminants could be poisonous, and could cause sickness, and in very extreme cases, death. Be meticulous in your sterile procedure, and be ruthless in the war on contaminants. Ensure that the strain that you choose to grow comes from a reliable source. Growing and then ingesting the wrong strain could lead to fatal liver failure. This guide may be used to cultivate any strain of psilocybe cubensis. 1

Forward
I wrote this guide to keep track of my ndings, but primarily to promote the safe cultivation of cubensis. If a single person dies from ingesting improperly classied or preserved street mushrooms, that is one person too many. Due to the diculty of obtaining safe sources of cubensis, I recommend that you simply grow them yourself if you are intent on doing them, as this is the only way to ensure that you dont consume a poisonous strain, and preserve the fruit correctly. The average mushroom dealer has no concept of either of these, and this is yet another case of the law that was created to protect the individual doing more harm than good. This guide will allow you to create your own mushrooms in a safe environment. This tek is based o of several other techniques found on the shroomery.org, as well as taken from the canonical reference (the Shroom bible) The Mushroom Cultivator. I reference these teks at the bottom, and would like to take this opportunity to thank their authors for the knowledge that made the success of this tek possible. I highly advise that anyone serious about mushroom cultivation consider reading these documents, as this tek is not intended to be completely comprehensive, though it should be enough to help you build a tek to suit your needs. I would also like to personally thank gretchen from the shroomery irc, as she has been something of a cosmic mentor, and extremely helpful, and quick to answer questions.

Phase 2: Primary and secondary incubation . . . . . Primary incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Building a fruiting chamber . . . . . . . . . . . Secondary incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8 9 10 11 12 12 12 13 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16

Contents
Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Common methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sterile Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Low tek sterile procedure (not recommended) . Preparation of the jars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preparing the incubator (optional - see notes) . Notes on incubation . . . . . . . . . . . Preparing the innoculation chamber (optional) . Sterilization of the substrate . . . . . . . . . . . Troubleshooting sterilization . . . . . . . Innoculation and incubation . . . . . . . . . . . Notes in phase 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 3 3 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 2

Notes on phase 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phase 3: Pinning and fruit ushing . . . . . . . . . . Pinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fruiting / ushing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phase 4: Preserving the fruit . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Spore prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dessication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Additional sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dosing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capsules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obtaining innuculate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multispore versus monospore . . . . . . . . . .

Spore syringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liquid cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agar cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monotubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bulk substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Overview

General notes

Throughout your cultivation, you will want to keep detailed This tek is ideal for a small walk in closet, though a basement, notes, so that you con improve successive runs and learn from garage, or shed could work well also. Tune the instructions to your mistakes. Each time you tend to your mushrooms, record meet your space, and nancial resources. your activity - especially anything out of the ordinary. Label and number each jar (the tyvek is good for this because you All in all, this tek costed me between 400 and 500 dollars, cost can write directly on it), and keep track of the inoculation, colbreakdowns are provided throughout the document, and are onization, primordia formation, and each fruiting ush in the obviously approximate as they will vary based on locality, and journal. The more detailed your notes, the more youll be able how much you are willing to spend, though it is not necessary to learn next time. Pay particular attention to failures, and try to determine what might have caused them. This is most imto spend this much. portant to do when you are starting out. As you get the hang In each section, I break things down into the low tek, the of things, you will nd yourself taking less notes. average tek, and boss tek. Typically, low tek will be the At the minimum record: cheapest, but have the lowest yields, require the most work, and take the longest. The boss tek is the opposite, and the average The strain, inoculation date, date of presentation, date of tek is a reasonable blending of the two. full colonization for each jar. Individually assign a unique id (increasing numbers) to each jar, and take notes with I highly recommend that you use the dollar store, and stores respect to this id. like wal mart, canadian tire, and home depot for the majority of these supplies. Some websites like dealextreme are good for buying anything electronic, such as the hydrometers and sh tank heaters, as they are substantially cheaper than in local stores. The average temperature of the incubator The average humidity of the fruiting chamber The yield of each pan preferably, or else the yield of each ush.

