Internet Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey Version 06, 4/95 by fred@lycaeum.org (F. Fungus) PART ONE of FOUR The United States of America Bill of Rights, Article I: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." This is the Internet Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey Version 06. If you're a grower, you definitely want to read this. If you aren't a grower, reading this might make you one! This survey is *chock-full* of valuable information. It is easy, fun, and practical to grow mushrooms for use in your personal entheogenic religious rituals. Part 1: Contains survey questions & philosophy. Part 2: Contains responses #001-#015. Part 3: Contains responses #011-#030. Part 4: Contains responses #031-#036. ======================= Quick Survey Statistics ======================= 36 total responses. (The following numbers may be off a bit.) 28 people use spores from PF. 2 people use spores from Syzygy. 5 people use spores from Homestead and some complain about Homestead's contaminated spores or no-guarentee policy. A few people use wild spores. Make sure if doing this that you have identified the species correctly! (It would be a bad thing to grow a poisonous mushroom accidentally.) PF-Tek method "in the right hands" (with good equipment) consistantly has above 90% success rate. Other methods have 50-80%. In the wrong hands (with sloppy setup or method) non-PF-Tek methods have 0% success rate. Sloppy PF-Tek has lower success rate but not 0%. (PF-Tek is much more foolproof.) About 2/3(?) of PF-Tek'rs use the bubbler tek and the others use ultrasonic. No statistical analysis has been done on this, but it is safe to assume that ultrasonic is the way to go. "Ultrasonic" meaning a humidifier which creates a super- fine mist without heat (see Response #29 for a great description). The ultrasonic humidifiers seem to create a much more uniform humidity level than the bubbler-tek does, and without the bubbling/pumping noise (for almost comparible price). Also note the use of a "cool mist" humidifier, which is said to be even better (and cheaper) than an ultrasonic type. In good setups, the first PF mushroom sprouts almost exactly on 31 days old, consistantly. A few use agar or other methods. These have lower success rate than PF-Tek, but agar produces a stronger strain; however, this is probably only needed in commercial production. But non-PF-Tek methods allow the use of bigger jars and thus, bigger shrooms. Two people used PF-Tek and steam sterilization with 100% success. (No pressure cooker needed.) No one replied with microwave stories. It may be possible to microwave-sterilize using special lids (nonmetal) which are sold by a home-canning company (does anyone have a reference?). PART TWO of FOUR The United States of America Bill of Rights, Article I: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." Part 1: Contains survey questions & philosophy. Part 2: Contains responses #001-#015. Part 3: Contains responses #011-#030. Part 4: Contains responses #031-#036. * Note the version of this file and please delete any old copies! ============================ All Your Questions Answered! ============================ Ok, what you've all been waiting for. These are the responses from the growers themselves. I haven't made any changes to the answers besides a few misspelled words. Occasionally I have inserted my own remarks; these are placed in {{ double curly brackets }}. There's a lot of information here. I've only done approximate analysis in part one of the survey. The trends are obvious. A patient person who has $150 devoted to mushroom growing can have 90% success. Please be as detailed as possible. Take your time in answering the questions. =01a= What kind of mushroom(s) have you cultivated, and where did you obtain the spores? =02a= What growing method(s) have you used? (brown rice, PF, agar, .. note any details!) =03a= What is your success rate with the method(s) used? (How many jars or dishes did you sterilize, and how many went bad, if any) =04a= How many crops have you cultivated? (Paranoid yet? Don't worry, you're anonymous! :-) =05a= Have you used your own spore prints to innoculate further jars, and how did this increase your yield? The speed of growth? The amount of fruiting? =06a= How many flushes, approximately, do you obtain per jar? (How many cycles of shrooms can you harvest from one cake before that cake stops producing) =06b= What was your yield for each flush? (Grams in dry shrooms, wet shrooms, or if the weight is unknown then the number of shrooms) =07a= How many days did it take for the fuzz to permiate your growing medium? (How many days until their birthday) =08a= How many days, total, until the first 'shroom was picked? =09a= What were the physical sizes of the mushrooms you cultivated? How might this relate to the jars (or other container) the mushrooms grew in? =10a= How did you maintain humidity and air flow to the mycelium? What kind of growing chamber did you use? =11a= Did you add any special vitamins, minerals, or other to increase growth? =12a= What did you do with the cakes after they were through flushing? Re-casing? Bury them in a forest? Compost heap? Eat them? =12b= How did you dry your mushrooms? =13a= How did you consume the mushrooms you cultivated? (Fresh, dry? Whole, ground? In a tea? In a cooking recipe? With other plants for synergy?) =13b= How potent were your mushrooms in comparison to others you've tried? =13c= Did you use a MAOI to increase the experience, and if so, what was it, and did you buy it or grow it? =13d= Have you or others noticed any difference in the trip when you have ingested DRY vs. WET mushrooms? =13e= Have you or others noticed any difference in the trip when you have ingested OLD (dried & preserved) vs. NEW (freshly picked or recently dried) mushrooms? (Does the magic seem to increase with age) =14a= Are there any books or references you would suggest for first-time or amateur growers? (Besides reading everything on hyperreal) Any literature on the psychedelic experience in general? =14b= Finally, what was your greatest challenge in growing, and how did you overcome it? =15a= Any additional comments? Any suggestions for this survey? ================ Survey Responses ================ ===== Response #001 =01a= I've tried to grow, with extremely little success, P. cubensis, from spores packaged by Syzygy, the hawaiian company that advertises in McKennas' book on the topic. =02a= I've tried the agar-culture to brown rice method. I've also tried putting the spores right in brown rice. =03a= All of my cakes eventually succumbed to contamination at various stages. All the times I tried it I did around 18 quart jars at a time. {{ The failure was probably due to the large jar size. }} =04a= I've tried to do it i think four times. maybe three. =05a= I've never made my own spore prints. =06a= I've never been able to successfully fruit. =10a= The jars were in a plastic-lined cabinet, with the tops loosely sealed. They all eventually got contaminated in here. I used a lava lamp in with them to keep them warm. One time when we got a bunch of good cakes, uncontaminated, my roommate took them all and put them in a styrofoam box, where they caught a green mold and never fruited. =15a= Next time, which will probably be within a few months, I'm going to try the PF technique. I think I'll use an ultrasonic humidifier to keep them moist. If it works I'll use the cultures to innoculate brown-rice jars and try to combine McKenna's methods as well. ===== Response #002 =01a= Ps cubensis, Amazonian strain, which were obtained from PF in the form of a syringe. =02a= PF. =03a= Sterilized/innoculated five jars. None went bad. =04a= Only one crop. =05a= No. =06a= 2 - 3. =07a= 31 for most; some, that were too waterlogged, took more. =08a= About 40. =09a= Most were small (with caps about 1 inch across); I used 1/2-pint jars. =10a= I used the PF grow terrarium, and used both manual and auto-humidification techniques. The terrarium was always very humid. Air flow was controlled manually, as PF prescribes. =11a= No. =12a= I'm thinking of saving them for future culturing, and maybe try to spread some outside. According to Stamets, if saved properly, they will preserve for literally years (one person saved some for 27 years!). =13a= I ate them freshly picked on an empty stomach with plenty of water. They seemed no more potent than other strains I've had. =14a= Order and read all of the PF Tek reports. It may take a good 5 - 10 readings before you fully understand some of the concepts. Also, Paul Stamets' _The Mushroom Cultivator_. Actually, I would suggest going through the entire PF process first, so that patience is not a problem and also because _TMC_ is easier to understand once you have some experience behind you. _TMC_ is a great resource for people who have started out with PF and are thinking of expanding yields by innoculating trays. It additionally becomes clear, after reading _TMC_, that this is the book that PF used to devise its technique. ===== Response #003 =15a= Yeah, next time you ask for a survey, tell them exactly whay its about . Hey, I just hit reply, and realised since as of yet, I haven't grown any, this does not apply to me. Sorry, you'll be the first to know my results.. {{ Well? Anything 'pop up' yet? }} ===== Response #004 =01a= Stropharia cubensis, Amazonian strain from Szyzgy. =02a= Jars of rye berries. =03a= About 50/50. =04a= 2. =05a= No. =06a= 2. =07a= 5-9. =08a= 22. =09a= About 4 to 5 inches. =10a= Spray bottle... I think that is why it didn't work so well. =11a= No. =12a= Compost heap. =13a= Ate them... Same as most cubensis I've had. =14a= THE MUSHROOM CULTIVATOR, PSILOCYBIN- MM GROWERS GUIDE ===== Response #005 =01a= P. Cubensis. P.F. =02a= P.F. Vermiculite, and Wild bird seed. (In Progress) =03a= 80-100% with PF Vermiculite, WBS in progress. =04a= 5 =05a= No. =06a= usually 2-3. =07a= usually 1 month. =08a= usually 40-60. =09a= stems usually 3-6 in., caps 1-3 in. =10a= Manual spraying; cheapo humidifier; bubbler tek in progress. =11a= usually doubled amount in Brown Rice flour in PF recipe. =12a= Tossed in garbage in hopes to inoculate landfill. =13a= Chewed em' dried and fresh, very excellent, no maoi's used. =14a= The PF tek, then McKenna, then Stamets. ===== Response #006 =01a= Psilocybe cubensis. Spores from PF. =02a= PF method =03a= Used seven jars. Only one didn't produce. =04a= One. =05a= Haven't tried it yet. =06a= 3 to 4. =07a= 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. =08a= about 27. =09a= Used 1/2 pint jars. Shrooms were very small. When they seemed to drop off their fruiting I tried a tip I read on this list. I put some moist vermiculite around the cakes. They then produced a couple of shrroms that were 3 times larger than the ones I had been getting. But they didn't produce any more after that... =10a= Hand spraying and hand fanning. 