General How to grow psychedelic mushrooms (cubensis)
- Thread starter Papi Chingon
- Start date
I usually buy mine, I've never even grown ganja but I have been making money on it since I was 14.
My friends grew some years and years back in their basement.... not too complex....more of a waiting game
it's all about cleanliness. My wife and I worked in a cleanroom when we grew them, so we knew all about what it takes to keep an environment free of contaminants and with good air circulation. But my hippie roommate and I did it long before then, you just have to be crazy clean when you set up.
Well now we know who the second tier of drug addicts on this site are. Not surprised to see some of the drug crazed dope smokers in this thread
Ok, I've been typing it up aND should have it up tomorrow night. It's somewhat complicated to explain, so I'm doing my best.
Today I am going to walk you through the easiest way to grow psilocybe cubensis (stay away from the penis envy variety though, as it grows poorly with this method) at home. Please note that this method will NOT work for cylocybe tampanesis, panaeolus cyanescens, cylocybe galindoi etc...
We will not be growing in manure with this method. We will be using brown rice flour, vermiculite and water, placing the subtrate into glass jars, sterilizing, inoculating with cubensis spores, allowing the mycelium to colonize the substrate, then ultimately fruiting these brown rice flour cakes.
***Let me start by saying cleanliness and sterile technique are the most important part of mycology. This will make or break you, so take the necessary steps to do it right or your failure rate will skyrocket. You have been warned.***
Supplies needed for substrate and mixing:
- 1/2 pint mason jars with lids and rings (or two piece lids if that makes more sense to you). You need wide mouth jars. The ones that taper toward the top will not work.
- Brown rice flour. My local grocery stores don't carry it, but Whole Foods, Sprouts, or other health food stores that cater to weak people like those sensitive to gluten should carry it. If younsee very pale looking people who look vegan, ask where they shop, amd youll find it there. This is what is common around here:
- tap water or bottled water, but not distilled water
- Vermiculite. This can be found at home depot, lowes, gardening stores. You do not want the coarse grain if you have options. The smaller grain size is better. (No need for a huge bag)
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 fork for stirring and breaking everything up (I like using larger forks for this)
- 1 spoon for putting substrate into jars once mixed
- 1 Large pot with lid (a pressure cooker is the correct way of doing this, and the only way to know you are 100% sterile, but a pot with a lid works just fine unless you decide to really take this seriously)
Prep and supplies for sterile technique:
- disposable powder free gloves. I like exam gloves.
- 90% rubbing alcohol.
- purell hand gel
- 1 lighter (a Bic will work just fine)
- Spray can of lysol
- Antibacterial dish soap
- Work space with good light, flat counter space, and room to spread supplies out a bit (I use my kitchen)
- roll of tinfoil
Supplies for growing and prep:
- Drill and 1/4" drill bit, and 1/8" bit (can substitute this smaller bit with a nail or punch)
- 60-70 quart clear plastic storage tote with lid. I like the ones with the two latches on top because they allow for a better seal. You want the lid to be clear as well not just the tote.
- Bag of perlite (need enough to cover bottom 4 inches of the tote, so no need to go huge here)
- Hygrometer (humidity and temperature gauge)
And of course you will need viable cubensis spores. There are many sources online for these. They are sold for research purposes only, so do not mention what you will be doing with the spores in your order, or communication with these companies. There are certain states that do not allow these types of spores to be imported and that will be stated on all the websites. Some simply state it and will ship irrelevant, but others will not. Find a reputable source for spores, as most are horrible (nothing worse than getting a contaminated syringe from a vendor who gives no shits about their product or customers). If you need a reputable source, send me a PM. Remember that all cubensis, in theory, have the same potency, except penis envy (which you shouldn't grow with this technique). "A cube (cubensis) is a cube, unless it's penis envy." Some cubes are larger mushrooms, some are smaller, some yield better than others etc... but potency really boils down to your environment, unless you isolate and clone (I'm not getting into agar on petri dishes, nor liquid cultures on this thread - just keeping it simple).
Supplies needed for after harvest:
- food dehydrator
- scale with decent accuracy (a digital scale will work just fine from ebay. You just need to make sure it measures small units. Dosing the finished product should never be a guessing game, since you can never un-take mushrooms, aND a half gram too much for certain people can be WAY too much, instead of the perfect experience. Don't rely on your visual judgement of quantity, use a scale.)
Instructions:
1. Ok, let's get right into it. You're going to either drill or punch holes in the lids to the mason jars with something small (1/8th"). These will be the inoculation holes as well as air holes, so they just need to be big enough to get the needle of the syringe through without scraping the sides. Make sure the lid is on a flat surface when you do this so you dont bend it, especially if using a punch or nail. There will be 4-5 holes total, so one at 12:00, one at 3:00, one at 6:00, one at 9:00, then if you're doing the 5th hole, dead center (not necessary, but encouraged). You are shooting for something like this:
2. Clean your mason jars, lids and rings with Antibacterial dish soap and hot water, then set aside to dry. I like to let them air dry overnight, upside down on a rack. If you let them dry rightside up, they can catch contaminates. Don't dry with a dish towel, as that towel is not clean, even if you just took it out of the washer and dryer.