Before you get started with anything, I highly recommend reading this entire guide to get the big picture. This will save you time when shopping as well. Once youve read it, decide on a Ensure you have the following on hand: specic tek path to take, and then experiment with it. If you have issues in one area, consider upgrading your tek in that area as a troubleshooting step. Duct tape (of course) 3

 Lab journal (any notebook will work, but i prefer the ac- typically used for the rye method are incompatible with the PF tual hard-covered black ones available at university book tek method. stores or staples) (10 dollars) This guide will discuss multiple casing options, multiple options for fruiting chambers, and multiple options for dessication.

Common methodologies Sterile Procedure

Each of these methods share a few common prerequisites.

Overview
Sterilization tools and techniques Culture jars / pans Spawn strain/inoculate Substrate Casing Fruiting chamber I know, you just want to get started growing mushrooms already. But I must warn you, if you rush into this you are going to fuck it up. You will have contaminated jars, that ultimately waste your time and money, and you might get frustrated and give up altogether. Just take the time, invest the money in sterile procedure - you will get the most bang for your buck.

The number one source of contaminants is you, so limit your exposure to anything that is sterilized after it has been steril Dessicant / dessication device / dessication procedure ized. Ensure you work in a clean room, and that you dispose of contaminated jars away from your incubation or inoculation Read the section on sterilization thoroughly before you do any- area. thing. This guide assumes that you already have inoculate. This can Low tek sterile procedure (not recommended) either be spore syringes you have purchase, spore prints you have made, liquid cultures you have prepared, or agar media Just use a pot on the stove to sterilize your jars. This isnt you have cultured. very eective, but if you are really strapped for cash, substrate is cheaper than the pressure cooker, and youll just end up havThis guide will focus mainly on rye grain substrate tek, but ing to throw out a lot more substrate. it is designed to be interchangeable and relatively modular to suite your needs. A notable exception is that the quart jars Shopping list: 4

 Pressure cooker ( 60150 dollars) (100 percent eective)

Large pot (you probably already have one) (expect to lose many jars of substrate). The most important aspect of mushroom cultivation is sterile procedure. For that reason, the very rst thing that you must Tapered canning jars for PF tek, or quart sized canning aquire is a pressure cooker, to be used as an autoclave. You jars for rye. will need to be able to t several (67 upright, as well as 3 on the bottom as spacers) quart sized jars inside of the pressure Note, if you are doing the low tek option, you will probably cooker, so i suggest getting the biggest one that you can nd. want to look into the PF Tek cultivation technique. I myself The typical cost of a pressure cooker of this size is about 150 have not had much success with this tek, but it is very widely dollars. Keep in mind that the most common source of conused, and popular for how cheap and relatively eective it is. I tamition is the cultivator himself (you!), so make sure that you wont go into much detail here, but you can do PF Tek for less wear clean clothes (preferably a labcoat, breath mask, and althan 200 dollars. cohol sanitized gloves), and always avoid directy contact with the mushrooms until fruiting. Spores (1030 dollars) Obviously, you will also need to obtain some quart sized mason jars, which are seasonal items and easiest to acquire in the Pressure cooker capable of tting 67 quart jars with summer seasons, though some stores carry them year round - a spacers, and cooking at 15 psi (150 dollars) dozen is sucient to start with. 1 quart canning mason jars (1020 dollars) Before you bother going to get any of this stu tough, you will want to acquire some spore syringes. These can be purchased Two rubber storage containers of same radial size, but one o of many sites on the internet, but be wary that possession of deeper than the other with lid ( 1520 dollars) (optianal pyslocybe genus mushroom spores may be illegal in your coun- see notes) try, province, or state. If so, you will need to nd your own One sh tank heater, 50100 watts (1030 dollars) (op- means of acquiring the spores. Often, such websites have a huge selection of spore, and it can be daunting to choose from tional - see notes) them. Ultimately, it doesnt really matter what you choose, A bag of zip ties (1 dollar) (optional - see notes) but an old wives tale says that B+ is a good strain to start with, as it is fairly robust. Medium sized clear plastic container with lid (10 - 15 dolSo, you have your spores, you bought your pressure cooker, lars) (optional - see notes) and you have your jars. You arent quite ready yet, but you are Small roll of tyvek (optional) (4050 dollars) close. 5

Innoculation box, gloves, spray bottle, and rubbing alcohol (optional) (1030 dollars)

