☛ Official ☚ [Mushrooms Subthread] Different Strains & Cultivation

[Solipsis]

It's very doable, but you have to pay it attention... if you decide at some point that you can't be bothered to do the procedure properly and finish it halfass then contamination will probably be your biggest problem. Working in a sterile manner requires focus and the motivation to do it the way you're supposed to.
That plus the investments, which become less and less as time goes by is pretty much all. You can have less than perfect results at start, but chances are if you continue you get better at it. Well it's not all: preparing the substrates is often something I expect to finish off in like an hour, but I end up spending multiple hours making everything.

I think it's very rewarding. Keeping a standard roomplant alive is one thing but being the reason mushrooms pop out of the ground is pretty magical to me. Then again, I'm the type of guy to get absorbed by his interests...

If you want fast results without effort, try a kit. But forget about only adding A to B to get shrooms. Only having the product in mind is also really not ideal at all. For instance: I also grow edible non-psychedelic mushrooms and have pretty much the same fun with that.

I highly recommend it as a hobby! But it may not be for everyone, it takes a creative type of person who likes the sort of activities, even if there are standard procedures.

You also will need a pressure cooker by the way, and either filter bags or a growing chamber made from a big plastic rubbermaid box. Building a glovebox is also virtually a must.
Once you have them you can keep re-using them so thats nice, but it will be very disappointing if you try to grow mushrooms without a 'growing chamber' in which air and humidity are regulated well, and injecting spores without a glovebox (or an expensive/advanced flowhood) will result in molds getting in there as well and ruining everything you made before you ever see a mushroom.

Consider it well, its very nice to do but it requires more than a random spare hour as well.
Like the investments time investment also decreases, if they start growing they can keep on going for quite some time without any effort (besides misting with water)

edit:
merged in old thread (01-2002 to 03-2004) but do not want bump.

 

[ongos]

mine is whiter than the jar's original condition. It's not 100% milk-white where you can only see WHITE. I can still see tiny spots (salt-sized, very tiny bits) where it's not as white as the rest. It has been 1 month. Is this FULLY colonized then?

 

[Solipsis]

Are you saying it is less white than the other colonized jar you had? It should be rhizomorphic, look it up what that should resemble - I decribed it before as fluffy, cloud-like, sometimes ropey, pretty thick.
If what you have now is weakly white like filled with a LOT of cobwebs, then it is not the mycelium want but another one, a contamination.
Wait at least until there is no more improvement - if supertiny spots are left uncolonized so be it, there seems to be a reason for it. Then wait like 3 days extra for consolidation of the mycelium (a little bit less
important if you are going to crumble and spawn, but still recommended), then birth the cake. Smell it, it should have that fresh mushroomy smell like normal 'common mushrooms' / 'champignon mushrooms' used
in cooking. If it has another less appetizing fungus smell evidently it is spoiled, throw it away.
Colonization can actually be a bit weak in some cases and not present very rhizomorphic, then your myc is just being lame and lazy - but I'd be suspicious. And if you are in doubt but still have good hopes it is
actually Psilo myc then just slice off a piece from the cake like a cucumber and set it in it's own private fruiting jar to test if it is going to pin and fruit. Try your best to meet the fruiting condition criteria (look them
up if you don't know them, you can google that shit). Meanwhile you *could* use a separate quantity of bulk substrate to spawn, but all this time keep it away from the colonizing bulk subtrate you had earlier that
is doing well, you don't want to mess that up.

 

[greenmeanies]

I'm just going to repeat what I already said-- bluelight is NOT the ideal place to learn these things. Go to shroomery or mycotopia and post photos of your jars. You will be helped by a horde of advanced cultivators. There are only a couple of people on bluelight who actually cultivate mushrooms.