3. Once the jars and lids are dry, grab your big mixing bowl, brown rice flour, vermiculite and measuring cup. You will be mixing vermiculite to brown rice flour to water in a 2:1:1 ratio. To make enough for approximately 12 1/2 pint jars you will use 6 cups vermiculite, 3 cups brown rice flour, and 3 cups of water. Dump in vermiculite and brown rice flour first. Stir them up so they get mixed well. Now pour in the water. I like to use warm water for this since it seems to mix easier. Don't dump in all the water at once or the mixing process will get all fucked up. Add half the water, mix well with a fork, then add .75 cup, mix well, then add in the last .75 cup and mix. Each time you add water, you arent dumping it in, but pouring slowly and spreading it out around the brf and vermiculite mixture. You are going for a consistency of wet sand, no lumps. Each stage of mixing you will want to break up the chunks and lumps with the fork. This is not a quick process to get it to the correct consistency. Once it reaches field capacity it should look similar to this:
4. Grab your jars and spoon, then scoop the brf mixture in the jars one by one, filling to about 85-90% capacity (where the ring gets stopped when you screw it on is a good gauge). You can shake the jars side to side if you have large gaps in the substrate, but absolutely don't pack it. When mycelium starts to grow it needs air. Small cracks/gaps in the substrate are no big deal, and in most cases help the mycelium grow. Let everything be nice and loose. Don't fucking pack it!
5. Once jars are loaded to 85-90%, take a paper towel and clean off the inside of the jar above the substrate, plus the rim. You are trying to clean off any bits of substrate that touched anywhere above top of the substrate line. Use different parts of the paper towel when you do this, as you arent trying to smear it, you are trying to clean! Clean well since this is a great spot for bacteria to grow, which in turn will contaminate your jar.
6. Now take the dry vermeculite and top off the jar almost all the way to the top (leave small gap between top and where the lid will be), with a clean spoon (not the brf scooping spoon unless you wash it first), then smooth off the top so it's flat. This will act as a filter to catch contaminates, but also provide for air exchange (again, mycelium needs air). Don't pack this shit either, assholes! From this point on, do not turn the jars at an angle. Keep them upright. Any contaminates that land on the filter of vermiculite will be caught and stay in place. If you tilt the jar, the vermiculite shifts and moves, and as a result the bad shit gets moved to your substrate, then you're in fucksville. Remember this any time you touch your jars, shitdicks!
7. Put lids and rings on. You want a good seal, so screw on well. Don't over tighten though, fuckasses.
8. You will be covering the tops of each jar with tinfoil squares. When measuring the tinfoil, it needs to cover the lids, plus some of the jar. The tinfoil will be acting as a barrier so steam from the pot doesn't get into the holes of the jars. If steam gets into the jars, it will fuck up the field capacity of the substrate. Standard roles of tinfoil are 12" wide, so a simple way to measure is just split down the middle so it's 6" wide, then measure 6" up and walla a 6"x6" square. Set the square on top of the lid so it's centered, then apply pressure to top, sides of ring, jar groove under ring, and then the jar itself. Your working from top to bottom tightening and molding the tinfoil so everything is nice and tight. The most important area will be the base of the ring, because if steam or boiling water gets under the tinfoil, this will be the best and last barrier to keep it from getting to the lid, so make sure that's especially tight. Don't just press the area below the ring, kind of twist while you press as well. Some use rubber bands in this area, but if you do it right, they are not necessary.
9. Take your pot and fill with about an inch and a half of water. The jars cannot touch the bottom where the heat source is, so either put a rack in the bottom (if using a rack, use less water and watch your boil since you don't want it to boil up and get under the tinfoil), or go ghetto style and take your trusty tinfoil and pull out a long roll of it and shape it into a snake, then coil it in the bottom, starting at the edges and working towards the center (ghetto style removes the threat of boiling water getting under the tinfoil for the most part, so I would recommend this, even if you have a rack). Now set your jars on top of it, but make sure they are secure/not going to be jolted from boiling water. Remember, we are not boiling the jars, we are steaming the jars. If you have a nice and deep pot, jars can be stacked, just make sure they are offset from the lower ones. If you do not have a deep pot, you may have to do this in two separate batches, depending on how wide the pot is. Cover, bring water to a boil, then turn heat down so it's still bubbling/boiling, but not at a rapid rate. Start your timer now for 90 - 120 minutes. Once time is up, turn off heat, move pot off the burner, and let cool naturally - with the lid still on. Do not help it cool. This is a long waiting process, so doing it at night, then going to sleep while it cools is nice.
10. Your jars and substrate are now considered sterilized (unless you have a pressure cooker, in which case they would be absolutely sterilized, aND in less time). Leave them in the pot with the lid on until you are ready to inoculate with spores. You want to make sure the center of the substrate isn't still hot, so I'd say a minimum of 8 hours (I usually wait longer, but I've heard of people getting away with 6 hours). If the center of the substrate's temperature, which you can't feel by holding the jar, is too hot, you will kill the spores. Better to play it safe, imo.