Preparation of the jars

To prepare the jars, you will need to make 24 holes around the middle radius of the jar lid. This is most easily accomplished with a cordless drill. Once you have made the holes, you will need to take two spoons, and press the convex sides down on either side of the jar lid to atten the jagged edges - you dont want these, they will cut the mycelium, your hands, and tyvek if you choose to use it. Also drill a slightly larger hole in the center, and ll it will silicone or calking. It has been said that HPV silicone is the best to use for this, but I have had success with simple dollar store caulking. Next, I recommend (though it is not essential, but it will reduce contamination) that you cut out squares of tyvek to place on the lids of the jars. You can get a small role of tyvek for about 40 dollars, so it is a bit of an investment, but will last you for a very long time.

Notes on incubation If you have a fridge with a cupboard above it, you can just put the jars in there to incubate. In my experience, it actually does a better job of maintaining the temperature, and is absolutely free. Just test the cupboard rst with a thermometer. If you dont have a cupbord, you can just use a storage tote.

Preparing the innoculation chamber (optional)

If you chose to buy the clear plastic container above, then you are smart, and proactively reducing contamination by doing the innoculation in a glove/still air box.

The plastic is very fragile and easily cracks. For this reason, I nd that the best means of cutting holes in the plastic is to draw out the holes with a marker rst, big enough that your hand and forearm can easily t inside, and then score this by drilling lots (but not too many!) of holes around this guide. Then, take Preparing the incubator (optional - see notes) some decent scissors, and cut from one hole to another one by one. You will probably want to le down the remaining jagged Place the sh tank heater in the bottom rubber container. You edges, and I cover with duct tape as well. Make sure that you can secure it to the bottom using nautical tape, but I dont. can comfortably work inside of the glove box. Add enough watter such that the second, smaller rubber con- The lid acts as the bottom of the glove box. When not being tainer can sit inside of the larger container and be slightly sub- used, plug the holes with paper towers. mersed in the water when it is pressed all the way down without overowing the larger container. Then, zip-tie the smaller container on. With the lid closed, and the sh tank heater Sterilization of the substrate set to high, the air iside here should be around 27 degrees celcius. This warm, dark environment is ideal for incubating the Next you will need to acquire some rye grain. I recommend mycelia. going to a health food store, and buying a few kilograms in 6

bulk. It is pretty cheap, usually about 25 cents per 100 grams. If the store you go to doesnt have it, ask the clerk where you might be able to get it. . . sometimes you will have to go to a few stores to nd a place that has them. Make sure that you get organic rye grain, as anything that has been treated with chemicals will likely contain fungicides that make it impossible to grow mycelium.

screw on the rim. Cover with tinfoil.

Now, place an empty jar lid rim under each jar before you put them into the pressure cooker. This will further reduce the direct heat that the jars are exposed to. The jars should not be in direct contact with any water or metal (aside from maybe the side wall, but this cannot be avoided), as this will cause kernels to explode and result in a sticky, useless mess. Put the Next, meassure out about a 3/4 a cup of dry grain, and add lid on, and set the pressure cooker to 15 psi. Wait until the it with an excess of water (several inches above the grain) to pressure cooker is at 15 psi (usually it will start to squeal as your mason jars. Let it sit for 1224 hours, but be aware that steam escapes), and then start a timer for one hour. in warm climates if it sits for longer than 12 hours the grains After one hour has elapsed, remove the pressure cooker from may start to germinate, and you dont want this! The purpose the heat, and let it cool. Once the pressure cooker is at room of this step is to cause any bacterial endospore eggs that can temperature (cool to the touch - this may take several hours withstand the autoclaving process to hatch. due to the heat capacity of water), you are ready to proceed to the innoculation phase. Some people may like to let the steam After the time has elapsed, I usually start by putting some hot escape at this point, but only do this if you have previously had water in my pressure cooker up to the point two layers of jar failures with exploded kernels. lids are fully submersed. Between each layer, put separating pans (my pressure cooker has two pans, yours may not). Note I recommend leaving the jars in the pressure cooker, but as soon that more water takes more time to boil, and the purpose of as they are removed they should be agitated to spread the rye these spacers is to reduce the amount of water needed ( not too grain around. much - you will lose some in the process!), while keeping the bottoms of the jars away from the direct heat of the element. Troubleshooting sterilization Drain the jars of all water while the pressure cooker is heating up, and do a few rinses with water. I like to ll, swoosh, and The most common problem here is that you will have exploded strain a few times. Youll notice a putrid aroma the rst few kernels. I am a little bit overzelous with exploded kernels, but rinses - these are the endospores! Youll notice that the grains I think that a 0 tolerance policy is best here, as the stickyness have already started to expand from absorbing the water, so is a contamination vector, and reduces the overall surface area you dont much in there. Completely drain them, then add of the substrate by causing clumping. just a splash of water to get any loose grains o of the sides of If you experience this problem, try: the jar. Place the lids on the jars upside down such that the seal is facing up, and place the tyvek on top of the lid, then Reducing the amount of water 7