10 gallon aquarium. =11a= No. =13a= Made tea. Less potent than others I've had. Tried peganum harmala as an MAOI, and it worked well. =15a= It's easy and fun! ===== Response #007 =01a= PF only. =02a= (1) Standard PF method with bown rice flour/vermiculite PF substrate. (2) Mycellium only method with PF syringes, grown on Rye - no attempt to fruit. =03a= I have sterilized about 20 jars. Lost about 13. Very low yield on another 4. This is with the fruiting method only. For the mycelium only method I have done 6 jars. Lost 2. The other 4 yielded very potent mind blowing mycelium. =04a= The mycelium method generated enough for about 5 trips. I have only harvested about 10 average sized mushrooms so far but I am in the middle of a good fruiting growth stage now with 8 jars (standard 1/2 pint PF tecnique) and have many more on the way. These cakes have a total of at least 20 shrooms nearing maturation. This is the first flush. =05a= No. =06a= Counting duds less than 1 on average. One good flush is all I've been able to get so far even on good cakes. I am testing tecniques to fix this this time around including increased humidity and adding casing. =07a= Sorry I haven't kept good records on this. I'd better not guess. I wait until the jars are totally white without exception. I will not remove them until the entire cake is colonized (especially the bottom of the jar) even if I am getting fruiting inside the jars no matter how long this takes. This causes wide variance (a week or more) in birthday from jar to jar. I lost my first batch because I didn't do this. =08a= Mine have been slow. It has taken about 4 weeks from birthday to first harvest. =09a= Smallish (1 inch caps) with occasional huge ones - 3 inch caps. These were all 1/2 pint jars. =10a= Home made. Steam humidifier in the bottom of two stacked plastic storage containers connected by a drier hose. Humidity is controlled indirectly by a thermostat on the steam humidifier that holds the temperature at a settable level. I do not seal the top tightly but leave one end of the top (far end from humidifier hose) cracked very slightly. There are lights at the sides of the top container near the lid. =11a= No. =12a= Trash them. i thought they were dead. This time I am going to try resizing to larger jar with new medium. =13a= I have not used Maoi's. They seem too dangerous to me. Mushrooms were fairly potent but I have no basis for comparison. I need at least 5 for potent enough dose. Fresh mycelium directly on digested medium has been the most potent by weight I believe. =14a= I have not used any reference books. The PF technique and the net has been my only source of knowledge. =15a= Can't wait to see the results. Thanks. ===== Response #008 =01a= Cubensis. PF. =02a= PF =03a= 100% rate with the steam sterilization method. =04a= 2. =05a= No. =06a= Both series are still flushing. At 3 and 1 =07a= I kept mine in the cups for 7! weeks, but only becourse I didn't have proper growing chamber. Pinheads were already forming in the cups.. =08a= 7 weeks *about* and 4 days. Could have done it in about 25 days. =09a= Oddly each mushroom is bigger than the earlier ones, from 3 cm high to 5 cm high cubensis. =10a= By spraying. My growing chamber is simple freezerbox (like ones used on picnics and such) with a spray shield sividing the space intyo 2, and 18w fluorescent providing warmth and light. =11a= No. =12a= Not through that yet. =13a= Not tried this own grown yet. =14a= PF. PF! And of course my mushroom FAQ =).. McKenna and Psychedelics Encyclopedia. =15a= None. It was very easy. ===== Response #009 I've been growing fungus for about three years now, and have had 3 spawns (periods of time when the fungus was alive and retained). =01a= 1st + 3rd spawns: Psylocybin Cubensis, 2nd spawn: Psylocybin Cyansis 1st + 2nd spawns: Homestead Book Company, 3rd spawn: PFanaticus =02a= 1st spawn: brown rice then birdseed, 2nd spawn: birdseed, 3rd spawn: PFanaticus mixture =03a= 1st + 2nd spawns: About 60% good, 40% bad, 3rd spawn (PF) 100%. I innoculated about 60 jars with 1st spawn, 40 jars with 2nd, and about 40 with 3rd spawn. =04a= By crops, if you mean groups of jars in the growing chamber going through all flushings, about 20 crops. =05a= Yes I have used my own spore prints- the yields were about the same - except for the Cyansis which is not a high-yield fungus. =06a= 3-4. =07a= 1st + 2nd spawns (big jars and birdseed): 2 months, 3rd spawn (PF): about 4 weeks. =08a= 1st + 2nd spawns (big jars and birdseed): 4 months, 3rd spawn (PF): about 2 months. =09a= The largest mushroom I grew pushed the top off the terrarium and the cap measured over 2.5 inches in diameter. =10a= Always a tight, clean terrarium/aquarium. =11a= I have experimented with V8 juice and hot sauce in the agar, and with oatmeal and honey in the substrate medium. I did not notice any increase in growth - it was more for the novelty. =12a= I threw them in the forest out front at first, but the squirrels started acting funny, so I throw them in the garbage now. =13a= I eat them fresh on an empty stomach for the best trip. Otherwise I dry them using no heat (a fan blowing against them on a dry day is good) on a window screen, grind them in a coffee grinder and put them in large geletin capsules. No MAOIs, but I'm very interested in the use of organic MAO inhibitors with fungus, so be sure to publish the results of this question. =14a= Both of Paul Stamet's books are invaluable. =15a= Yes please see attached visual. {{ The respondant replied that the picture represents his visions reality during a trip -- hmm, now I can see that! }} ===== Response #010 Not that I'm admitting to anything, but I thought you might like some info about Homestead Book Company and other spore companies. Sorry, but I'd rather not answer those other slightly incriminating questions... =15a= Yep! I ordered spore prints from Homestead and every one was contaminated and they do not guarantee their products. However, Pacific Exotic Spora from Honolulu fully guarantees their spore prints and I am impressed and satisfied with their products. ===== Response #011 =01a= P. cubensis from PF. I also obtained spores from Homestead, but had no success with them. I wholeheartedly recommend PF for obtaining quality spores. =02a= Brown Rice, Rye, and the PF tech using rice flour, rye flour and a 50% combination. I never got either of the pure grain cultures to fruit, but instead used them for mycelium. After some initial problems with the PF method, I have nearly 100% success with fruiting. My technique can be found in the "THE FOOLPROOF PSILOCYBE CUBENSIS MYCELIAL CULTURE TECHNIQUE" on hyperreal.com. =03a= The only failures I had were trying to get the all-grain jars to fruit. I have had 100% success using whole grain to grow mycelium for extraction. Later on, I switched to the PF technique and quickly learned to get reliable fruiting. My initial difficulties were solved when: 1) I realized that I was packing the media way to tight (it must be loose and airy), and 2) I built an automatic humidifier. After both these improvements, I got high, reliable yield. {{ Note the packing the medium too tight problem! PF says "lightly" and they mean it! }} I don't sell or give away any of my crop for legal reasons, so I get more than enough to keep me supplied. I consider these ethnobotanicals a key to my religious experience, and would fight for the right to continue to use them on that basis. I believe it strengthens my position if I never give away or sell any of my crop. I would be happy to give spores to a friend, though. Just the minor hassle of learning to grow them for yourself is a big enough "rite-of-passage" to keep out insincere or unstable people. =04a= Perhaps four or five batches of mycelium, and three batches of PF grown to fruiting. =05a= I just now ran out of my initial supply of spore syringes (I bought 8 and kept them in the refrigerator - they maintained potency for over a year!), but have succeeded in making a fair number of nice spore prints in sterile petri dishes, so I have no doubts of being able to continue the process indefinitely. =06a= One really large flush, and then perhaps two more of dwindling yield. =07a= Same as stated in the PF tech notes. (From memory: ~2-3 weeks) This works *much* faster if you are careful not to *over*pack your growing mix. If you pack it real firm, it may take two months rather than two weeks for complete colonization. Under these conditions, the mycelium is so exhausted that you will get little fruiting when you finally remove the block from the jar. =08a= My last batch was started 6/6 and a few jars were fruiting by 7/6 (however we've had real hot weather). {{ 31 days to edible shrooms is a "good setup" average turnover. }} =09a= I don't know about the relation to jar size. All mine were grown in 8 oz. widemouth mason jars. The mushrooms varied from two to four inches in length with caps 3/4" to 2" in diameter. =10a= I decided to go "first class" on my growing apparatus. I wanted something that would be "zero-maintainance". I went to the local store and bought a transparent tupperware storage box that was 2' x 3' x 6" (LWH) in size. I use it upside down, so the shrooms are growing on the lid, and the box itself serves as a big transparent dome. To keep the mycelial blocks off the damp lid, I use a section of plastic fluorescent-light grid material as a spacer. This stuff is sold at any hardware store in the lighting section, and consists of little quarter inch square grids in a sheet of white plastic about 1/4" thick. I cut this to fit the bottom of the box and consequently didn't have to fiddle with using jar lids as spacers (as suggested by PF). The open grid structure also gives better ventilation and prevents rotting of the blocks by getting wet. The humidifier is a ultrasonic model made by "Holmes", sold at BEST for $49. The cool thing about this model is that the vapor outlet is *exactly* the same size as standard 2" plastic sewage pipe collar. I was able to cut a hole in the top of the tupperware box to accept a 2" plastic threaded tee fitting. The tee sits inside the box and acts as a baffle to spread the vapor around. By using about $3.00 of standard plastic fittings (straights, couplers, and right angles), I was able to plumb the outlet of the humidifier right into the top of the tee fitting of my box. I also bought a 4-event electronic timer to run the humidifier. The timer goes on at 6 and 12 AM, and 6 and 12 PM for 2 minutes. The humidifier itself is set on high. To complete the system, I have a cheap light timer to run a small fluorescent light on a 12 hour on/off cycle. Total cost of growing setup was tupperware box $12.00 plastic pipe, fittings $3.00 electronic timer $29.00 cheap timer $1.00 (got this one at the goodwill!) humidifier $49.00 light -- (already had one) ------- ------ Total 96.00 This looks like a lot, but is a lifetime investment in a totally automatic, self sustaining, entheogen source. (I easily spend this much on books every two months!) =11a= I have tried adding powdered calcium tablets to the PF mix with uncertain results. I don't think it helped. One thing that *did* improve yield was to use a 50/50 mixture of rye and brown rice flour. This mix permeated sooner, and fruited more heavily than either pure mix. The pure brown rice flour did almost as well as the mix. The pure rye was very slow to colonize, and fruited poorly. This may be because the rye flour made a denser mix. {{ Note that some additives may improve colonization but that doesn't /necessarily/ mean it'll improve fruiting, later on. Personally I'd say we could use an additive that prolongs the fruiting cycle. }} =12a= You can't eat the PF cakes because of the vermiculite. {{ Not according to another respondant who checked with a vermaculite manufacturer and a poison control center; but who knows if they've done correct studies. I doubt anyone would *want* to eat vermaculite! Perhaps make a tea by simmering the cake for 20 minutes after pulverizing it? }} I usually bury these in one of my favorite forest spots. P.cubensis probably won't grow here due to colder winters, but perhaps it will hybridize with some of the more hardy local strains. (?) Anyway it seemed like the best thing to do to honor this ancient organism. I originally ate the pure-grain blocks for their mycelium, but this was unpalatable. I soon switched to using cranberry juice to extract the mycelium. I usually dispose of the left-over rye media in the compost heap. =13a= I have tried P.harmala (3 grams, powdered and dissolved in water acidified with Ascorbic