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Growing psilocybe cubensis mushrooms... outdoors?

A

acim

Greenlighter
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
42
Hey all,

I'm hoping other Bluelighters have experience with growing mushrooms! I have searched everywhere for this question and found nothing, so any help will be appreciated! My first mushroom grow is coming up, however, I decided that using the typical PF Tek was a tad bit expensive (I literally have no money at the moment, so buying anything beyond $5 is wasting the precious money I have) and it is not good for growing secretly. I was thinking of growing sclerotia since this is very cheap, easy and secretive, but I saw this article recently:

We have seen a plethora of information on indoor cultivation. But what I find amazing is there is little or no information on outdoor cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis. Let me ask you a couple of questions: Are you tired of small mushrooms? Would you like a mushroom the size of a small dinner plate? Are frustrated by the number of steps involved? Are you always worrie about the posibility of contamination?

This species (P. cubensis) can be grown outdoors with a high rate of success and all with a limted amount of money and time. Eventhough P. cubensis is a warm sub-tropical mushroom, I believe it can be grown outdoors as far north as Canada. In order for a mushroom to grow it must have the right enviroment. As long as you meet the requirements, anybody can be succesfull.

Let`s talk about a location for these wonderous creatures. Clumps of grass, yes that`s right clumps of grass. You can look at a clump of grass as if it was a terrium. The grass will act like a barrier and keep humidity at a high level for well over 6 days. If the humidity level ever drops to low, take a hand mister and spray until the desired level of humidity is reached. The grass will then help with a couple of things by filtering the sun and absorbing CO2 during the day.

What substrate is suitable? Aged cow dung is best: but I would say horse dung might be a good subsitute. A good way to determine whether or not the dung is aged enough, is observing other fungi growing from the dung. Some of the species you might encounter are Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Coprinus, etc... Another way of determining whether dung is aged enough is checking it out. I like to take my walking stick and flip the pies upside down and then break it in half with my stick to check the moisture content. It should be the same consistency throughout the whole piece of dung, dry. After awhile you will be able to judge what is suitable and what is not. Once it is determined to be suitable, pick it up and place it in a collection bag. A good bag for collecting cow pies is an old pillow case. For those of you who are a little squeamish about handling cow dung, go buy a pair of RubberMaid kitchen gloves. Pick up all sizes of dung for your future endeavor.


Personally I don`t pretreat my cow dung before use. The problem I see with pretreating the dung, is there is a chance you might kill some of the beneficial microbes. Besides that P. cubensis mycelium is known for its rapid and highly aggressive behavior. There are maybe a few other fungi whose mycelium can compete with P. cubensis in the wild. Here are a few suggestions for those of you who want to pretreat their dung. First take the dung and place it on a cookie sheet. Then place the dung in the oven at 150 degrees for 30 minutes. Second you can microwave 4 cups dung with a 1 cup of water for about 5 minutes.
Watering your homemade cow pie is not difficult, just water the pie every 3 to 5 days. How much water to apply depends on how big of a pie you made. Personally I like to collect rainwater for my pies; but tap water will do if you let it stand for 24 hours before use. Water the pies directly from the top with a watering can. Apply the water all over the pie while allowing at least 60% of the water to flow through the medium and loose substate. This will allow the water to transfer itself throughout the whole pie. Overwatering is not hard to do, so when the water comes rushing from out the pie you have overwatered. If you do overwater just add 1 to 2 days to your normal watering schedule before you water next.

Look around your yard and find a healthy clump of grass. An ideal clump of grass would be over 2 feet high with a diameter 2 to 3 feet. Clean out the middle of the clump to a diameter of 1 to 1 and a half feet. There should be nothing in the middle of the grass clump except bare ground.

Now is a good time to seperate the dung into three piles; large, medium, and small crumbled up pieces. If you don`t have enough medium pieces break up some of your large pieces. The same goes with the small pieces just crumble up some medium or large pieces. Soak your dung at least 2 to 4 hours in a large container. When done soaking wring out the crumbled up dung to the point where it is moist; but not soaking wet.

Fill in the area you had previously cleaned out with a 2 inch layer of the small substrate.

Take a print or a syringe and apply half of your spores on the exposed substrate. Place the larger pieces of substrate along the edge of the small substrate.

Fill in the inside with the medium substrate, and fill in the cracks and crevices with the small loose substrate. (fig 5) Use the rest of your spores and apply them to the top of your homade cow pie. Take the the grass that surrounds your homemade pie and fold it over. The idea is to make a dome, and not to have the grass lay flat on top of your substrate. Wait until your pie slightly dries up before you water the pie for the first time.

In Spring it would be best to wait until the night temps average in the mid 50`s and the day temps were at least in the high 60`s. The more you water the substrate the faster the mycelium will grow once it is established. Don`t overwater because your mycelium can drown. When you are ready, let your substrate dry up somewhat and those cubes will begin to pop up. I f you have the urge to water more when the caps start sprouting or the humidity level is to low use a hand mister. After a flush you may water the pie heavily again. Then just repeat the process through out the growing season. It is that simple and there is no worry of contamination or the use of sterile techniques.
Click to expand...

This seemed amazing, being secretive, cheap, and having heavy fruits without even needing to sterilize. I didn't think at all that it was too good to be true. I now realize that there's possibilities of weather, animals, etc. to disrupt growth and that yields of course won't be nearly as good as stated. However, it's too late for me to turn back, so I have a few questions.

First, is it possible to inoculate directly into the manure like this without too much risk of contamination? Or should substrate be colonized first?

Secondly, do you think cow manure could be substituted with rabbit poop instead? Although I can get cow manure, this would be more convenient.