 Reducing the number of spacing layers (2 jar lid rims within 4 mm of the edges!) and place 12 quickly into the jar, seems to be a good depth for the bottom pan, and the minimizing the time that the lid is o. Again, agitate the jars. addition jar lid under each jar further helps) Once the jars are innoculated, place them in the incubator, and Reducing the amount of loose water in each jar (they have put the lid on (dont fully seal it, but ensure that no light may enter). Monitor the temperature, ensuring it is around 28 dealready absorbed plenty in the soaking process) grees celcius. Congratulations - you have sucessfully completed Add ller jars to take up space (less space = less space to stage 1! pressurize). Chances are, if your pressure cooker is taking a long time to get Notes in phase 1 up to 15 psi (over 30 minutes) you will have exploded kernels from the heat up phase. If this is the case, you probably have For a rst time cultivator, I suggest a preparing a minimum of 10 jars. Since the pressure cooker holds 6 jars per run, I would too much water, or too much open space in the cooker. do two full batches. Chances are, you will have as many as half of these fail (or more!). See the notes on contamination at the Innoculation and incubation end of this document for details on recognizing, preventing, and handling contamination. Now that you have a sterile media on which to grow your mushrooms, you are ready to innoculate. At the very least, work in a clean room with as little air ow as possible (an empty closet Phase 2: Primary and secondary incuworks well). Spray it down with a spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol in a ne mist (cheaper than lysol). Allow the drops bation to settle. Ideally, you would use a glove box, or still air box for the innuculation, as one can be built for very cheap. If you Shopping list: have a glove box, spray it down with alcohol as well, and do the innoculation in there instead. Larger see through plastic container, capable of tting 6 If innucolating from spores, simply insert the needle into the 8x8 aluminum pie pans ( 2030 dollars) silicon at the center of the jar lid, spray 12 mls per jar directly onto the grain, and then immediately agitate each jar A bag of sponges (1 dollar from dollar store) to spread the spores around. If you are innoculating from agar (this is for subsequent grows) then you will need to ame a Straps or clamps (dont spend more than 10 dollars on scalpal, cut small triangles out of your agar (dont use any agar this) 8

 A hydrometer/thermometer combo unit ( 1040 dollars, faster they will colonize the jars. Fast colonization is key, for get this o of DXT) (optional, but recommended) once the mycelia gains a rm hold of the substrate, it is much less likely to become contaminated. In my experience, if the Metallic mesh (20 bucks) mycelia hasnt at least presented itself within the rst 3 days, contamination or improper grain preparation is highly likely. A cool mist humidier (3040 dollars) (optional) An ultrasonic humidier (optional 3040 dollars) (very cheap on dealextreme for a oce sized one that ts standard water bottles) (optional) A small sh tank size uorescent light with balist, favor- Primary incubation ing the blue spectrum or at least provided full spectrum white light - natural sun immitating bulbs are best (3050 In phase 1, you already prepared the incubator and initiated dollars) the primary incubation. As aforementioned, this takes 1 to 2 Ducting and ttings to t on the humidier (3040 dol- weeks, but you will want to regularly check in. Every few days, lars, depending on your design) break up the mycelium by shaking the jars - this encourages faster colonization, and as mentioned fast colonization is key to A few (24) bags of perlite (510 dollars each) successful colonization. A few bags (12) of vermiculite (510 dollars each) During the primary incubation, you will want to prepare for Coco coir or pete moss (1020 dollars each) (check pet the secondary incubation. To do this, obtain some aluminum stores, usually used for lizards). pie pans (preferably square, to maximize surface area, and the casing materials listed above. You will, at the minimum, need Oyster shells and or bulk chalk (1020 dollars each) (opvermiculite (for retaining moisture) and coco-coir or pete moss tional but highly recommended) for structure. Calcium carbonate (chalk /oyster shells) acts as An outlet timer (10 bucks o of dealextreme) (optional, a buering agent, and is highly recommended. You will also need tin foil, and I recommend a water bottle and hydrogen but i like them). peroxide (in as bulk quantities as you can obtain). Tin/aluminum foil (a few bucks) Primary incubation is complete once the rye grain is completely Incubating the mycelium will take between 1 and 2 weeks. The covered in white, healthy mycelium, then it is time to move to more ideal the temperature (around 27 degrees celcius), the secondary incubation. 9