11. Ok, now here is where we need to step up the sterile technique. Close any Windows in the house, shut off fans, AC, heater, etc... You do not want any moving air in your workspace, as germs are everywhere and that can and will contaminate everything. Now clean your workspace. Start with spraying the air with lysol in the immediate and surrounding area. Wait a few minutes. Now wipe down actual workspace with lysol.
12. Move the following to the workspace: spore syringe, paper towels, exam gloves, alcohol, face mask, lighter, purell, substrate jars.
13. Scrub hands and arms up to elbows with Antibacterial soap, dry with paper towels. Put on exam gloves, grab purell and squirt some on your gloved hands. Rub the purell all over (All fucking over, you lazy fucks) the gloves and wait for it to dry.
14. Grab alcohol, paper towels, syringe, and lighter. Put a decent amount of alcohol on a paper towel and wipe down the lighter. Do the same to the syringe. Now shake the fuck out of the syringe. You are trying to separate the spores in the spore solution (they seem to join together in clumps when left alone, so you want to shake the solution until the spores are as spread out as possible), so by shaking vigorously for about a minute straight, you accomplish this pretty well. Some syringes need more shaking than this to break everything up (if you still see a clump, or multilevel clumps, keep shaking). Play it by ear based on what you can see. Some syringes have no visible spores, but that doesn't mean shit. Shake the fuck out of either. Keep in mind spores are not visible to the naked eye when in solution, unless they join together. Any given spore syringe has countless spores, even if you don't see shit.
15. Grab the jars out of the pot. Put on face mask (your breath and your dirty whore mouth have bacteria). Remove tinfoil, discard tinfoil. Pat lids and jars dry with paper towels (steam will have come up from the substrate, hit the tinfoil cover, then rested back on the lid, so pat dry). Dry tops first, then work your way down. Do not use the same paper towel for the next jar, as the lids are the areas that will be most sensitive to bacteria and contaminents. Take alcohol and paper towels to clean the lids of each jar, making sure you aren't using a used portion of the paper towel on the next jar lid (new dab, new section of paper towel). Don't worry about the ring, just the lid surface and around the holes.
16. Take needle out of packaging, remove plunger from syringe and screw needle onto syringe (leave protective cap on needle when you do this). Wipe down protective cap of needle with alcohol.
17. Flame sterilize the needle with your lighter. To do this you will be running your needle back and forth through the flame of the lighter. Use the blue part of the flame so you dont get the black burn residue on the needle. After you get the needle nice and hot, concentrate on the tip portion until it is glowing red. You're now ready to inoculate your first jar.
18. Insert the needle into the first hole of your jar, and angle it so it slides down the side of the glass so you can see it. Now with it pressed against the glass slowly press the plunger until just a drop of the spore solution comes out. Do this same thing to the rest of the holes in the jar.
19. When moving onto each additional jar, flame sterilize first and repeat the process. Flame sterilization is necessary only when moving to a new jar, not each separate hole of the same jar.
20. Now move the inoculated jars somewhere out of the way where they get decent ambient light, but not direct sunlight. A book shelf or something like that where they won't be bumped or disturbed. I like to put all my jars back in the box they came in for easy moving. Now you wait for mycelium growth which will take 5-14 days in most cases. When checking for growth do not tilt the jars at all. It's best to leave them on a flat surface and just spin them.
To be continued...
We will not be growing in manure with this method. We will be using brown rice flour, vermiculite and water, placing the subtrate into glass jars, sterilizing, inoculating with cubensis spores, allowing the mycelium to colonize the substrate, then ultimately fruiting these brown rice flour cakes.
***Let me start by saying cleanliness and sterile technique are the most important part of mycology. This will make or break you, so take the necessary steps to do it right or your failure rate will skyrocket. You have been warned.***
Supplies needed for substrate and mixing:
- 1/2 pint mason jars with lids and rings (or two piece lids if that makes more sense to you). You need wide mouth jars. The ones that taper toward the top will not work.
- Brown rice flour. My local grocery stores don't carry it, but Whole Foods, Sprouts, or other health food stores that cater to weak people like those sensitive to gluten should carry it. If younsee very pale looking people who look vegan, ask where they shop, amd youll find it there. This is what is common around here:
- tap water or bottled water, but not distilled water
- Vermiculite. This can be found at home depot, lowes, gardening stores. You do not want the coarse grain if you have options. The smaller grain size is better. (No need for a huge bag)
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 fork for stirring and breaking everything up (I like using larger forks for this)
- 1 spoon for putting substrate into jars once mixed
- 1 Large pot with lid (a pressure cooker is the correct way of doing this, and the only way to know you are 100% sterile, but a pot with a lid works just fine unless you decide to really take this seriously)
Prep and supplies for sterile technique:
- disposable powder free gloves. I like exam gloves.
- 90% rubbing alcohol.