acid), but it only enhanced things slightly, and tasted pretty nasty. Sterile seeds are widely available from many sources for use as a natural dye. Because I am only growing the mushrooms for my private, religious usage, I have no need to use MAO inhibitors to "stretch" my supply. The potency of the PF strain appears to exceed the published averages. A single, fresh, mushroom 2 inches long, with a 1/2" cap is a quite strong entheogen. Three such mushrooms are sufficient to start visual "hallucinations". =14a= 1) Magic mushroom grower's guide by Oss and Oeric 2) PF tech notes 3) Pharmocotheon by Ott. 4) The book by Stamet's et. al on commercial mushroom cultivation =15a= Buy a good pressure cooker, the biggest you can afford. Get one with a metal-metal seal that bolts down with thumbscrews and has a good pressure gauge. Read the directions well. Look at mycological and plant tissue-culture books to learn about techniques for sterile handling of cultures. You should at least build a glove-box for doing your innoculations and for making spore syringes. Get a lab-quality alcohol lamp for sterilizing your tools. I use a $70 home air filter made by "Holmes". This unit does double-duty for the mushroom cultivator. First, it is a true High-Efficiency-PArticulate filter (HEPA). When left to run all day it makes the room *much* more sterile for doing your work. Secondly, the air comes in the front of the unit and exits out from grids on the top. Setting fresh mushrooms on the filter outlet grid will dry them "cracker-hard" in one day without any blueing or noticeable breakdown. Be ruthless about your sterile precautions. Later on, you'll learn what corners you can cut. Read everything you can on Eastern mystic thought (eg: The Tibetan book of the Dead, or "The Psychedelic Experience" by Leary), and everything you can on the beliefs of the mexican and south-american cultures who routinely use these plants shamanically (eg: "The world is as you dream it", or anything by George Wasson). Learn about cosmology and read as much as you can about quantum mechanics (eg: popular books like: "The Dancing Wu Li masters", anything on the EPR experiment (proving the existence of super-luminal connections in *our* universe). Look into TaiChi, the I-Ching, and taoist thought. Reread Thoreau, and any books on the subject of nature and ecosystems. Learn about Genetics, DNA, the theory of evolution. Think about who built the pyramids (and why). Read anything you can on the theory of conciousness. Reread Carlos Castenada's books and see if you can figure out what he is actually trying to say through all the hyperbole. Learn the game of "go", and try playing with Conway's computer cellular automaton: "Life". Travel widely: seek to experience how other cultures are different than your own (hint: don't stay in the Hilton). Have a heart-to-heart talk with a street person - find out how they view the world. Try to empathize with the worldview of that pesky racoon that dumps your garbage cans in the night and then hides all day to avoid detection. Read haiku, think upon zen koans, listen to Wagner. In short, don't leave any stone unturned. Seek and ye shall find. The entheogenic experience can only help you make connections between things that you have already learned or studied. If you want to better understand "god", you had better do your homework - otherwise you will probably only find yet another way to pointlessly waste your time. Remember: better men that you have spent their entire lives, singlemindedly in this pursuit. You are a fool if you don't take advantage of any help they can give you. {{ Here here! Mushrooms are meant to be a philosophical and religious experience. Feed your mind before you ingest, and interpret the visions you see afterwards! }} Be reasonable. Don't take mushrooms unless you are comfortable with the set and setting - and are *certain* that it will remain comfortable for at least 8 hours. Clean your house before hand - unplug your phone. Allow one day to recuperate. I find it good to partake early Saturday, fully refreshed, and leave all day Sunday so that I am ready for work on Monday. Know the truth, and it shall set you free. ===== Response #012 =01a= a) Psilocybe cubensis (from: brasil; sumatra; via US: lux natura, mushroompeople, FMRC, mushroom kingdom - and all these strains were amazingly similar in potency) b) "Psilocybe cyanescens astoria ossip" (US) (cold-weather !) c) shiitake, pleurotus, stropharia rugoso-annulata, agaricus (from commercial and self-made spawn) d) macrolepiota, agaricus, russula, marasmius, psilocybe semilanceata, armillaria, ... (collected from their natural habitat) =02a= 1) agarcultures (using glove-box, ..), carefully selecting the best strains 2) -grain (barley, oats, rye, wheat, millet; usually mixtures) in jars and (autoclavable) plastic-bags, indoors (a) 3) (grainspawned) straw (wheat or rye) or compost, indoors (a) 2+3: cultures are short-lived 4) (grainspawned) woodchips, PERENNIAL outdoors NATURAL CULTURE (b) 5) wood (or (news)paper), straw, compost (c) 6) lots of shrooms, including those that are symbiotic with certain plants, can be allowed to grow (with varying success-rates) by just preparing the right environment/substrate and inoculating abundantly with the spore-deposit from (many, big) ripe fruiting-bodies. (may take a few years, however. may last for many years then, too!) =03a= dishes: usually more than 90 % jars: usually more than 80 % =04a= cubensis: 1982-92. enough, but with a lot of (repeated sterile) work. "cyanescens astoria ossip": 1991, 92, 93, 94. only one run of sterile-lab-work. outdoor beds are still expanding. one just has to feed and water them. MUCH LESS WORK. =05a= - - enormously increased yield. - - inoculating jars with spores directly: hardly - - germinating spores on agar, selecting a promising strain, .. YEA, HIGHLY RECOMMENDABLE, because with every "generation" you can get a more vigorous best strain !! =06a= 3, at most 4. On trays with straw often only 2! =07a= that varies a lot. BUT THE FASTER THE BETTER. =08a= cubensis: minimum about 1 month. often a lot more. - much faster. but only a few flushes. astoria: 1/2 year - much slower. but practically forever. =09a= cubensis: always smaller than reported from cow pastures. ps. cyan. astoria ossip: the bigger ones I had were more than 3" in diameter, up to 25 g fresh weight and 1.5 g dry weight (very high water-content!) (and getting a little bigger each year, he he he) =10a= aquarium, walled with cloth. spraying. airpump, .. =11a= yes. several experiments showed no significant difference, however. =12a= (cubensis only) Re-casing? yea, just before they were completely through. Bury them in a forest? Nope. too cold here. Compost heap? Yes. Eat them? Yuk. Not after I had my first 5 g dry of cubensis fruits. =13a= fresh - works fine. not easy to determine dosage exactly, however. dried - whole. DISRECOMMENDED ! unreliable. effects may be much weaker and/or considerably delayed. dried+ground, preferably mix a bigger batch of shrooms (which may be of different individual strength) into a homogenous material, so that doses can be reliably measured ! weigh out individual doses ! (Xceed! Xceed! but with delicacy - play it safe !!) (from a team of expert testers + some analytical results) cubensis: always around 0.5 % (dry weight) total astoria ossip, semilanceata: 1.1 - 1.3 % total (where "total" = %psilocybin + 1.4*%psilocyn) =14a= +++ PMMGG--O.T.Oss/O.N.Oeric +++ growing wild mu's- B.Harris ++++ MushroomCultivator- P.Stamets ++- FMRC's journal TheMushroomCulture +++ Integration (J.for mind-moving plants & culture) =15a= 1) ___GREAT___ i wanted to do just the same survey, and am ___VERY HAPPY___ that you started it already !!!!!!!!!!! 2) Psilocybe Cyanescens Astoria Ossip - loves cold weather, grows as BIG as psilocybe cubensis, but is much stronger (2x or more!), as POTENT as psilocybe semilanceata - and it is VERY EASY TO GROW as a PERENNIAL on woodchips, outdoors !!! 3) Don't go for the fast + easy way (of growing shrooms) Growing shrooms can be as mind-expanding as eating them. Take your time and don't miss that! 4) stropharia rugoso-annulata is grown commercially on bales of straw, placed on the ground, soaked or pasteurized, and using spawn grown on straw (and NOT grain-spawn!, which seems to be much inferior in this case). psilocybe cubensis (aka. stropharia cubensis !), which is very, very similar, could prob also be grown, using this method. ===== Response #013 =01a= Psilocybe Cubensis. From PF. =02a= PF. =03a= I innoculated 10 half pint jars. None had any contamination. All of them produced mushrooms. =04a= One crop. =05a= No. =06a= Hard to tell..maybe two. =07a= 3 weeks. =08a= 24 days. =09a= The largest was about 6 inches long. with a 2.5 inch cap. =10a= I used a 10 gallon aquarium. I used PF's auto humidification technique. =11a= No. =12a= I cased one, and left the rest in the aquarium. I pick about one or two mushrooms a day from the cakes in the aquarium. The cased one isn't doing anything. I think it dried out. =13a= I ate some of them raw and the rest i dried. I had never tried mushrooms before i grew them, i have done acid many times tho. ===== Response #014 I dont grow mushrooms, I just harvest them from the wild. So far I havent lucked onto any psycoactive types, just the common edible types, but they are wonderfully tastefull anyway. Im not flaming you for being a narc because your message seems to be legit, and you encourage people to annonymously post (which the feds wouldnt do) but be aware that you are asking in a public forum for people to admit to illegal acts (at least in the USA). If you are not a narc, then expect them to be knocking on your door any day now! Paranoia is an important survival trait in today's world, dont you think? {{ Thanks for the reality check. }} ===== Response #015 =01a= Ps. cubenies from Psilocybe Fanaticus. =02a= PF substrate. =03a= 1st batch, 50%, 2, 75%, 3rd on 100%. =04a= 3 and no {{ no=not paranoid :-) }} =05a= not yet. =06a= ? {{ One of a few people who didn't know what "flushes" were. }} =07a= 4-7. =08a= 31>. =09a= 1 to 7 inches, varied greatly in each jar. =10a= PF's dual chambered terarrium. =11a= No. =12a= Trash them, had plenty of shrooms. =13a= Crush into powder and swallow with OJ, minimal NASTY taste. One time I almost puked simply from the taste of the chew and grind method. {{ More people should make tea, it seems to me! }} =14a= All I saw was hyperreal and was more than educated. === End of Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey, part TWO of FOUR, Version 06. === Archive-name: msurv06c.txt Internet Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey Version 06, 4/95 by fred@lycaeum.org (F. Fungus) PART THREE of FOUR The United States of America Bill of Rights, Article I: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." Part 1: Contains survey questions & philosophy. Part 2: Contains responses #001-#015. Part 3: Contains responses #011-#030. Part 4: Contains responses #031-#036. * Note the version of this file and please delete any old copies! ===== Response #016 =01a= Friend used Psilocybe Cubensis spores from Psilocybe Fanaticus. =02a= He used two different techniques at the same time: 1) The standard Psilocybe Fanaticus technique (AKA "PF Tech") 2) Quart jar method -- inject spore solution into quart jars containing wet, whole, brown rice. Humidify via occasional, partial immersion of jars in warm water. Harvest direct from jars (no growth chamber). =03a= Friend used six jars for the PF method and eight for the quart jar method. All jars brought forth mycelium. All PF jars and six of the eight quart jars went on to produce at least some carpophores (with the exception of one non-productive