Building a fruiting chamber

side that you attached the ducting. These should be drilled a few inches above the bottom, to leave room for the perlite. The fruiting chamber described here is more costly and compli- These provide the fresh air exchange, and allows for the low cated than the incubator. This is a fairly high end chamber, if CO 2 levels that are required during pinning and fruiting. you dont like it, or nd it too pricey, search around for other Next, cut up some sponges into rectangular prisms, and tape chambers to use. I recommend the monotub for a low tek, high these around the perimeter of the lid using double sided tape or performing fruiting chamber (its just a bin with a clear garbage folded over duct tape. You should still be able to clamp the lid bag taped over the top, holes drilled in the side, and polyll, on. If you have diculty, ensure that the straps or clamps that from pillows, used to stu them). you bought allow for a tight seal. The purpose of the sponges Begin by tting the ducting that you purchased onto the cool is to prevent air from escaping through the rim around the lid, mist humidier. It is crucial that you use a cool mist humid- and are eectively just cheap weather stripping. ier. The primary purpose of this humidier is not actually Now, soak and drain some perlite in a bowl, and apply it to the to provide humidity, but to provide air exchange, while simulbottom of the container such that it is one to two inches thick. taniously replacing some of the humidity that is lost in doing When you slap the perlite, it should be thick, but not dry or so. To supplement the humidity, I recommend using a small soupy. The perlite is to provide a constant source of cheap huultrasonic humidier, which can be placed directly inside the midity, and the pans will sit directly on top of it, so you dont growing chamber. To fasted the ducting, I just used duct tape. want them sinking in. I would put in at least two bags of perYou will nd that it is extremely invaluable in creating your lite. Cut and bend the metalic mesh that you bought so that ducting system. in forms a makeshift shelf, supported by the legs that you Next, use the same method described in creating a glove box for bend downwards. It should be about an inch above the perlite, making a circular hole in the side of the plastic fruiting cham- and as level as possible, capable of holding all of your trays. ber that you purchased, and duct tape in a male duct tting. This maximizes the surface area for evaporating the perlite, as You will eventually fasten the ducting from the humidier onto resting the pans right on the perlite is ineective. this adapter with ring clamps. Fasten the hydrometer to the side of the case, so that you can I suggest using the piece of plastic that you cut out of the case see it through the transparency without opening the case (use to slow the air ow. Drill some holes in it (10 to 20), and tape duct tape). Ensure that you do not cover any of the sensors it to the inside of the chamber over the male ducting tting. If while doing so. you have some furnace lters, put them behind this. If you have Seal the case, and either rest or suspend a small uorescent hepa lters, put them last, behind the cheaper lters. This will light above it. If you rest it on top, ensure that the heat from reduce the possibility of air born contaminants. the balist doesnt melt the plastic or provide too much heat to Drill a few small holes in the fruiting chamber, on the opposite the chamber. If you have an outlet timer, connect it on a 12 10

hrs on 12 hrs o cycle. Connect the humidier, and activate it temporarily. Check for air leaks, and if you nd any patch them with duct tape. You should feel a small amount of airs escaping through the vent holes that you drilled. Now, turn o the humidier - you dont want to activate it again until you are ready to induce pinning. Ensure that you are able to get the humidity up to 100 percent inside of this chamber, and as low as 87 percent. You may need to have an external humidier for regulating the ambient humidity, as this can vary a lot from day to day. Chances are though, perlite will do its job well enough.