 

[ongos]

I had set my apartment to 70 degrees, but only 1 out of 8 of my "grow bags" is turning white, the reason could be is because I had set my temperature differently about 2 weeks later to 75 degrees, so now I am switching back to 70 degrees to see if this has anything to do with it. It has been over a month! I did inject the bags centrally so not sure if it's turning white from the center out? The bags that didn't turn white seem like it's still in its original state, no sign of growth or moisture inside the bag. It's a wild bird seed grow bag. Not sure if I should put these inside my grow kit (Hydroshroom) and turn on its thermostat, perhaps this procedure could turn these grow bags whiter quicker? Although I regret buying such grow kit because of its high price when I never really needed this, now that I was told all I ever need to fruit are tin foils and foil wraps for cover (basic stuff).

at least 65?
LOL
No sir, no way.
I'd say 70 degrees is the absolute lowest they will colonize in, your goal should be to have an ambient air temp of 84. This can be achieved by using a cooler as an incubation chamber and using an aquarium heater to hear the whole thing while it is submerged in water.
Perlite maintains humidity by "whicking" up water into the air creating a high humidity which the cakes suck onto.

 

[Fire&Water]

Pleasant Surprise

Just wanted to share my Tuesday evening...I stopped at my favorite hundred year old bar to have a beer after a half day job, a friend that I only met a few months ago walked in had a drink w/ me received a phone call said "dont leave, I'll be right back" half an hour later he comes back in sits down beside me "check it out" he has a handfull of bone dry Cyanescans. His girlfriend picked em Sunday & dried em out in her food dehydator, he said last time she had some 2 of them had him flying through the trees. He gave me 4 quarter sized caps & we each ate 2 & went for a walk around the city He started telling me "if you dont eat the other 2 I'm takin em back" I knew he was kiddin' around but I ate anyway (just as I was starting to feel the first 2) We arrived back at the bar & his girl was there looking for him, he had something to do
he "forgot about" damn, at this time they were comin on strong He said I could hang at his house but the people there hadnt taken any shrooms, I decided to drive home (bout' 10 miles) wow what a ride, I really had to concentrate (luckily it was getting dark, so I wasnt worried other drivers wernt "watching me" Heh -heh, I wanted to go walkin around the forest but I was afraid to drive anymore I put on my new Time Machine Tour, DVD headphones & had my own little party I'm gonna grab a couple oz.'s before their gone for the winter - Best shrooms in a while (no nausea)

 

[kingme]

please dont drive while under the influence. seriously. it important to keep these things as safely away from media attention as possible.
glad you had a nice time though. where do you live (region eh, no self incrimination) so that these things grow naturally?

 

[freehugs]

He probably lives along the Oregon or California Coast, seeing as how his friends girlfriend found them wild.

 

[Fire&Water]

please dont drive while under the influence. seriously. it important to keep these things as safely away from media attention as possible.
glad you had a nice time though. where do you live (region eh, no self incrimination) so that these things grow naturally?[/QUOTE

This was only the second time iv'e had to drive (first time I was young & dumb In Florida) with a paper grocery bags full of Cubinses...I didnt want to, but knew if I set my mind I could do it. Yeah they were picked in N. Seattle - their still growin in the frost...

 

[freehugs]

please dont drive while under the influence. seriously. it important to keep these things as safely away from media attention as possible.
glad you had a nice time though. where do you live (region eh, no self incrimination) so that these things grow naturally?[/QUOTE

This was only the second time iv'e had to drive (first time I was young & dumb In Florida) with a paper grocery bags full of Cubinses...I didnt want to, but knew if I set my mind I could do it. Yeah they were picked in N. Seattle - their still growin in the frost...

I would love to take a trip up there for a weekend mushroom hunt. There is nothing in my neck of the woods. We need some more steady rain.

 

[Fire&Water]

I would love to take a trip up there for a weekend mushroom hunt. There is nothing in my neck of the woods. We need some more steady rain.

There is so many people that gitup at thecrack' to harvest you really have to get off the beatin path...The peninsulla is my favorite - well worth the drive

Off Topic: The F'n Feds' raided most of the M.M .Dispenseries around here yesterday...
Yeah, were makin' so much progress - whatajoke.

 

[freehugs]

I bet they do. And yeah thats probably my issue. I think I need to head out more into the wilderness.