quart jar). However, all succumbed to a grayish blue, fuzzy mold at about the same time (during thier second flush, in most cases). =04a= My friend claims to have cultivated one good flush from each carpophore-bearing jar, plus part of a second flush from some. =05a= My friend did not attempt this (although a few carpophores did drop healthy amounts of spores on thier [already colonized] growth media). =06a= As described previously, friend obtained one good flush from each productive jar before the mold struck. Most were on their way to producing a second flush. =07a= According to my friend's experience: Permeation took between five and six weeks for the PF Tech. For the quart jar method, this question isn't as relevent because the medium may or may not ever entirely colonize, and shrooms may begin to grow well before or well after colonization. There is great variation in the progression of the life cycle using this method. Say, between four and seven weeks before carpophores begin to grow. =08a= A little over six weeks for the PF Tech, according to friend. For the quart jar method: Varied widely between jars. Between five and eight weeks. =09a= Interestingly, shroom size was about the same using both the PF and quart jar techniques. However, PF shrooms grew faster once they got going (probably due to better humidification). =10a= PF Tech: Friend used growth chamber made out of plastic storage bin. A wire-screen bent to fit inside was overlain with a plastic sheet to serve as a spray shield. Lid was removed for aeration (by removing plastic sheet and fanning cakes with the lid) twice per day. After fanning, the sheet would be put back and spraying commenced. Then the lid was snapped back on. A hole punched into one bottom corner of the bin prevented too much water from accumulating inside. A little makeshift platform held the cakes above the highest possible water level. Quart jar method: At irregular intervals (whenever condensation no longer was much evident on the mycelium or inside glass), friend would place warm water into an aquarium and run a cheap electric aquarium heater to adjust the temperature to 92 deg.F or so (temps much above 100 deg.F will start to damage the mycelium!). Then he'd place the jars into the aquarium until light condensation accumulated inside them. This usually took an hour or so. The water level covered the jars only about a third of the way or so (much more would cause them to want to tip and float). =11a= No. My friend did sing to them, though (just kidding). =12a= Friend double-bagged them tightly in trash bags and tossed them (even before they were done flushing) due to mold contamination. =13a= Friend used to make a tea by grinding the wind-dried shrooms in an electric coffee grinder, stirring in hot (not boiling) water for 15 minutes, straining, and drinking. The buggers were so potent that he eventually found he needed only one for a nicely mild, entheogenic experience. =14a= Some Biology lab experience proved useful for my friend. =15a= Friend preferred the PF Tech (to the quart jar method) as it made consistant humidification simpler and was more efficient in terms of number of carpophores per amount of growth medium. He also claimed that the shrooms were easier to harvest from the growth chamber than from the cramped quart jars. {{ In a second message addendum: }} My friend's jars and growth chambers were kept inside a walk-in closet. This helped to minimize potentially spore-bearing drafts, as my friend could keep the door closed (and a light on inside, of course), while he worked. Prior to innoculation, my friend made liberal use of Lysol and a chlorine-bearing, OTC scrubbing compound to clean almost the entire place (with especial emphasis on work- areas). The lids on the quart jars were kept loose (for slow air exchange), but ON at all times (except during harvesting, of course). An ordinary reading lamp with a flourescent bulb was used to provide the cultures with light. This step was initially omitted, resulting in carpophores which grew in random directions (sometimes even upside down, down the side of the quart jars -- very difficult to harvest!). Once light was provided from above, the carpophores began growing upwards towards it. Finally, eventual failure via mold contamination was almost certainly due to laxness. Once my friend had harvested more carpophores than he could use by himself, the law of diminishing returns set in and he began investing less effort. This was the undoing of the project (which friend was ready to end anyway). ===== Response #017 =01a= P. cubensis, in syringes from PF. =02a= PF. =03a= All seem to be colonizing nicely. I am now at day 25 or so of the colonization process. My jars are the tall 250ml type so the surface area means longer colonization. I realize Im not a real grower yet but I thought I would reply now so that you had some info to tabulate. =04a= Like I said, still working on #1. =05a= Were planning on making lots of syringes and spraying the solution everywhere around our place, as well as keeping the project self-sustaining. =06a= I only have produced one flush a jar so far. The instructions from PF didn't say that more than one harvest could be taken from one cake (they didn't not that that either). So on my current I will see if more appear, for my benefit of course. I think however that all the food (brown rice flour) will be eaten by the first harvest, but that's just a thought. =07a= It will probably take almost 35 days, due to jar size. We may also have added too much water to some of the jars. {{ Adding too much water does slow down growth, it seems. }} =08a= Estimating 45 days, 60 days tops =09a= N/A =10a= We used a plastic case (kind of like a cooler but not insulated) and improved the seal with beaded rubber foam tape (like on your fridge door). Plexiglass spray shield inside. Used an aquarium pump --> splitter --> two bubbling stones in glass flasks. This double to provide fresh air. Seems to be working nicely, however it's unoccupied. =11a= Nope. =12a= I am going to bury them in a compost heap I think. =13a= N/A =14a= PF all the way. Also Dojah has been posting his diary on alt.drugs. Not sufficient as a technical document, but a damn good description of what the process is like -- his diary is what got me started. =15a= Everyone ought to do it. I also stress that I am not a dealer. 3 of us got together on this for personal uses and we hope to be rewarded by a bountiful harvest! ===== Response #018 =01a= P. cubensis from PF =02a= Variations on PF. =03a= 90% success rate to the 2nd-3rd flush, declining after that (as expected). Same results over at least a dozen batches of eight jars. =04a= At least a dozen. =05a= I make syringes every other batch. The increase in yield is up to you. After you make syringes, you are pretty much unlimited in the number of jars you can innoculate. =06a= That varies. I've been playing with substrate composition and packing densities, so I don't have an average number of flushes. Also, the cakes rarely flush in groups after the 3rd, they come and go individually. For interests sake, I've found that variations in the substrate produced cakes that would die in 2 weeks, or others that would last 2-3 months. =07a= A typical number would be 23. =08a= 31. =09a= 1-2" dia. cap, 3-4" long stem typical. =10a= An ultrasonic humidifier piped into a styrofoam cooler with a plexiglass lid and 2nd shelf. Independant controls on the humidifier allow me to contol both the air flow rate and the humidity level. =11a= No. I'll let the bio people to do that kind of R&D. =12a= I toss them. =13a= A prefer them when they are freshly dried. I either eat them whole, or make tea. When I prepare tea from freshly dried caps (they crumble easier), I trip my ass off! I've bought shrooms before, even the mushroom chocolates, but nothing comes close on a %/weight basis to my homegrown shrooms. I haven't tried MAOIs. I have a healthy supply of goodness already, so why bother? =14a= TMC, if only I could get my copy back! ===== Response #019 =01a= P. Cubensis. PF. =02a= Modified PF method. =03a= 5 of 5 jars were succesfully innoculated. All bore fruit. =05a= Only commercial prints used thus far. =06a= 5-8 depending on when they were cased. All uncased cakes stopped producing after the first big flush. After cakes were dormant for 2 weeks they were placed in a container with a peat/vermiculite casing. All 5 cakes began fruiting within 2 weeks of being cased. =07a= 2-3 weeks. =08a= About 30 days. =09a= All uncased shrooms were smaller than the cased shrooms. Weight varied from 2-12 grams (pre drying). =10a= Air pump/bubbler method (auto humidification per PF) plus hand spraying. =14a= Read everything on hyperreal as you mentioned. AND read Stamets. While most of the info is irrelevant there is some important info (especially general casing discussion, and list of typical infections). =15a= You definitely need to be very sterile and careful in all steps leading up to colonization. Once the cakes are fully colonized they are very hardy and resistant to infection. Despite much sloppiness and handling none of the cakes became infected. WQith the PF method it seems that cakes are likely to turn blue/green (as if bruised) after the first or second flush. This is not an infection. It is very hard to keep uncased cakes humid enough. Once this happens all you need to do is crumble the mycelium onto moist vermiculite and cover with a moist vermiculite/peat moss casing and within two weeks they will fruit again. Not only that but the flushes will yield more and larger mushrooms. ===== Response #020 My 24 yr old son grew his own shrooms from spores collected by a friend. All those in the know thought he was a genius, both in terms of yield and potency. But he ate, under special circumstnaces, a huge quantity, got delusional and psychotic and scary. The police were called. In the process of subduing him and beating him up, they killed him. He was a good guy. We loved him. So did his 2 year old daughter. There is no practical way to EAT a toxic dose of shrooms. But there are surely tragic, dangerous ways to use them. {{ There are four things to keep in mind about the above response: 1. It might not have been true. If it is true, it is a tragedy. 2. It seems he was another victim of the War on (Some) Drugs. I'm sure the police could have handled it better than that. Yet "subdue or beat up" seems to be their party line. 3. They might have been toxic spores to begin with, and may not have tried *small* doses first! NEVER take a large dose, or even a medium dose, unless you have experimented with SMALLER doses first! 