experience, pasteurization of the casing is not necessary, but it does potentially reduce contamination, especially by dactylium (cob web mold). Either way, wet and drain the casing, but ensure that it is damp. You will need a fair amount, probably about 1 jar worth of casing to 1 jar of grain. In this phase, you begin by breaking up the rye kernels one last time. It is kind of sad to break up the pretty white mycelium, but it is necessary. Plase a layer of casing on the bottom of the pan, about a centimeter thick (this is not entirely necessary, but helps with moisture retention). Then, carefully and evently pour the contents of one jar over the pan. This is why it is essential for the mycelium to be broken up already. There will likely still be chunks. You want the surface to be as even as possible, so after you have poured each pan, put on some gloves, sterilize them with rubbing alcohol, let them briey dry, and then manually smooth out the casing. It doesnt have to be perfect, but the atter it is, the higher yield your pinset will be in phase 3. Once you have a nice smooth layer of rye, it is time to apply the top casing. This is the bulk of the casing. If you have 1 to 1 jars of casing to rye, apply the rest now. The general rule is that the casing layer should be about as deep as the grain layer. While casing is not actually even necessary with cubensis, it is highly recommended, as it leads to higher yielding ushes, more ushes, and preserves moisture in the grain, while acting as a moisture buer for the air. It is however an additional vector of contamination, so if you experience problems with contamination denitely consider pasteurizing it. Ensure that the top layer of casing is applied as evenly as possible, and then cover the tray with tin foil. You may now place the trays back into the incubator, and you can stack them so long as they are not stacked directly on one another. I wouldnt

Secondary incubation
Secondary incubation uses the same incubator as described for the primary incubation. For reasons of eciency, I have constructed two incubators, one for primary and one for secondary incubation (allows for two generations to be spawned at once on a 2 week oset). By the time you get to secondary incubation, you should have already started building your fruiting chamber. You will need to ensure that it is built several days before the secondary incubation is potentially complete, as you will need to tune the humidity and air ow of the chamber. See the section on building a fruiting chamber above. To prepare the casing, mix about 60/40 pete or coir/vermiculite (by dry volume), and add about 10 percent of that by volume of chalk or crushed oyster shell. You may choose to pasteurize the casing, but whatever you do do not sterilize it, as this will actually lead to a higher probability of contamination. In my

11

go much deeper than 2 layers of trays, and would denitely en- contaminated jars, and dierent clothes that you use in your sure that if you do two layers, have the second layer on the cultivation room. corner of four pans, so that it is the structure of the pan that supports it, and not the contents of the pan itself (this will lead to crushisg of the lower pans). Phase 3: Pinning and fruit ushing Every day, check in on your pans. If the casing appears dry, mist it gently with a water bottle that has about 10 percent This is the exciting phase. By this point, you will have waited between 2 and 3 weeks. This is when you are most likely to hydrogen peroxide 3% by volume. have problems with contamination in the casing layer become After a few days to a week, you will notice mycelium poking up apparent. through the top casing layer. If it is in only one spot, you will want to do something called patching. This applying some more casing over the mycelium, but not too much. You dont Pinning want to patch too aggressively. The purpose of patching is to try to get the mycelium to emerge from the casing as evently Once the mycelium has gained a rm hold over the top casas possible. ing layer, you can induce pinning. Remove the pans from the Once you have a nice, even amount of mycelium presented in secondary incubater, and place them into your fruiting chamthe valleys of the casing, it is time to transfer to the fruiting ber. Let them acclimatize to the fruiting chamber for at least a day, to let CO 2 build-up inside. Religiously mist the top chamber and proceed to stage 3. casing layer, but do not over saturate it, as this can kill the mycelium and prevent or delay pinning, and cause overlay. The misted top casing layer will allow for a more forgiving amount Notes on phase 2 of ambient humidity. It is extremely important to be on the lookout for contamination in this phase. If you notice contamination or retarded growth in one jar, it is likely not worth it to keep that jar, as you risk contaminating the other jars. It is better practice to zelously discard contaminated jars at the rst sign of contamination, rather than risk the entire crop. Always dispose of contaminants in a dierent room from your grow room, and preferably outside to prevent the spores from being anywhere near your grow area. Wear dirty clothes when disposing of After the pans have been in the fruiting chamber for a day, induce pinning by activating the cool mist humidier for air ow. You will notice that if you have it on 24 hours a day, you will have a substantial drop in ambient humidity. I nd that a circuit timer is helpful here. Set the humidier on low, and to come on for 15 minutes every 24 hours. This will provide multiple drops in CO 2, without compromising the humidity. You can have the light on the same timer, a 12 hour on/o timer, or else always on - it shouldnt matter.