- purell hand gel
- 1 lighter (a Bic will work just fine)
- Spray can of lysol
- Antibacterial dish soap
- Work space with good light, flat counter space, and room to spread supplies out a bit (I use my kitchen)
- roll of tinfoil
Supplies for growing and prep:
- Drill and 1/4" drill bit, and 1/8" bit (can substitute this smaller bit with a nail or punch)
- 60-70 quart clear plastic storage tote with lid. I like the ones with the two latches on top because they allow for a better seal. You want the lid to be clear as well not just the tote.
- Bag of perlite (need enough to cover bottom 4 inches of the tote, so no need to go huge here)
- Hygrometer (humidity and temperature gauge)
And of course you will need viable cubensis spores. There are many sources online for these. They are sold for research purposes only, so do not mention what you will be doing with the spores in your order, or communication with these companies. There are certain states that do not allow these types of spores to be imported and that will be stated on all the websites. Some simply state it and will ship irrelevant, but others will not. Find a reputable source for spores, as most are horrible (nothing worse than getting a contaminated syringe from a vendor who gives no shits about their product or customers). If you need a reputable source, send me a PM. Remember that all cubensis, in theory, have the same potency, except penis envy (which you shouldn't grow with this technique). "A cube (cubensis) is a cube, unless it's penis envy." Some cubes are larger mushrooms, some are smaller, some yield better than others etc... but potency really boils down to your environment, unless you isolate and clone (I'm not getting into agar on petri dishes, nor liquid cultures on this thread - just keeping it simple).
Supplies needed for after harvest:
- food dehydrator
- scale with decent accuracy (a digital scale will work just fine from ebay. You just need to make sure it measures small units. Dosing the finished product should never be a guessing game, since you can never un-take mushrooms, aND a half gram too much for certain people can be WAY too much, instead of the perfect experience. Don't rely on your visual judgement of quantity, use a scale.)
Instructions:
1. Ok, let's get right into it. You're going to either drill or punch holes in the lids to the mason jars with something small (1/8th"). These will be the inoculation holes as well as air holes, so they just need to be big enough to get the needle of the syringe through without scraping the sides. Make sure the lid is on a flat surface when you do this so you dont bend it, especially if using a punch or nail. There will be 4-5 holes total, so one at 12:00, one at 3:00, one at 6:00, one at 9:00, then if you're doing the 5th hole, dead center (not necessary, but encouraged). You are shooting for something like this:
2. Clean your mason jars, lids and rings with Antibacterial dish soap and hot water, then set aside to dry. I like to let them air dry overnight, upside down on a rack. If you let them dry rightside up, they can catch contaminates. Don't dry with a dish towel, as that towel is not clean, even if you just took it out of the washer and dryer.
3. Once the jars and lids are dry, grab your big mixing bowl, brown rice flour, vermiculite and measuring cup. You will be mixing vermiculite to brown rice flour to water in a 2:1:1 ratio. To make enough for approximately 12 1/2 pint jars you will use 6 cups vermiculite, 3 cups brown rice flour, and 3 cups of water. Dump in vermiculite and brown rice flour first. Stir them up so they get mixed well. Now pour in the water. I like to use warm water for this since it seems to mix easier. Don't dump in all the water at once or the mixing process will get all fucked up. Add half the water, mix well with a fork, then add .75 cup, mix well, then add in the last .75 cup and mix. Each time you add water, you arent dumping it in, but pouring slowly and spreading it out around the brf and vermiculite mixture. You are going for a consistency of wet sand, no lumps. Each stage of mixing you will want to break up the chunks and lumps with the fork. This is not a quick process to get it to the correct consistency. Once it reaches field capacity it should look similar to this:
4. Grab your jars and spoon, then scoop the brf mixture in the jars one by one, filling to about 85-90% capacity (where the ring gets stopped when you screw it on is a good gauge). You can shake the jars side to side if you have large gaps in the substrate, but absolutely don't pack it. When mycelium starts to grow it needs air. Small cracks/gaps in the substrate are no big deal, and in most cases help the mycelium grow. Let everything be nice and loose. Don't fucking pack it!
5. Once jars are loaded to 85-90%, take a paper towel and clean off the inside of the jar above the substrate, plus the rim. You are trying to clean off any bits of substrate that touched anywhere above top of the substrate line. Use different parts of the paper towel when you do this, as you arent trying to smear it, you are trying to clean! Clean well since this is a great spot for bacteria to grow, which in turn will contaminate your jar.
6. Now take the dry vermeculite and top off the jar almost all the way to the top (leave small gap between top and where the lid will be), with a clean spoon (not the brf scooping spoon unless you wash it first), then smooth off the top so it's flat. This will act as a filter to catch contaminates, but also provide for air exchange (again, mycelium needs air). Don't pack this shit either, assholes! From this point on, do not turn the jars at an angle. Keep them upright. Any contaminates that land on the filter of vermiculite will be caught and stay in place. If you tilt the jar, the vermiculite shifts and moves, and as a result the bad shit gets moved to your substrate, then you're in fucksville. Remember this any time you touch your jars, shitdicks!