4. American Indians and Aztecs used hallucinogenic mushrooms for centuries to increase philosophical and spiritual awareness. They must have had very few problems with toxicity, otherwise they would have stopped the practice! However, proper mindset and setting are *vital* to a trip. Many problems can be avoided by only indulging away from other people, in a natural environment! And to quote from the great Psilocybe FAQ, which everyone should have read by now (if not, ftp directly to hyperreal.com, do not pass go..): ==begin quote: It should be noted that like all 'major' hallucinogens, psilocybin can precipitate psychotic episodes and uncover or aggravate previous mental illness. If you're stressed out or depressed, don't take mushrooms; if you have schizophrenia or something, _DO NOT_ take mushrooms. ACID IS NOT FOR EVERY BRAIN .... ONLY THE HEALTHY, HAPPY, WHOLESOME, HANDSOME, HOPEFUL, HUMOROUS, HIGH-VELOCITY SHOULD SEEK THESE EXPERIENCES. THIS ELITISM IS TOTALLY SELF-DETERMINED. UNLESS YOU ARE SELF-CONFIDENT, SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-SELECTED, PLEASE ABSTAIN. -Timothy Leary, Ph.D. I think this applies to mushrooms as well. Mushrooms and acid will open your doors of perception, and once open you can never truly close them again. They are more than a purely recreational drug. ==end quote But we all knew that, didn't we? If you didn't, you better R-T-F-M before you T-R-I-P. }} ===== Response #021 =01a= P. Cubensis. Homestead Books. =02a= Grew out the spores on potatoe agar. Transferred healthy mycelium to sterilized rye berries with adjusted pH. The method is described in Ott's book (with forward by McKenna). =03a= Out of 24 pint jars, three made it to casing stage. But this can definitely be attrbuted to a nosy roommate who had zero understanding of the words 'keep out.' =04a= None, see above. =05a= I tried using a tissue sample but the same thing happened . . the roomie strikes again. =06a= None. =07a= 30-45. =08a= Never got this far. =09a= None. =10a= I used a spray bottle and kept the heat high enough to maintain humidity. Used a large 25 gallon fish tank. =11a= None, used lime to adjust the pH. =12a= Never got this far unfortunately. =13a= No. =14a= Of course Ott's book is good. Take a class on microbiology to get good lab technique down pat. The _Mushroom Grower's Guide_ is helpful. Talking to others on the net (like the Visionary Plants List) is a good way to see what the REAL way to do it is like. ===== Response #022 As you may know, mushrooms (psy. cubensis) are now sold at around ten shops in Holland. I do some of the growing, only some, since it is a team effort. From my experience I hope I can give you a little info. =01a= PES in Hawaii. From the cubensis strains I have seen, the strain from PES is the best, even better than PF's. We use three strains at the moment. Also we grow psy. cynescens outside. =02a= We use the agar-rye-compost method. =03a= Our success rate is around 98 percent. =04a= crops: Since august 94 the mushrooms have been sold - only since feb 1995 has everything been going smoothly .. most of the time. Thus, we always have crops going. =05a= We use our own prints which have been made from our crops. We also do many rye to rye innculations but only to the 2nd generation. Thus, 20 agar to rye bottles can be become 200 bottles. =06a= Yield: We use boxes which hold around 7 to 8kg compost. There are three to four flushes. Depending on what we need, we put in the needed amount of boxes. Each box should produce around 1.3 kg until it stops producing. With the PF strain, about 35 percent of the compost is used. =07a= The process from rye to compost innoculation takes around three to four weeks, compost temp is around 28C, air temp 26-28C and humidity is around 94 percent. =08a= Some of the first flush PES strain can weight up to 50 to 60g. Otherwise, around 7 to 10g -- two or three mushies should be a portion of 30g. =09a= Humidity is kept at between 90 and 95 percent. =10a= To stimulate growth, it is wise to use different growing media in the petri-dish - I use four to five different types. I know of no "magic stuff" which will increase potency. =11a= We use the used compost for the garden - it is excellent to enrich the soil and breaks down farily quickly since the mushrooms have broken down the most complex elements. =12a= I eat them just as they are with some herbal tea. =15a= Comments: This growing is for commercial production. It should stand out in your survey. As for personal growing, I'm quite interested in the results since I also designed a kit for such people. It is a little complicated for most people, thus, I hope someday I can figue how to make it simple - maybe working with PF? {{ Set up your own spore syringe marketplace! It seems the syringe method guarentees above 90% success rates. }} ===== Response #023 =01a= I grew the P. Fanaticus ones....the others didnt grow well I assume because of inferior spore prints. {{ More likely due to using prints at all, instead of using spore syringes. }} =02a= Used brown rice, have tried rye, bird seed, oats, corn; but brown rice is best. I do them all uncased, but notice that a good exposure to cold when they are old enough seems to produce great fruiting. {{ Yes, after complete permiation, a drop in temperature *definitely* induces good fruiting. }} =03a= I am on the third crop but only the first was from commercial spores, the rest are from my own. =04a= First commercial crop had zero contaminants (7 out of seven jars went on to fruit), but using my own spores i have a 40 to fifty percent infection rate. I make my spore syringes by sterilizing a mason jar half full with water in the pressure cooker, then taking the cap of a freshly picked shroom, and dissecting out a little bit of the gill. I drop it in the jar and close, and presto, I have a pint of spore syringe innoculant. These seem to keep OK for several months. =05a= I have consistently picked the first shroom of the batch 32 to 35 days after innoculating. =06a= I consistently see mycillia start to appear in 3 and a half days. =07a= I dont know how long it takes to permeate the jars, I don't really look anymore. =08a= I use a rubbermaid clear container (44.5qt capacity) upside down with seven shroom jars and two to three mason jars of water with an aquarium air pump blowing in to air stones in the water jars for humidification. It is entirely hands off. {{ It seems that using two or three bubbling stones produces good results. }} I literally innoculate the jars, put them in to the humidifier and don't touch them until it is time to pick. I do check for infection, and after ten days I have runner formation so I take off the aluminum foil light shield, but other than that it is entirely hands off. =09a= I have a variation from the classical method in that I do not use the mason jar lids that come with the jars. I start with them, but after innoculating and shaking the jars to break up the rice I remove the lids and place on plastic caps that have about two inches of overhang down the jar (the lids are about the same diameter as the jar but come DOWN like a sleeve...the lids are made by cutting off the bottom of half gallon iced tea containers from a local minute mart...they fit loosly enough to allow air exchange, but hang down enough to keep out infectants. This is called a pasteur trap). =10a= I throw the rice cakes in to my barn, but I have not seen any shrooms come up from them ever. {{ Try burying them in moist potting soil, with damp vermaculite on the bottom! }} =11a= The shrooms seem potent, but I have nothing to compare them to. I was somewhat dissapointed because I was expecting to have a "trip" which I define as having visual hallucinations or visions. This did not happen, although there are a lot of illusions such as object movements and such. People who have had other shrooms before mine say that they are good shrooms. {{ If you aren't seeing things, increase the dosage *next time*. Never increase it during a trip. At a high dose mushrooms can be so visually active that it's hard seeing (or remembering) what normal-reality is like! }} ===== Response #024 =01a= All PF. =02a= Only PF. =03a= About half. I messed up the recipe and the jars didn't grow very well. =04a= Only one. =05a= No. =06a= Just one. If I got that much. =07a= A while, like 2 months. I think the jars were too waterlogged from my putting too much water in the jars. =08a= Too long. Next time I'm going to follow the recipe exactly and not try to fudge it. =09a= They were pretty big but I didn't get very many. I used the non-wide mouth 1/2 pt jars. They are taller. =10a= Aquarium with bubbler. It sucked. An aquarium is way too hard to manage. It'd be way better to use a big plastic container with lid like I've heard others do. That way you can put a hole in the bottom. I drained water by trying to tip the whole aquarium. Also for the bubbler, I think PF should include in the directions the easy way to automatically-water. Using gravity and suction, or whatever. Basically you take a new 1/2 gal water bottle with un-opened lid and poke a tube into it's bottom. Then put this on a shelf above your terrarium. Take the other end of this tube and attach it to your bubbling jar below where you want the water level. Bingo. When the water level goes below the tube then air gets in and the 1/2 gal bottle empties some water into your bubbler jar. Maintenance free re-filling. I also messed up the cakes because I tried using indirect, 40 watt light bulb. It got way too hot! The cakes looked burnt. They kind of revived after I used a clear 15 watt bulb semi-direct light. It was dumb to leave that 40w light on and leave it, always make sure you watch what's happening when you try something new. Next time I will definitely use a plastic container from walmart. Or maybe one of those disposable cooler types from kmart. =11a= No. =12a= I read on email that you can use potting soil around cakes that aren't doing anything. I did this to one cake. I used peat moss on the bottom of a planting pot and damp potting soil around the cake itself and on top. Then on top I put more peat moss. It worked OK until my bubbler broke and everything got totally dried out. I think it would have worked even though I didn't sterilize the soil like the books say. =12b= Ate them all fresh. =13a= Fresh straight and simmered in tea. I like the tea better than straight. Maybe get a teabag of Earl Grey like Jean Luc Picard too so I can blast off where no man has gone before?? =13b= I ate a lot, so I don't know, but they were potent enough!! =13c= No. =14a= Stamets is good to read through once. Nothing specific in there though except general technique. E-mail is where I read all the good info from. =15a= It's not so hard, except I screwed it up trying to rush it all and then it took longer. I guess patience is the key. Also I don't know why anyone tries other methods. PF is ridiculously easy and if you have the set up correct then there's no way to fail. I also hate to say it but I really got into the whole green-thumb or maybe white-thumb kind of attitude. It became fun to see how the shrooms were doing. ===== Response #025 =01a= Ps. Cubensis from Florida mycology Research Center (strain #38) =02a= Liquid multispores -> sterilized rye with pressure cooker into quart jar -> colinized rye into a "flatter" contener with casing, then into aquarium chamber =03a= 80-90 % sucess rate =04a= 4 or 5 (don't remember ...) =05a= I made my own prints and gave them for free to friends. I used my own prints to do more inoculation solution -> it worked well. The yield stayed the same. =06a= 3 flushes then I replace the "cake" (i'm not really using cake technique) because it's still fruiting but way too slowly. =07a= 15 days (shaking the jar once at the 8th day) =08a= Really ??? Since I started a the very beginning 2 years ago ... It took 1 whole year !! But now, I can have shroom in 4 weeks. =09a= Once I got a 50 gram (wet) shroom, it was the first of the batch, the next were "normal" (wish I had a petri dishes to do cloning) =10a= Now I'm using a kind of plastic aquarium, with salted water standing in the bottom and bubbler in it. The rye comes into a smaller container, wich is put into the aquarium. I'm also using a "dropplet shield". {{ Salted water? Are there benefits to this? I assume that means that all runoff is recycled; an interesting idea. Maybe you could elaborate a little more? }} =11a= No. =12a= Throw out. =12b= On paper. =13a= Dried. On bread with butter. Tea =13b= N/A =13c= No =14a= * The mushroom cultivator (Growing gourmet &medicinal shroom is not worth the price if you want only entheogens) =15a= It could be interesting to ask for the yield, i.e how many dried gram by initial dry medium weight. {{ Advice taken; see question 6b. }} ===== Response #026 =01a= P. cubensis amazonian strain from PF =02a= PF with non-pressurized sterilization and hand spraying. {{ Another successful grower through steam sterilization.. }} =03a= 7 of 10 jars sucessful, maybe 8 of 10 now, I'm getting better. =04a= 3. =05a= No. =06a= 3 or 4. =07a= 28 min, 45 approx max. =08a= 31. =09a= max 5-6" cap to base with 2" cap, average 4" by 1.5". =10a= hand sprayer, as often as once every two hours. dual chambered terrarrium, made from styrofoam cooler, plastic sheet roof and plexiglass shield. =11a= No, I intend to try tryptophan or tryptamine in media, which should skyrocket psilocin concentration at the expense of psilocybin. Neither tryptophan nor tryptamine are easily available. {{ Where did you hear about the tryptophan idea? References? }} =12a= Buried 2" deep in well-watered compost heap. =12b= Everybody wanted some, so I have yet to dry any. =13a= Fresh, well-masticated, with orange juice and a J. =13b= Only tried one other time, 6 or 7 yeas ago, so it's hard to say. =13c= NO. =14a= PF Tek, I intend to purchase Stamets' _Mushroom Cultivator_ in the future and try my own improvements on the PF Tek. =15a= It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm doing this as a partnership, so I don't get to see them grow every day, since they are at a location that is NOWHERE near my house. I may also try P. cyanescens outdoors, I'll have to learn a few more things about spawn, etc. ===== Response #027 =01a= Good old Stropharia. PF & Homestead Books. =02a= Tried all three. Brown rice to mycelium method easiest. =03a= 10 % contamination rate max. Usual batch 6-10 1/2 pints. =04a= :-) 6 - 8, cant remember exactly, been a while. =05a= No =06a= Usually only one. Gotta work on that. =07a= Ranges about 14-22 days. =08a= Around 30. =09a= - From approx. 