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To induce pinning, you want to have as close to 100 percent ambient humidity as possible, and a moist but not saturated casing layer. You want to have a low amount of carbon dioxide, so the ventilation provided by the humidier is essential. If it takes a few days for pinning to occur, dont dispair, it will happen sooner than you think.

without broken veils as they will be mature for the next ush. It is best to pick large clusters together at one time. If you see a cluster with large and small mushrooms, you have no choice but to pic the entire cluster, as leaving any matter behind is a vector for contamination. You may ush one pan probably as many as 5 times, with the yield decreasing each time. Each ush reduces the moisture in the cakes, as the mushrooms contain mostly water. Wait 5 to 8 days in between ushes, but dont wait too long. The rst and second ush will likely be the biggest.

Pinning occurs when you see tiny mushroom caps appear. If you have even surface mycelium presentation, you will see an even pinset, resulting in a higher yield. If you have a few premature pins appear, you should pluck and discard (or consume!) them to ensure an even pin set, as this will lead to a higher rst If you fully ush a cake, and notice that it has shrunk substanush. tially in size, and there are no primordia or pins remaining on Once you have an even, robust pin set before the pins get too it, consider dunking the cake. This is done by manually removbig, reduce the humidity to around 90%. This can usually be ing the cake from the pan, scraping o the casing layer gently, achieved by simply turning the humidier onto high, and the dunking it in clean, room temperature water for 12 hours, and added air circulation will facilitate the pin growth into primor- then recasing. You will notice that the cake will be much larger dia. At this point, only mist the casing layer when it is visibly after doing this, as it will have more moisture. Fruiting uses lots of the water in the cakes, and so if you want more, bigger dry - dont let water gather on the pins, or they will rot. mushrooms, you may nd this technique eective - especially After a few days (25) you will be in the fruiting phase, and be after the second ush. By this point, the mycelia is so well ready to take your rst ush. established that it can take the stress of being gently handled, and submerged in water.

Fruiting / ushing

This is the part youve been waiting for! After a few days, when the primordia have grown into mature mushrooms, they are ready to be picked. Take care to pick them before they sporulate. Usually, just after the veils break it is time to pick them, or else they could sporulate if you leave them much longer than a few hours. You want to ush as many mushrooms as A single square foot of casing may produce 2 to 4 pounds of you can at once, but avoid picking the small ones, or any ones wet mushrooms if ushed properly, with an even pinset. Note 13

To actually pick the mushrooms, you must take care to not rip (or even touch) the casing, and cause as little shock to the mycelium as possible. Firmly grab the base of the mushroom, and gently twist and lift it to pluck it from the casing. It is normal to see blue bruising where you grasped the mushroom. Lightly Patch the areas of the casing that you ushed, so that subsequenty ushes may occur.

that this is 92% water weight, and an absolutely ideal grow. a tyvek ring. Autoclave this at 15 psi for 30 minutes. After it Typically, you wont get this until you are very experienced. has cooled, place a mushroom cap inside, on top of the tinfoil. Do this by quickly opening and closing the lid, to minimize air exposure. Ideally, do this in your glove box.

Phase 4: Preserving the fruit

Shopping list for preservation: Food dehydrator (50 dollars) (highly recommended!!!) Large tuperwear bowl (1020 dollars) (optional) Grease splash guard (1 dollar at dollar store) (optional) Silica cat litter ( 1020 dollars for more than youll even be able to use) (optional)

After a day, the cap will have dried and dropped its spores. Remove the cap - it can now go on to dessication. The spore print itself will be on the tin foil. You can either keep it inside of the jar, or immediately transfer it into a syringe using the procedure outlined in the following section. These spore prints can be used in place of spore syringes for doing the inital innoculation. Spores keep for a very long time, and can be used to preserve a strain without actually having it in vegitative state.