7. Put lids and rings on. You want a good seal, so screw on well. Don't over tighten though, fuckasses.
8. You will be covering the tops of each jar with tinfoil squares. When measuring the tinfoil, it needs to cover the lids, plus some of the jar. The tinfoil will be acting as a barrier so steam from the pot doesn't get into the holes of the jars. If steam gets into the jars, it will fuck up the field capacity of the substrate. Standard roles of tinfoil are 12" wide, so a simple way to measure is just split down the middle so it's 6" wide, then measure 6" up and walla a 6"x6" square. Set the square on top of the lid so it's centered, then apply pressure to top, sides of ring, jar groove under ring, and then the jar itself. Your working from top to bottom tightening and molding the tinfoil so everything is nice and tight. The most important area will be the base of the ring, because if steam or boiling water gets under the tinfoil, this will be the best and last barrier to keep it from getting to the lid, so make sure that's especially tight. Don't just press the area below the ring, kind of twist while you press as well. Some use rubber bands in this area, but if you do it right, they are not necessary.
9. Take your pot and fill with about an inch and a half of water. The jars cannot touch the bottom where the heat source is, so either put a rack in the bottom (if using a rack, use less water and watch your boil since you don't want it to boil up and get under the tinfoil), or go ghetto style and take your trusty tinfoil and pull out a long roll of it and shape it into a snake, then coil it in the bottom, starting at the edges and working towards the center (ghetto style removes the threat of boiling water getting under the tinfoil for the most part, so I would recommend this, even if you have a rack). Now set your jars on top of it, but make sure they are secure/not going to be jolted from boiling water. Remember, we are not boiling the jars, we are steaming the jars. If you have a nice and deep pot, jars can be stacked, just make sure they are offset from the lower ones. If you do not have a deep pot, you may have to do this in two separate batches, depending on how wide the pot is. Cover, bring water to a boil, then turn heat down so it's still bubbling/boiling, but not at a rapid rate. Start your timer now for 90 - 120 minutes. Once time is up, turn off heat, move pot off the burner, and let cool naturally - with the lid still on. Do not help it cool. This is a long waiting process, so doing it at night, then going to sleep while it cools is nice.
10. Your jars and substrate are now considered sterilized (unless you have a pressure cooker, in which case they would be absolutely sterilized, aND in less time). Leave them in the pot with the lid on until you are ready to inoculate with spores. You want to make sure the center of the substrate isn't still hot, so I'd say a minimum of 8 hours (I usually wait longer, but I've heard of people getting away with 6 hours). If the center of the substrate's temperature, which you can't feel by holding the jar, is too hot, you will kill the spores. Better to play it safe, imo.
11. Ok, now here is where we need to step up the sterile technique. Close any Windows in the house, shut off fans, AC, heater, etc... You do not want any moving air in your workspace, as germs are everywhere and that can and will contaminate everything. Now clean your workspace. Start with spraying the air with lysol in the immediate and surrounding area. Wait a few minutes. Now wipe down actual workspace with lysol.
12. Move the following to the workspace: spore syringe, paper towels, exam gloves, alcohol, face mask, lighter, purell, substrate jars.
13. Scrub hands and arms up to elbows with Antibacterial soap, dry with paper towels. Put on exam gloves, grab purell and squirt some on your gloved hands. Rub the purell all over (All fucking over, you lazy fucks) the gloves and wait for it to dry.
14. Grab alcohol, paper towels, syringe, and lighter. Put a decent amount of alcohol on a paper towel and wipe down the lighter. Do the same to the syringe. Now shake the fuck out of the syringe. You are trying to separate the spores in the spore solution (they seem to join together in clumps when left alone, so you want to shake the solution until the spores are as spread out as possible), so by shaking vigorously for about a minute straight, you accomplish this pretty well. Some syringes need more shaking than this to break everything up (if you still see a clump, or multilevel clumps, keep shaking). Play it by ear based on what you can see. Some syringes have no visible spores, but that doesn't mean shit. Shake the fuck out of either. Keep in mind spores are not visible to the naked eye when in solution, unless they join together. Any given spore syringe has countless spores, even if you don't see shit.
15. Grab the jars out of the pot. Put on face mask (your breath and your dirty whore mouth have bacteria). Remove tinfoil, discard tinfoil. Pat lids and jars dry with paper towels (steam will have come up from the substrate, hit the tinfoil cover, then rested back on the lid, so pat dry). Dry tops first, then work your way down. Do not use the same paper towel for the next jar, as the lids are the areas that will be most sensitive to bacteria and contaminents. Take alcohol and paper towels to clean the lids of each jar, making sure you aren't using a used portion of the paper towel on the next jar lid (new dab, new section of paper towel). Don't worry about the ring, just the lid surface and around the holes.
16. Take needle out of packaging, remove plunger from syringe and screw needle onto syringe (leave protective cap on needle when you do this). Wipe down protective cap of needle with alcohol.