 

[ongos]

speaking of food dehydrator, which one was it? I see several on amazon for sale for about 50 bucks, not sure which watt would be suitable for drying mushrooms, some are 700 watt some are around 300 watt. who knows anything about wattage? does a higher wattage means it gets too hot?

Just wanted to share my Tuesday evening...I stopped at my favorite hundred year old bar to have a beer after a half day job, a friend that I only met a few months ago walked in had a drink w/ me received a phone call said "dont leave, I'll be right back" half an hour later he comes back in sits down beside me "check it out" he has a handfull of bone dry Cyanescans. His girlfriend picked em Sunday & dried em out in her food dehydator, he said last time she had some 2 of them had him flying through the trees. He gave me 4 quarter sized caps & we each ate 2 & went for a walk around the city He started telling me "if you dont eat the other 2 I'm takin em back" I knew he was kiddin' around but I ate anyway (just as I was starting to feel the first 2) We arrived back at the bar & his girl was there looking for him, he had something to do
he "forgot about" damn, at this time they were comin on strong He said I could hang at his house but the people there hadnt taken any shrooms, I decided to drive home (bout' 10 miles) wow what a ride, I really had to concentrate (luckily it was getting dark, so I wasnt worried other drivers wernt "watching me" Heh -heh, I wanted to go walkin around the forest but I was afraid to drive anymore I put on my new Time Machine Tour, DVD headphones & had my own little party I'm gonna grab a couple oz.'s before their gone for the winter - Best shrooms in a while (no nausea)

 

[Fire&Water]

speaking of food dehydrator, which one was it? I see several on amazon for sale for about 50 bucks, not sure which watt would be suitable for drying mushrooms, some are 700 watt some are around 300 watt. who knows anything about wattage? does a higher wattage means it gets too hot?

It was an older round (18 inch) that you can stack up to like 8 trays - The wattage just means the dehydating motor is larger/stronger...yeah it moves the moisture out faster. Get the one w/ the warranty

 

[ongos]

will placing my grow bag/substrate bag injected with P. Azurescens spore close to my window (cold air comes in there) make it colonize (or grow) quicker? I have it hidden under my cabinet where it's dark and room temperate (70 degrees). I think this is a cold weather type of breed. It's cold out and would placing this by the window make a difference? I still do not see any sign of colonizing after almost 2 months now! I do not see any sign of contamination either. I just see the same substrate still the way it was since it came in the mail.

 

[sjlowhay]

just get one where the temp can be 35 degrees C or lower

 

[Cultosaurus]

35 C is far too high. That's like 95 F. A better temp is closer to 80 to 82 F or 26 to 27 C. Certainly the myc will survive, but the higher you go above 82 or so, the more susceptible you'll be to contamination taking over the grow. Colonization should be done in the dark, like it is in nature. Light is one of the pinning triggers, so, once colonized, then put it in the light. Another fruiting trigger for azures is the temperature. For azures, you'll want something around 50 F or about 10 C. The thing to remember always about indoor growing is that you're trying to reproduce what nature does, so, look to what nature has them growing at for the growth of the myc and then to overnight temperatures you'd have for the region for azures for the season that they fruit in. I know that azures grow in Europe, but the azures and cyans that I know more of fruit from late fall all the way through to spring on the west coast of the US. More northerly areas lose them completely during winter, but further south, it's all winter long, depending on the area.

 

[sjlowhay]

oops, should have quoted the food hydrator discussion, thats what im referring to

 

[Cultosaurus]

OK. I hope my advice still stands though.

 

[Biovail]

I've read a few articles/threads on growing psychedelic mushrooms that explain how to do so, what tools are needed, etc, but nothing seems to say how difficult they are to actually grow.

If anybody has personal experience growing them, could they give their opinions? Was it the sort of thing where your mushrooms were sort of crummy the first few tries? Or is it a no-brainer as long as I follow the instructions. I'd just like to know what to expect going into this. Should I be prepared to fail at first?