Dessication
Now that you have yeilded your fruit, it is time to preserve it. Note that the mushrooms are most potent immediately after picking, so I suggest that you set aside a few for sampling. The rest however, will need to be immediatly preserved by dessication. One of the primary causes of gut rot is poorly preserved mushrooms, so ensure that immediatly and quickly dessicate the mushrooms. The most eective means of preserving mushrooms is through dessication (removing of water), followed by freezing. You want to avoid using any heat in excess of 105 degrees farenheit, as this will cause the psylocybin to break down, and consequently cause the mushrooms to loose their potency.

If your food dehydrator has a heating element, open it up and disconnect it, or add a switch to toggle it. You dont want to use any heat while dehydrating, unless you have a nice food Spore prints dehydrator that lets you adjust the heat, if so, ensure that the temperature does not exceed 105 degrees farenheit. The dehyYou must take a spore print immediately after you harvest the drator is primarily to provide air circulation to do the bulk of mushroom, while it is still moist. the initial dessiciation. Once the mushroms are reasonably dry, Prepare the spore print by putting some tin foil in the bottom you can put them into your dessication chamber, though this of one of your jam canning jars. Replace the normal lid with is not strictly necessary. 14

To construct the dissication chamber, use a hack saw to cut o the handle of the grease splash guard, so that you have a nice mesh tray that will naturally rest a few inches above the bottom of your tuperwear bowl. Place some of the silica cat litter in the bottom, but ensure that the mushrooms never directly touch it. Transfer the mushrooms from your food dehydrator to this chamber, and seal the lid. Check them occaisionally. Once they are cracker dry (bending a stem causes it to break, rather than bend), they are suciently dessicated.

Dosing
I tend to prefer the capsule method, as it provides a uniform dosing, without the taste. Papaya enzyme extract has also been helpful in reducing gut rot or stomach aches when they arise. I like to start o with a small amount (1 dry gram) after each batch to get a sort of baseline for the potency. I nd that the powder is more eective at absorption, as it has a higher surface area, and provides a more even mixture of caps and stems.

Most of the silica cat litter comes with a blue indicator. Caution this indicator contains heavy metals, so you dont want it to come into contact with your mushrooms. Note also that when pouring the silica, the will be dust - avoid inhaling this. Capsules When the blue indicator changes to pink, the silica is complete saturation. You can regenerate it by spreading it out on a pan, Shopping list for capsulization (optional): and cooking it in the oven for a while. This is very inexpensive, and provides a good means of doing the nal dessication. When Coee grinder (1015 dollars) used with the food dehydrator, this method works very well. You want to limit the amount of time that it takes to do the dessication. The faster it is, the better - you dont want your mushrooms to start to decompose! In my experience, the dessication chamber is neither eective nor necessary. Damp-rid works better than silica gel, but is more expensive and harder to reconstitute. The food dehydrator solution gets the mushrooms cracker dry in just 2 days, for relatively low cost.

Cap-m-quick, size 00 or higher (20 dollars) Capsules (20 dollars/500)

Obtaining innuculate
Multispore versus monospore

Additional sections
Move capsulization and spore prints down here!

Spore syringes
You can either buy online, or make your own 15

Liquid cultures Agar cultures

Minimal shopping list for agar culturing (optional): Agar agar (510 dollars for enough for a few hundred dishes) Potato akes (5 dollars a box, makes hundreds) Liquid honey (5 dollars a container, makes hundreds) Small canning jam jars (1015/dozen) Autoclavable syringes (price varies a lot) (optional - only if you want to have spore syringes) Scalpal, preferably metal for aming (1020 dollars)

For direct questions, help identifying contaminants, bragging about your fruits ;)

Based o of this rye tek: http://www.shroomery.org/8432/Fromsyringe-to-print-using-rye

The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home (Paul Stamets)

Often referred to as TMC, this is the mushroom growers bible.

http://www.shroomery.org/9427/Grocery-Store-AgarTek

Monotubs Bulk substrates

For making agar at home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZQgF78QlBw

Additional resources
shroomery.org webchat/irc (irc.shroomery.org) This youtube video does a great job of explaining the entire process

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