17. Flame sterilize the needle with your lighter. To do this you will be running your needle back and forth through the flame of the lighter. Use the blue part of the flame so you dont get the black burn residue on the needle. After you get the needle nice and hot, concentrate on the tip portion until it is glowing red. You're now ready to inoculate your first jar.
18. Insert the needle into the first hole of your jar, and angle it so it slides down the side of the glass so you can see it. Now with it pressed against the glass slowly press the plunger until just a drop of the spore solution comes out. Do this same thing to the rest of the holes in the jar.
19. When moving onto each additional jar, flame sterilize first and repeat the process. Flame sterilization is necessary only when moving to a new jar, not each separate hole of the same jar.
20. Now move the inoculated jars somewhere out of the way where they get decent ambient light, but not direct sunlight. A book shelf or something like that where they won't be bumped or disturbed. I like to put all my jars back in the box they came in for easy moving. Now you wait for mycelium growth which will take 5-14 days in most cases. When checking for growth do not tilt the jars at all. It's best to leave them on a flat surface and just spin them.
To be continued...
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I will be adding to this as soon as I'm motivated to type more. The rest of the instructions will be for once mycelium has colonized the jars. I'm trying to give detailed instructions without making it into the longest essay in the world. At the same point in time I'm trying to give necessary details, so it isn't just as easy as "plant a seed, water that motherfucker, then when it grows fruit and it's ripe, pick the lemons"
@karate chop! @Miesha's Taint
@Galt
@tang
@Rambo John J
@willthiswork
@redneck
Btw, if anything isn't crystal clear in my instructions, just ask the question and I will explain it. Typing out instructions, as opposed to watching someone do each step isn't easy. I'm trying to explain everything, but I may not be doing the best since you can only visualize so much from text.
@karate chop! @Miesha's Taint
@Galt
@tang
@Rambo John J
@willthiswork
@redneckBtw, if anything isn't crystal clear in my instructions, just ask the question and I will explain it. Typing out instructions, as opposed to watching someone do each step isn't easy. I'm trying to explain everything, but I may not be doing the best since you can only visualize so much from text.
Last edited:
21. Ok, so now that the jars are incubating, it's time to prep the tote. You are going to need your drill and a 1/4" bit for this. You are going to drill holes on all 6 sides (yes, 6 sides which includes the bottom and lid). This is called a shotgun fruiting chamber, amd the precise measurements and size of holes regulate air exchange and humidity like nothing else. Dont deviate from these measurments! Grab a ruler or tape measure and mark off measurements every two inches. From the top lip, measure down 2", then mark this spot with a sharpie. Now place the ruler or tape measure in a straight horizontal line and mark with a dot every 2" until you've gone around the entire tote. Now measure 2" down and do the same thing. Rinse repeat. You need to mark off 2" measurements on all sides. Once done, grab your drill with 1/4" bit and drill a hole on each dot you marked off. Try not to use too much pressure or you will crack your tote. Using pressure on the opposite side as you drill helps quite a bit, especially if you use something soft that the bit can go into once it gets through the plastic. The finished product will look like this:
22. Once done use a razor blade to remove the extra plastic on the inside (the protruding plastic). You don't want high spots on the inside of the container holes.
23. Now back to the jars. So it's been a few days, a week, or several weeks, and now you're noticing mycelium growth which looks like this, start to finish:
Once the jar appears to be 100% colonized (including the bottom), wait another 3-5 days, because the center still needs to be colonized, and you can't see what's going on in there. If at any point you see any other color besides white mycelium growth, you have a contaminated jar. Remove the jar, take it outside (yes, outside), and discard it. Any clothes you were wearing when you discard it need to be taken off and washed. You also should shower immediately prior to going back into the area where the jars are. Don't question this, queers!
If you see any colors besides white in your mycelium, or if the mycelium refuses to colonize a certain area of your jar, it is contaminated.
24. Wash out your shotgun fruiting chamber thoroughly with Antibacterial soap. Allow to dry. Now take your alcohol amd wipe down the interior of it, as well as the bottom of the lid. Now fill with perlite until it is 4"-5" perlite at the bottom. Either take outside, or take into the tub and saturate the perlite with water. You will want it elevated so it will drain properly, and also not absorb contaminants from the bottom. You can use 4 equal size glasses upside down to keep it elevated while you do this. This is messy since perlite has small particles in it. Just make sure it's all completely saturated. Allow it to drain before moving it, amd prior to moving, give it a decent shake so it isn't dripping like a mofo when you move it. Find a good place for it with lots of ambient light, but no direct sunlight. This will be your fruiting spot. You cannot set it down without it being elevated. The air exchange holes on the bottom serve a purpose, so do not shut these off. A good way to elevate the chamber is either the same glasses you used when saturating the perlite, or taking two jar rings (per side) and taping them together.