Finally, are there any other secret (in vitro I believe is the word) growing techniques if this TEK fails? I'm hoping for even a couple shrooms just so I can take spore prints to continue with a better method!

Sorry for the long post, and thanks a lot!
 
TL;DR, but keep in mind there would be a much higher rate for infection/mold growing on the shrooms.
They grow in the dark, you should be able to find a place to grow them inside...
 
growing them indoors is alot easier and safer. My first grow was in side a really small styrofoam cooler.
 
After your last trays are spent, bury them in the garden properly.

They'll return.


Also, research azurascens and other woodlovers. Return every year.

I'd say growing mushrooms in your backyard is way safer than indoors, even though both are safer than taking your kids to a baseball game in the bronx. How the fuck can they prove in court you were the cause of random mushrooms growing in your garden?
 
But what about when some squirrel comes along looking for lunch?
Thats one lucky squirrel Ill tell you what.
 
I'm gunna admit to not reading all of this cus its so long...

I'm not sure where you got your article from but seriously check out the shroomery (www.shroomery.org), they have lots of info there on growing them :D
 
I wouldnt grow them outdoors, thats asking for contamination and mold/bacteria. You will get bad trips if not very sick. Indoors is safer, you have control over the envrionment and you will know if the cakes or substrate gets contaminated. If it is your first time growing definately dont do it out doors. Also PF TEK method is the best for first timers. It cuts down the chances of conatmination big time. It is well worth it to buy the ball jars and spore syringes. I used the PF tek method in the 90s and never had a problem with contamination ever.
 
Outdoor is not necessarily doomed to failure; Psilocybe cubensis has survived for millenia off animal manure and grassy fields. Obviously the maximum yield is limited by grazing insects and animals, but the risk of "contamination" as termed by the mycological community is fairly low if your technique is as close to nature as possible. Meaning you find a field that is known to produce psilocybes, and maintain a free-range cattle farm on that field. You will have to deal with "weedy" fungi that will compete with the psilocybe for habitat, but judicious harvesting of spores will ensure you keep a genetic monopoly over your airspace (effectively crowding out any competitors by drowning the area in shroom seeds). You can increase yield by judicious application of water if the weather does not cooperate, but temperature is out of your control-- Ps. cubensis fruits at 70-80F so you'll be dormant for wintertime unless you're in a tropical zone. Temperate locales will be utilizing a different species (as mentioned above, woodlovers will return every fall if there is enough substrate and moisture)

Starting from scratch would probably be much more difficult than a simple indoor grow, which basically requires a pressure cooker and knowledge of sterile technique to guarantee a continuous production.
 
If it will rain during the warm summer months, then I don't see why not. Just look at the types of conditions that people are creating for terrarium grows, and try to replicate them. You probably will need some type of hothouse or plastic sheeting to ensure they stay warm and humid at night. Optimal conditions are 70-80F but they have been known to grow (slowly) at reduced temperatures.
 
Im pretty sure you can grow shrooms anywhere, as long as its warm enough
Its a fungus after all
 
ive got no experience with growing outdoors, however i have picked some mushrooms grown after leaving and neglecting spent cakes. i cant really say it was that special, but presumably in the right conditions, you could grow them outside. however, the elements will play a much bigger role, so the yealds might be smaller (or larger for that matter) and they will be less predictable (so 8weeks for indoors might be 3 months outdoors). it all can go really bad if they somehow get contaminated with stuff in the garden/air.

like a previous poster said, apparently woodloving fungus is a safer bet, not to mention they are more potent. they do however grow slower...
 
Make the investment for the supplies for indoor cultivation, once your successful then start experimenting with trying to grow some outdoors!
 
i can totally get what the op is saying about not having dough to invest, i remember at first i spent quite a bit to put everything together, especially since one is new and donest really know where everything goes, but after the initial buy, theres hardly anything to spend on growing. literally have spent 0$ on all my subsequent batches. and now i think i couldve done without some of the stuff i bought in the first place. but even so, the few things you need in the beginning are hardly an arm and a leg :)
 
i find it amusing the way the intro of the Tek in OP is like an advert!

http://www.shroomery.org/8494/Moes-Outdoor-Growing-Tek

^ that Tek uses already colonised substrate, but it's worth a shot. essentially, you're providing "new fuel to the fire" as long as the fire doesn't go out (as long as the mushroom spores inside the substrate don't die) and you use a fuel that is flammable (you provide an easily colonisable material for the mushrooms to spread into) i think it should keep going... catch the drift?

as for growing mushrooms outside, i've read there's a new psilocybin strain that's been accidentally imported to the UK, which many have high hopes for colonising outside, but i'd like to see more evidence before fully running with this idea
 
thouart_that said:
How the fuck can they prove in court you were the cause of random mushrooms growing in your garden?
Click to expand...
Fuck the law, but... maybe having cow poop when there are absolutely no cows whatsoever in your area could constitute some sort of evidence. Seriously, nobody will pursue you for having mushrooms in your backyard.
 
kingme said:
ive got no experience with growing outdoors, however i have picked some mushrooms grown after leaving and neglecting spent cakes. i cant really say it was that special, but presumably in the right conditions, you could grow them outside. however, the elements will play a much bigger role, so the yealds might be smaller (or larger for that matter) and they will be less predictable (so 8weeks for indoors might be 3 months outdoors). it all can go really bad if they somehow get contaminated with stuff in the garden/air.

like a previous poster said, apparently woodloving fungus is a safer bet, not to mention they are more potent. they do however grow slower...
Click to expand...

I'm no expert by any means, in fact I'm a total noob really lol, but don't you need to know agar techniques to grow azuerecens? I think thats way too complicated for someone who is new to this... also I believe you really need a laminar flow hood which are VERY costly!
 
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