2-15 cm in height. =10a= Transparent plastic with ultrasonic, 3-4 cycles a day of 2-5 minutes each. =11a= Nope, an area I need to research. =12a= Buried in a compost pile in the woods. Hey, were you watching? =12b= Air dried in closet or in freezer. {{ Drying in the freezer when wet (as opposed to freeze-drying) ruptures cell walls as the water freezes and oxidizes the psilocybin. }} =13a= Tea-time anyone? The whole shroom and nothing but the shroom, so help me Xochi. =13b= Considerably higher quality. Of course freshness had a lot to do with it. =13c= Havent yet, but if I would, it would be with P. harmala that was purchased. Dont grow well in these parts. =14a= Mushroom Cultivator, Stamets. Mushrooms Demystified, Arora. =15a= Actually for such a difficult life-form to grow sucessfully it is a good learning tool. Even if you screw-up (which I did many times) you can give it another shot in less than a month, instead of next season as with most botanicals. ===== Response #028 Fred, I can't recall if I responded to your survey or not. Here goes... {{ Possible duplication of response is hereby noted. :-) }} =01a= Psilocybe Cubensis, P.F. =02a= Good ol' P.F. Tek, including aquarium bubbler stone method. =03a= 85-90%, usually 20 out of 24 jars survive & produce. =04a= 5. =05a= No. N/A. =06a= Usually 2, sometimes 3. =07a= Almost always 4 weeks. =08a= Anywhere between 45 & 60. =09a= Each mushroom usually weighed between 5-10 grams, a rare few were 20 grams or more. =10a= Aquarium bubbler stone & daily water bottle mistings. Sterilite 56 qt plastic box, clear with white lid. =11a= I have a fondness for growing on wild bird seed. I don't think that has anything special to do with size, etc, but it's easy & cheap. =12a= They eventually found their way to the local landfill. (I threw them away) =12b= On a plastic tupperware lid in an open windowsill. =13a= Ground up in a coffee grinder, then swallowed and chased with juice. =13b= Very potent - I've only tried mine. Others were extremely pleased, surprised, impressed, blown away, & humbled. =13c= No. =14a= The P.F. Tek, The Mushroom Cultivator & Growing Medicinal Mushrooms by Stamets, Food of the Gods, True Hallucinations (MY original inspiration), The Invisible Landscape, Archaic Revival, Psilocybin Groower's Guide, all by Terence McKenna, Acid Dreams, author not remembered, The Psychedelic Version of The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, and High Times. Anything by Terry Pratchett couldn't hurt, either. (sorry, that was an attempt at humor) =15a= Nope. ===== Response #029 =01a= Psylocybe (Stropharia) cubensis from PF. When ordering be smart and get a PO Box using false ID. =02a= Just the straight PF method. =03a= I try to sterilize a cycle of 24 jars every 14 days. I have a real pressure canner which can do 24 1/2 pints in one shot. With this method I have NEVER had an infected jar. Nor have any of my cakes become infected once they are put in the terrarium. I have a 100% success rate. =04a= I have cultivated 2 crops with a new one ready every 2 weeks. =05a= YES! I made my own spore syringes and they KICKED ASS ON PF'S! I estimated that they contained 50 to 100 times the number of spores more than PF. I used a heavy squirt in each innoculation hole and all 24 jars were 100% colonized in 10 days flat with no contamination. VERY health mycelium. The reason for this is simple: when you use such a vast quantity of spores you increase your chances of stronger strains being germinated. I don't have any results for fruiting yet but the more vigorous mycelium will probably produce many large strong mushrooms and will have the energy to last many flushes. =06a= Um, don't really know. The first flush is the biggest and my cakes are mostly on their second now. Still growing. I focus on quantity so I don't care if they stop producing on the second flush. They will just be replaced with more productive cakes! =07a= Wow, this one REALLY varies. When I first started and used PFs syringes I used TINY amounts of innoculate per hole. Some jars are still not done 2 months later. The factors which affect colonization speed are, in order of importance: water content, substrate density, and spore (sperm?) count. My fastest colonization time was 10 days flat. I'm just waiting for them to pin before I birth them. Jars at the bottom of the pressure canner usually get filled with water - these are useless. Throw them away and start over. Do not pack the substrate - only smooth out the top once the jar is filled. Just make sure there are no air spaces. Use lots of innoculate. {{ Good analysis of the situation, I agree wholeheartedly. Especially when packing the substrate. It should not be packed tightly at all.}} =08a= 34 days. =09a= Usually 1 inch caps, maybe two inches tall. The sizes really vary. You have to pick them just after the veils break, no matter what the size, or they will drop spores all over the place. When the spores fall onto other mushroom caps it makes them really gross and slimy. Once they go into the sporulation cycle they taste worse as well. =10a= Ah. This is almost as important as the pressure canner. I didn't fuck around when I did this. I used half a closet for an area about 25 cubic feet. I stapled poly to the walls and installed three 3' X 16" plastic coated metal shelving. (Sold in bulk by the foot at hardware stores - get the 'Tite-mesh' kind with the little bars about 1/2" apart) Then I wrapped the poly around the front leaving a 6" gap for arms. The bottom was bundled up and tied so that it directed condensation into a bucket. Another sheet of poly drops down over the front to 'seal' it and this is kept in place with clips I designed to clip onto each shelf. Water vapor is pumped into an opening in the top of the chamber with a BIONAIRE 210 Ultrasonic humidifier. The chamber itself is very impressive. I've never had any contamination problems in it and it keeps great humidity. One other thing I had to do was a little bit of electrical work inside the closet. I installed a light socket and a plug-in. The light is connected to an electronic timer-switch which controls the lighting periods. I have a simple household timer for the humidifier. This makes everything relatively care-free and I have the capacity to hold up to about 70 cakes. =8) {{ I guess you don't have to worry about lack of friends, either. "'Shrooms, anyone?" }} =11a= Nope. =12a= Haven't thrown any out yet but I plan on trying out casing in a bucket. I might make tea out of them but I'd have to filter it through a coffee filter to get the vermiculite out. =12b= This is one area which my operation is weak at. I really need to get a food dehydrator to do this properly. Right now I just set them on paper towel on the oven rack with the door open. Then I put this little heater on the oven door and blow warm air on them. Takes a long time. =13a= I tried fresh and dried, always whole and sometimes in tea. Best thing to do is just eat them. Keep them in your mouth for about 10 minutes each mouthful and COMPLETELY chew them into a paste. It's surprising how tough the fibers are. No wonder they are hard to digest - they're even hard to destroy in your mouth. If you make tea throw in some earl grey and sugar. When you eat the mushrooms after then they taste like earl grey. {{ If you simmer pulverized 'shrooms for more than 10 minutes, you should be able to throw away the fungus-matter and just drink the tea without loss of psilocybin. }} =13b= Little bit disapointed here but not much. I had black market shrooms about twice and they were probably semilanceteas. Mine seemed comparable but I usually do about 5 dried grams for a decent trip. (no visuals) =13c= No MAOIs. =14a= Yes - this survey! It was invaluable to me when I started out! The PF tek could really use some work and they have some really dumb stuff in there. ie. measuring EACH jar of substrate separately. {{ Glad I could help. }} =15a= The following suggestions will save you a lot of time and frustration. Unfortunately they won't save you much money. =8( Rule #1 - if you're going to do something, do it right. Plan ahead and keep accurate logs ENCRYPTED with a really long password. {{ Ditto that; if you keep paper records of your successes, they can become very incriminating. But a 'scientific journal' can help alot during the process -- so keep it on disk, encrypted! }} Rule #2 - use your head about sterility! Don't, for example, take a piss and then start handling cakes without washing your hands. Use disinfectant soap. Equipment --------- Proper equipment and tools are required for any job no matter what it is. In this case you should definately get a pressure cooker/canner large enough for your needs. Mine is a Presto canner which can do 24 jars at once. It cost #130 Canadian brand new. You should also get an Ultrasonic humdifier. I could NOT find these in any stores at all and I live in a big center. Pick up a bargain finder and get a used one for around $40 - lots of people have them. There are many types of humidifiers on the market. Don't buy the wrong one. You'll need either an Ultrasonic or a steam one. Avoid these: 'Cool mist', 'Evaporative', 'Natural'. You will end up paying $50 bucks for a fan over a bucket of water and will feel really stupid like I did. 8) Bionaire makes the right stuff for the mushroom grower. They make nice big Ultrasonics and also air purifiers (probably unnecessary). Health care places usually carry them. Growing Tips ------------ - - if you use a pressure canner you do NOT need to worry about sterility when preparing the jars. You could hock a loogie into a jar and it will still come out sterilized. {{ Let me add some emphasis: "when PREPARING the jars". After they've been sterilized, that's the time to be careful. }} - - don't pack the substrate. When filling the jars use a spoon to scoop it in. then take the spoon (vertically) and push it into the subsrate lots of times to lightly push it against the glass. - - if you use a pressure canner/cooker