25. Now the jars are fully colonized, or at least half are (they colonize at different rates). Take the colonized jars to the kitchen. Wash your hands with Antibacterial soap. Fill up a large bowl with room temperature water (tap is fine). One by one, unscrew lids of jars, hold over sink sideways, add shake gently to remove the vermiculite layer. Once vermiculite layer is removed (you won't remove it all, as the mycelium will have grown into it a bit), turn jar upside down into your palm aND tap until the "cake" comes out. Some are easy, some may need to be struck on your palm. Be as gentle as you can. Once the cake has been "birthed" run it under the kitchen faucet with the water at room temperature. You want to rinse top, bottom, and sides. Once done, place the cake into the large bowl of water. Do this with each cake. Once all are in the bowl, place something on top (I use a plate), so they get fully submerged in the water. Soak them like this for 12 hours, which will hydrate them.
26. Once the 12 hours have passed, wash your hands with antibacterial soap. Dump some vermiculite onto a plate. One by one, remove the cakes from the bowl and roll them gently in the vermiculite. This technique is called dunk and roll. You are casing the cakes in vermiculite which will help in the pinning (mushrooms growing) process. One by one do this and then set them upright onto a clean plate or tray. Sterile procedure is not necessary now, but still be clean.
27. Cut small squares of tinfoil that are just big enough for the cakes to rest on. Place these into the shotgun fruiting chamber amd space them decently. You cannot set the cakes directly on the perlite because as the perlite dries, it will start sucking the moisture out of the cakes. The mycelium needs the moisture to produce the mushrooms.
28. Take the cakes and place them onto the tinfoil squares in the shotgun fruiting chamber.
29. Fill up your spray bottle with distilled water and set spray to mist. Point spray bottle directly up and spray so mist lands on cakes. Don't spray the cakes directly. Once the cakes slightly glisten, you're good. Now you want to fn them for about 60 seconds. Pinning is triggered by water evaporation, so fanning after misting is necessary. You want to do this as often as possible, but aim for about 4 times a day minimum (won't help to do it back to back over 4 hours, 4 times).
30. Place hygrometer into shotgun fruiting chamber. I would encourage not sticking to the side, since it gets incorrect readings. I'd take a tinfoil strip and let it rest on that (upright, not laying down, since you want all sensors free and clear). You're shooting for 90% humidity and 65-75 degrees, though there are some cubes that will grow well up to low 80's.
31. You will eventually see pins, and then a flush (multiple mature mushrooms). Time to take these cakes out of the fruiting chamber and harvest. Harvest when the underside of the veil starts to break.
If the veil has completely broken and spores have already dropped (very noticeable since black shit will be everywhere), you probably don't want that shroom, nor any that have the black spores all over them (you dont wash mushrooms). The spores cause diarrhea and stomach problems for lots of people, so just avoid them. Ever had a friend who threw up on shrooms? Chances are they ingested shrooms that were harvested too late or those that had spores dropped on them.
To remove mushrooms from the cakes, just grab the base of each individual shroom grip with index finger and thumb, add gently twist side to side. They come off pretty easy.
32. Place harvested shrooms into food dehydrator until cracker dry. Don't fuck around here or they will mold with storage, plus cannot be dosed correctly (the only possible way to dose is either completely fresh, or completely dry). Cracker dry means they snap like a cracker when you attempt to bend them.
33. Take the cakes and dunk and roll again (see step 25). Each cake will get 3-6 flushes using this method, but after the second flush you will get smaller yields. I typically toss them after 3 flushes.
And there you have it. Walla.
22. Once done use a razor blade to remove the extra plastic on the inside (the protruding plastic). You don't want high spots on the inside of the container holes.
23. Now back to the jars. So it's been a few days, a week, or several weeks, and now you're noticing mycelium growth which looks like this, start to finish:
Once the jar appears to be 100% colonized (including the bottom), wait another 3-5 days, because the center still needs to be colonized, and you can't see what's going on in there. If at any point you see any other color besides white mycelium growth, you have a contaminated jar. Remove the jar, take it outside (yes, outside), and discard it. Any clothes you were wearing when you discard it need to be taken off and washed. You also should shower immediately prior to going back into the area where the jars are. Don't question this, queers!
If you see any colors besides white in your mycelium, or if the mycelium refuses to colonize a certain area of your jar, it is contaminated.
24. Wash out your shotgun fruiting chamber thoroughly with Antibacterial soap. Allow to dry. Now take your alcohol amd wipe down the interior of it, as well as the bottom of the lid. Now fill with perlite until it is 4"-5" perlite at the bottom. Either take outside, or take into the tub and saturate the perlite with water. You will want it elevated so it will drain properly, and also not absorb contaminants from the bottom. You can use 4 equal size glasses upside down to keep it elevated while you do this. This is messy since perlite has small particles in it. Just make sure it's all completely saturated. Allow it to drain before moving it, amd prior to moving, give it a decent shake so it isn't dripping like a mofo when you move it. Find a good place for it with lots of ambient light, but no direct sunlight. This will be your fruiting spot. You cannot set it down without it being elevated. The air exchange holes on the bottom serve a purpose, so do not shut these off. A good way to elevate the chamber is either the same glasses you used when saturating the perlite, or taking two jar rings (per side) and taping them together.