the bottom jars may get filled with water. For the bottom ones, completely wrap them in foil and put a band of packing tape around the jar to hold it in place. This should keep the water out. - - use lots of innoculate. For PF syringes I would only do 5 jars per syringe. At first I did 10 jars per syringe but am really regretting it. After your first flush comes in you are PF free. Keep the syringes and re-fill them with your own spore-water. - - sterlized jars will take a FULL DAY to completely cool. - - when your first flush comes in you will probably harvest them a day or two late. I did this because I didn't realize how fast they go into spore production. Keep a very close eye on them as they get bigger. The time to pick them is when the veil underneath the cap breaks and exposes the gills. After this happens they can begin dropping spores within a few hours! Survey Suggestion ----------------- Have a section for yields. I still don't have concrete data on this but the first flush for 24 jars gave me approximately 1.5 ounces of dried material. When I picked them I got a big badass bowl full but they shrink a lot when dried. {{ Advice taken. Old respondants who haven't answered the yield question, please do so. }} ===== Response #030 =01a= Cubensis from PF. =02a= Straight PF method. Currently experimenting with casing and old cakes. Put one crumbled cake into a tupperware container and covered it with vermiculite. Got fruit but very small, nothing I can use. Will keep trying. =03a= Almost all my cakes have been fine using PFs spore syringes. I've tried with my own print (to mix with water and draw up into a syringe). The cakes came out with rust colored blotches and never fruited. Some of them also got that green contamination. The rust color might have come from actual rusting of the jar tops. I think I wasn't careful enough about sterility in taking the print. Working on another right now and taking all precautions. My very first two attempts resulted in not even one jar germinating. Ithink I might have inoculated too son, before the sunstrate had cooled enough. =04a= 10 or 12. =05a= See above. =06a= Usually three. I don't think I've ever gotten more. I've had bad luck using the taller 1/2 pint jars andf they've only produced one flush each. Needless to say, I don't bother with them anymore. =06b= Sorry but I can't answer this accurately because I've never really kept track of yield except to note "Hmm, this batch produced more than the previous. I can only tell you that I am quite satisfied with the yield I get. If I knew how I would increase it but I'm happy with what I have:-) =07a= If I don't tamp them down when I load the substrate, it takes from 10 to 14 days. If it's packed or there's too much water, it sometimes takes longer (3 weeks). =08a= Usually 25-30 (estimate). =09a= The largest mushrooms are about 4 to 5 inches tall and cap is about 2 1/2 to 3 inches diameter. These are rare though. Most are smaller and that's the one thing I haven't been satisfied with. I don't know how it relates but I'd love to find a way to change this aspect of my growing experience. =10a= I use two styrofoam coolers taped together so they are one long cooler. There's a piece of glass covering the top and I use a small humidifier (Bionaire?) It's hooked to an appliance timer and I've got it set to go on three times a day for an hour each time and the times are spread out evenly over the 24 hour period. I use only three sessions because that's the number of little pieces that turn on the humidifier. I can't find a 6 event timer. Lately I've been cutting the times in half if I am here because they seem to be getting a bit too much humidity and I was getting an increase in rot (you know, the black gooey stunted shrooms). I think if I had more periods of shorter duration it would work a little better (or maybe alot better). =11a= No, only because I don't know what to use. =12a= I've thrown them away but like I said above I am now trying to recycle them through casing. I also plan to try eating them. =12b= I use stuff called De-Moist (typical dessicant used for closets etc.). It's in a foil container with a screen on top of the desiccant and the shrooms are placed on top of that and the whole thing sealed in a plastic bag. It's reusable and works really well. Dry like crackers. =13a= I always make tea and sometimes accompany the tea with munching a couple of fresh ones. =13b= More potent. I've only done shrooms a coupl eof times aside from my own and they were not as good. I suspect they had been around awhile =13c= No but that's another thing I'm working on. I'm going to buy some rue from a brother on the list. =13d= No. Ther may well be a difference but I haven't noticed one. =13e= New seems much better. =14a= No. I got everything from Hyperreal (especially the grow journal written by Dojah. I pretty much followed him word for word). =15a= I'm looking forward to seeing more and more people growing and more and more people turning on. The ease with which we can grow shrooms now is a blessing and a promoter of democracy and hilarity. === End of Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey, part THREE of FOUR, Version 06. === Archive-name: msurv06d.txt Internet Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey Version 06, 4/95 by fred@lycaeum.org (F. Fungus) PART FOUR of FOUR The United States of America Bill of Rights, Article I: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." Part 1: Contains survey questions & philosophy. Part 2: Contains responses #001-#015. Part 3: Contains responses #011-#030. Part 4: Contains responses #031-#036. * Note the version of this file and please delete any old copies! ===== Response #031 =01a= p. cubensis (p.f.), p. cyanescens (from wild), copelandia cyanescens (from a friend), p. astoria ossip (teonanacatl) =02a= I have used a modified pf tek for the cubensis, outdoor fruiting in alder beds for the cyanescens (both types), and alder outside during fall/winter for p. a. o. which still haven't fruited. =03a= I have had 100% success with cubensis, and have never had any contamination, unless the astoria ossip (still don't know if they're the same as the p. azurescens) are right now. =04a= Dozens. I haven't kept track. =05a= I have taken mycelium from spent cakes, and made syringes from them with success. =06a= 2-3. =06b= About 1/4 ounce dry per cake. =07a= Around 12 days. =08a= About 20 days. =09a= They seem to be bigger as the substrate is more abundant. Most of mine (cubensis) were about 3" with 1-2" caps. Outdoor grown varied wildly. =10a= Used an ultrasonic humidifier. Air flow by opening the top of terrarium several times daily. Made a terrarium out of a rubbermaid container. =11a= No. =12a= I have re-cased, buried them in compost heaps, and extracted using cranberry juice once. =12b= Anhydrous calcium chloride. =13a= Usually fresh and whole, sometimes cooked into pizza or burritos. Sometimes tea, especially when with syrian rue. =13b= Cubensis were weak, the others were incredibly strong. =13c= I have used P. Harmala many times to potentiate mushrooms. I have grown the plant and have bought seeds wholesale. =13d= Wet seems to taste better first of all, and the trip seems slightly more intense. A big subject of debate, to be sure. =13e= My trips have been strongest on tiny (baby mushies) just picked. =14a= Stamet's books. =15a= Outdoor growing seems best if you can find a safe place. It is much less effort and the yield can be overwhelming. ===== Response #032 =01a= Cubensis. PF. =02a= PF. =03a= No contamination of 12 jars. =04a= 4. =05a= Yes. Fruiting and success did not change. =06a= 1 - 3. Using straight PF auto-humidification only one. Various other strategies have yielded more (and larger) flushes. =06b= 15-40 wet grams per flush per jar. Max total for one jar (all flushes) was 100 wet grams. This jar was first fruited normally and then cased and fruited and then freed and fruited. Average total for a cake 30-50 grams. =07a= 2 to 4 weeks. Loose packing and more spore solution radically improved colonization speed without lowering the amount of cultivated fungus. I have had a few jars ready for 'birthday' after only 17 days. =08a= In one case first fruit was picked after 22 days. Usually it is right around 30 days. =09a= Large variation. The largest fruit where in containers in which several jars of substrate (2 or 3) were combined (crumbled up) and covered with moist vermiculite. The wet weight of these fruit were up to 20 grams. =10a= A 12 gallon tupperware container was used and a few 5 gallon ones. I have tried using an aquarium pump ala PF. Also, cool mist and ultrasonic humidifiers. Best luck was actually with a cool mist. BUT the biggest improvements came from crumbling up cakes into a container after the first flush and covering with a thin layer of vermiculite. =11a= No additives. =12a= Several cakes have been re-cased and fruited. In each case, the post-casing fruiting was stronger than the pre-case fruiting. =12b= Dessicant ala PF. =13a= Dry, ground up and mixed with fresh OJ. =13b= Almost twice as potent. =13c= No. =13d= Haven't tried. =15a= Using the aquarium bubbler works fine. A lot of people go to a lot of work to improve humidification with humidifiers. WHile these work they don't improve yields any better than casing which is easier and uses less hardware., After the first flush is done the cakes will start to turn blue and 'shrivel' a little. At this point, try crumbling up the cakes and casing them with a bit of moist vermiculite. Cover this with saran wrap in which you punch holes. About 4 days later, remove the saran wrap. In about another 3-8 days new pins will form and the fruit will be better than your initial flush. ===== Response #032 =01a= P. Cubensis, bought spore syringe from PF. =02a= I primarily use the MMGG available on the web. 1pint cakes with brown rice and vermiculite, colonize at 80F then place in styrofoam (48qt) cooler with drip shield in place. Attached to a Sunbeam ultrasonic humidifier. Humidifier is set on lowest power and I have a 2L soda bottle glued straight down into the normal hum. output. The mist is blown straight up into the bottle and I have two tubes (3/8") (1 for each terr.) which go out of this bottle and straight into the terrs. =03a= My first attempt was 12 .5pint jars and enjoyed 100% success. The next batch was 9 1pint jars, I lost one in the colonization stage, and 1.5 in the fruiting stage. =04a= I have fruited 2 crops and am colonizing two more concurrently. =05a= Yes, my 2nd and subsequent crops were injected with my own spores. This *dramatically* increased the rate of colonization as I was able to inject about 5ccs into each cake, rather than being limited to less than 1cc per cake when using the 10cc syringe from PF. I suspected that using more than 5ccs per cake would not increase speed, but that is just a hunch. =06a= In the .5 pint jars I get 2major flushes and about 4 cycles before it is exhausted. In the 1pint jars I get 3flushes but they are *MUCH* bigger, and usually about 5 cycles before they are exhausted. =06b= About 3g dried wt. per cake total, I don't know how much per flush. =07a= My first batch was very slow, took about 6weeks for .5pint jars. Subsequent jars have been much faster, about 20days for 1pint jars. I believe this is because I packed the substrate very tightly in the first batch. =08a= After placing in the terrarium it took about 7 days until the first shrooms were ready to be picked. =09a= The .5pint jars grew shrooms about 3" tall and 1"head at most. The 1pint jars grow about 4"tall and 1.5-2"head. =10a= My first batch was hand-sprayed, subsequent batches have used the ultrasonic humdifier hooked up to a 30min timer, on 4 times per day (total of 2hours on) =11a= I sang to them and played them tasty GD shows every day. I believe this helps significantly. =12a= Backyard burial, no new flushes since burying (hasn't been long,though) =12b= I use a Ca2Cl2 dessicant in an airtight tupperware container (8x6x4"). The dessicant is raised 1/4" off the bottom of the container (with a tight wiremesh) to keep it out of the H2O, then there is another wiremesh above the dessicant which holds the shrooms. Shrooms are completely dry in 3days. =13a= Ground, boil for 4 minutes then add to Ramen Noodle Soup (Spicy Oriental or Chicken). Usually add 750mg Vit. C to soup. =13b= About the same. =13c= Not yet, interested in trying though. =13d= Never ingested wet/fresh shrooms. =13e= Can't say. =14a= William S. Burrough's 'Naked Lunch' =15a= I think you should ask people what the biggest problem they've encountered was and how/if they solved it. {{ I'll take a guess and say maintaining humidity. Ultrasonic humidifiers seem to solve that problem every time. I'll make the addition. }} ===== Response #033 =01a= Species Spores/Spawn came from: - P. cubensis P.F. - P. cyanescens a friend in California - Shiitake I forget - P. cyanescens astoria ossip The people in Austria... Address at HyperReal - black morels Fungi Perfecti =02a= All of the above. But my favorite grain is Rye. =03a= If doing it PF / MMGG style, 100%. For bulk substrates and wood eaters, about 80% =04a= 20+ of P. cubensis. 