25. Now the jars are fully colonized, or at least half are (they colonize at different rates). Take the colonized jars to the kitchen. Wash your hands with Antibacterial soap. Fill up a large bowl with room temperature water (tap is fine). One by one, unscrew lids of jars, hold over sink sideways, add shake gently to remove the vermiculite layer. Once vermiculite layer is removed (you won't remove it all, as the mycelium will have grown into it a bit), turn jar upside down into your palm aND tap until the "cake" comes out. Some are easy, some may need to be struck on your palm. Be as gentle as you can. Once the cake has been "birthed" run it under the kitchen faucet with the water at room temperature. You want to rinse top, bottom, and sides. Once done, place the cake into the large bowl of water. Do this with each cake. Once all are in the bowl, place something on top (I use a plate), so they get fully submerged in the water. Soak them like this for 12 hours, which will hydrate them.
26. Once the 12 hours have passed, wash your hands with antibacterial soap. Dump some vermiculite onto a plate. One by one, remove the cakes from the bowl and roll them gently in the vermiculite. This technique is called dunk and roll. You are casing the cakes in vermiculite which will help in the pinning (mushrooms growing) process. One by one do this and then set them upright onto a clean plate or tray. Sterile procedure is not necessary now, but still be clean.
27. Cut small squares of tinfoil that are just big enough for the cakes to rest on. Place these into the shotgun fruiting chamber amd space them decently. You cannot set the cakes directly on the perlite because as the perlite dries, it will start sucking the moisture out of the cakes. The mycelium needs the moisture to produce the mushrooms.
28. Take the cakes and place them onto the tinfoil squares in the shotgun fruiting chamber.
29. Fill up your spray bottle with distilled water and set spray to mist. Point spray bottle directly up and spray so mist lands on cakes. Don't spray the cakes directly. Once the cakes slightly glisten, you're good. Now you want to fn them for about 60 seconds. Pinning is triggered by water evaporation, so fanning after misting is necessary. You want to do this as often as possible, but aim for about 4 times a day minimum (won't help to do it back to back over 4 hours, 4 times).
30. Place hygrometer into shotgun fruiting chamber. I would encourage not sticking to the side, since it gets incorrect readings. I'd take a tinfoil strip and let it rest on that (upright, not laying down, since you want all sensors free and clear). You're shooting for 90% humidity and 65-75 degrees, though there are some cubes that will grow well up to low 80's.
31. You will eventually see pins, and then a flush (multiple mature mushrooms). Time to take these cakes out of the fruiting chamber and harvest. Harvest when the underside of the veil starts to break.
If the veil has completely broken and spores have already dropped (very noticeable since black shit will be everywhere), you probably don't want that shroom, nor any that have the black spores all over them (you dont wash mushrooms). The spores cause diarrhea and stomach problems for lots of people, so just avoid them. Ever had a friend who threw up on shrooms? Chances are they ingested shrooms that were harvested too late or those that had spores dropped on them.
To remove mushrooms from the cakes, just grab the base of each individual shroom grip with index finger and thumb, add gently twist side to side. They come off pretty easy.
32. Place harvested shrooms into food dehydrator until cracker dry. Don't fuck around here or they will mold with storage, plus cannot be dosed correctly (the only possible way to dose is either completely fresh, or completely dry). Cracker dry means they snap like a cracker when you attempt to bend them.
33. Take the cakes and dunk and roll again (see step 25). Each cake will get 3-6 flushes using this method, but after the second flush you will get smaller yields. I typically toss them after 3 flushes.
And there you have it. Walla.
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These are what your flushes will look like, pretty much. These were Cambodian I think, but maybe they were ecuadorian...don't remember.
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Edit fluffy bunnies.
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How much of one of them fucking mushrooms do you eat?
Fresh mushrooms (just picked, not 1 day old) are 10x heavier than dry (cracker dry) mushrooms due to water weight. In this case 35 grams would would be the equivalent of a 3.5 gram dose of dry (cracker dry). If you wait a day or a week to measure the weight and dose of the shrooms, all bets are off. I recommend picking them and immediately placing them in the food dehydrator. This way they don't degrade in potency (fresh/wet are slighly more potent) and you will be able to store them for very long periods of time.
To specifically answer your question, it would be 8-12 of the mushrooms above.
In my experience, fresh is more potent, but not significantly more potent. Placing them into a dehydrator immediately after harvest keeps potency perfectly. Certainly making a tea (I dont eat mushrooms since they taste like shit) with fresh shrooms is stronger than with dehydrated shrooms, but barely noticeable (I'm basing this on the weight ratio of 10x water weight, then weighing). Of course the are certain shrooms that have less water weight, and some that have more, so this is just generalization when talking about cubes (still pretty accurate though). If we get into liberty caps, cyans, jalisco and others, we have a different chemical makeup and different results. 1 gram of some cyans will send you over the moon (jamaican for example), so dosing wet vs dry would be need to be much more precise, unless you are a psychonaut with no fucks to give.