2 or 3 of the others. =05a= Of course! Fresh spores are a great benefit! =06a= I flush, about 3 shrooms with no added moisture. 2 more if you suppliment things. =06b= See 6a for PF/MMGG style. Bulk substrate, about 80% efficiency of dry mushrooms to dry grain. =07a= Depends on colonization temperature. At 85 F. about 14 days. At 70 F. about 28 days. =08a= Depends greatly, but usually about 28 days. =09a= 3" tall with a one inch cap is typical. =10a= Ultra sonic humidifier... See MMGG at HyperReal. =11a= Not worth the effort! =12a= File-13. =12b= See MMGG at HyperReal. =13a= See MMGG at HyperReal. All of those methods. =13b= I prefer P. cyanescens, but its too slow growing. =13c= No. =13d= I figure that I need to add about 30% more shrooms if they are dry to get the same level trip. =13e= No, the magic does not increase with age. =14a= Of course... The MMGG at HyperReal. I'm the MMGG author :) ===== Response #034 =01a= I cultivated P. Cubensis from spore syringes ordered from Psilocybe Fanaticus. =02a= I used the Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide (v2.9) recipe for substrate, using brown rice flour and vermiculite in 1/2 pint canning jars. =03a= I sterilized and used 12 jars. Two were infected within two weeks. One did not grow at all by three weeks, and one became infected after removal from the jar. =04a= I harvested 1 oz dry weight from one cake one day, then accidentally threw out the cake (I thought it was infected. Oh well...). Two weeks later I put two more cakes in and I harvested approx. 2/3 oz dry weight for two days in a row. I put a third one in about 3 days later and it hadn't fruited yet. After 3 days I went on vacation for a week and got someone to watch the setup for me. All three cakes became infected and died and did not produce any more mushrooms. I now have 4 cakes in the cooler which look promising. Generally, I got about 50 pinheads within about a week and that translated to about 20-25 mushrooms a day for two days before going dormant for a while then sprouting again. I am expecting about 50 pins per cake with this batch. =05a= I haven't produced any spore prints yet. =06a= I haven't gotten past one or two flushes yet due to mistakes and vacation. =06b= Once again, weight was about 2/3 - 1 oz per cake per day for two days, then a rest period of several days. I don't know what comes after that. =07a= The first jar was ready in about 3 weeks. The last two jars still aren't ready after 2 months. =08a= The first 10 mushrooms appeared exactly 40 days after inoculation. =09a= Mushrooms ranged from 3 inches long by 1 inch cap diameter to 1.5 inches long by .3 inch cap diameter. =10a= I constructed a tank from a styrofoam cooler from the directions in the MMGG. I used an ultrasonic humidifier with three condensation stages for humidity. I ran a fluorescent grow light for 12 hours on/ 12 hours off which seemed to be beneficial. (I didn't get any flushes when my friend had them at his house without lights). The largest flush with lights was 65 pins. =11a= No. =12a= I buried them in the back. They have not done anything yet (3 weeks). =12b= I dried the mushrooms using anhydrous calcium chloride in freezer bags. =13a= I ate them fresh, dried, in foods. Fresh with a little bit of honey were easy to consume. The best way I have eaten mushrooms is to put them in a blender with ice, strawberries, banana and make a smoothie. The mushroom is chopped into very, very small pieces, increasing absorbance into the stomach. If done on an empty stomach, I've noticed about a 2x increase in potency taken this way. When you make a smoothie, there is the added advantage that you can't taste the 'shrooms at all. Not even a hint. Al so, it does help a little bit with that growling, empty stomach. I seem to feel better physically the next day, too. I think the vitamins and potassium and so on in the fruit help. =13b= My mushrooms did not seem to be quite as potent as purchased mushrooms. I didn't, however, ever eat them in the optimum conditions, whereas I had done so with other mushrooms. They had a better flavor and they were fairly strong. I wuold say the results are inconclusive at this point... =13c= No MAOI. =13d= I usually eat fresh mushrooms by themselves, while I eat dried mushrooms in smoothies. I find that (probably due to the physical process of grinding in the blender) the dried mushrooms have a better flavor. My mushrooms when partially dried were stronger when blended too. That, I think, is the way I will do them from now on, if convenient. =13e= I have never (to my knowledge) had old mushrooms. My best trip, however, was from some dried mushroom I bought and put into a smoothie (it was the first time I tried it that way). =14a= I don't have any first-hand experience with books. Hyperreal has been very helpful to me, though. The MMGG is an excellent guide. My mistakes were all due to the fact that I live in a dorm and I have neither privacy nor permanent residence there. (I had to do everything in a tiny closet and move it to a friend's house for spring break, which caused problems). I think if everything were set up in an apartment (like it will be next semester) it would work very well. =15a= No comments except that I'm interested in the results... ===== Response #035 =01a= Psi Cubensis. Spores from PF in Washington (spore syringe). =02a= Folllowed the methods primarily outlined in the MMGG, although I kind of customized my terraium (details if you need them). {{ Of course we'd like details! }} =03a= 100%!!! Only one jar didn't grow mycelia properly, but thats because I experimented with a higher water content which compacted the substrate. =04a= This is my 1st, but it is quite bountiful! =05a= Not yet. Actually setting up my 1st spore rint tonight. =06a= Don't know yet, on my 1st flush. =06b= Unknown yet.. just started drying my 1st batch. =07a= It too approx. 18 days. I used one 10cc spore syringe for 12 jars. I put the jars in a container filled w/ water, and kep them heated with a fish tank heater (temp set to 80 deg. but the real temp was a bit lower). =08a= Well I screwed up my humidity with the first two cakes, which were the first ones in, but I'd say 5 to 6 weeks from innoculation to first harvest. =09a= So far, the shrooms are mostly big and stout, w at least 2" diameter caps. Unknown weight. =10a= Custom terrarium fed by a mumidifier. Humidity maintained at 90-95%, temp maintained as folllows: 18 hours light & heat in low to mid 70's 6 hours dark, temp in low to mid 60's Seems optimal for promoting pinning (cool temps) and growing (higher temps). =11a= Nope! =12a= Haven't decided yet. {{ Try re-casing. It's relatively easy. }} =12b= Calcium Chloride (Damp Rid). =13a= I usually just shlink the muthas down. =13b= Haven't tripped on mine yet (can't wait!). =13c= Whats an MAOI? {{ A MAOI is a chemical contained in certain plants which synergize with psilocybin, allowing a longer and more intense trip. See the MAOI information on hyperreal or nepenthes. }} =13d= N/A. =13e= N/A. =14a= Get the PF Tek pamphlet (its a bit different than the MMGG) and the MMGG off the net. This is really all you need. I also got some of the Stamets books, but didn't find anything too relevant to the task. =15a= Please make sure that this and any other info is available to growers. There's lots of useful info, stories and antecdotes which would be extremely useful to both the novice and the experienced grower alike. Please post info on the usenet newsgroups about how to get this info when it becomes available. ===== Response #036 =01a= Psilocybe cubensis, from sporeprint obtained from Homestead Book Company. Psilocybe cubensis, from spores obtained in a syringe from PF. Psilocybe semilanceata, from spores collected from a wild specimen. =02a= Spores are germinated on agar. Vigorous strains are propogated on successive plates on agar and then used to innoculate spawn (I use wheat grain). This spawn is in turn used to innoculate larger amounts of wheat grain. For fruiting grain is laid out in trays and cased with peat, OR it is used to innoculate a bulk subtrate (sterlised wheat straw) and then cased with peat. Have also tried innoculating 2 pint jars of grain directly with a syringe (similar to PF) but still waiting for results on this.. =03a= Contamination is no longer a problem at all. It is almost non-existent in fact, but then I take meticulous care about this. I am constantly refining small details of my methods and others problems are being eliminated. =04a= Can't remember.. quite a lot.. maybe 10+. =05a= Yes, I used my own sporeprints to innoculate further DISHES OF AGAR. By doing this I managed to further reduce contamination. Yield is a product of how successfully good strains can be isolated on agar. When spores are germinated a large number of strains are generated, the art of mushroom cultivation is selecting the good strains for further propogation. =06a= Haven't successfully used jars yet. On wheat straw I get about 5 or 6 flushes, on cased grain about the same, maybe slightly less. =06b= Don't know about each flush, but in total about 3lbs fresh mushrooms/sq ft on wheat straw, about 1.5 to 2 lbs on cased grain. =07a= About 14 days to fully colonise 2 pint jars with shaking on 4th or 5th day. =08a= From what time? Germination of spores? ..months. Innoculation of spawn? ..about 30 days (2 week spawn run, 1 week case run, then switch conditions for fruiting). =09a= Oh, how long is a piece of string? If picked soon after caps break the veil about 3 to 4" high on cased grain, MUCH fleshier and larger with fat stalks on bulk substrate. =10a= Steam humidifier and/or atomising nozzles; fans; greenhouse. =11a= No, everything used is organic. However my casing mixture has limestone flour in it to act as a buffering agent. Does that count as a mineral? =12a= Compost heap. =14a= "The Mushroom Cultivator" by Paul Stamets and J.S. Chilton. This details the method I use. =15a= Haven't tried any of the "easy methods" yet (although one is under trial at the moment: spores injected directly into spawn), but there seems little point in trying something like the PF thing now that I've sorted out how to grow these things in bulk. Next thing I'm going to try is p. cyanescens growing on wood chips. === End of Entheogenic Mushroom Grower Survey, part FOUR of FOUR, Version 06. ===