A crash course in mycology

Introduction:

When I first began researching mushrooms I was very confused on how everything worked, and could not find anything on the web that really described the general process. So here is basic outline of how things work. Important terms are in bold. If you want to know specific details or procedure I encourage you to do some research of your own, or email me and I will point you in the right direction.
Mushroom cultivation is relatively simple once understood. It is as easy or easier then growing cannabis, and can be done in a very small area if needed. Homegrown fresh mushrooms are EXTREAMLY powerful. There are many different strains of “magic mushrooms” much like there are many different strains of cannabis.
Magic mushrooms contain a chemical (or alkaloid) called psilocybin. This is what makes you trip. Once ingested, your body converts psilocybin to psilocin, which is what affects the receptors in your brain and CNS (central nervous system). This is because Psilocin is a Tryptamine that is chemically almost identical to serotonin, an endogenous (produced internally) neurotransmitter. The chemical is recognized by receptors in your brain and used in place or in conjunction with serotonin. This is when the whacky shit starts happening.

Serotonin

Psilocin
The effects vary depending on the method of ingestion, the setting, and the dose. I won’t go into that but the overall timeline following ingestion is as follows.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

How mushrooms grow:

Mushrooms have two stages of growth: Spawning and Fruiting.
In spawning, mushrooms Spores(gametes) attach themselves to a food medium, referred to as Substrate. In the wild this can be cow dung, sawdust, woodchips, and organic soil. The most common homemade substrates are wild bird seed, rye grain, rice flower, and popcorn. Should you choose to spawn your mushrooms on any of these substrates keep in mind that they need to be Organic with no added preservative, antibiotic, pesticide, or antifungal chemicals.
The spawn is referred to as Mycelium. It looks like a fuzzy white mold, but it is in fact, a fungus. Mold and fungus and natural competitors in the wild. So if any mold starts growing in the mycelium it is compromised and should be thrown away immediately. Under no circumstances should you ingest any mycelium or mushroom that has mold on it, even if the mold is cut off. You will most likely have a severe allergic reaction and while your tripping balls that would be really horrible.
ANYWAY… Once the mycelium have taken over the substrate it is time for them to fruit. This stage requires a grow chamber (fruiting chamber) that needs to have a stable temperature (usually around 70 degrees F) and high humidity. It also requires just a little light. The light is not necessary to make the mushrooms grow huge and will not affect Flush (yield). It simply tells the mycelium that they have poked through the surface and they can start reproducing. The mushroom is the reproductive organ of the mycelium, and contains the spores.
You will notice 2 types of fruit bodies: mushrooms and aborts. The aborts are tiny and look kind of like trichomes found on cannabis, except they are white, and large enough to be harvested. These contain huge amounts of psilocybin, and have to be harvested before they die to avoid toxicity. Then there are the actual mushrooms, which usually grow in colonies. These can range in size from an inch to over a foot, it just depends on the nutrient level and health of the mycelia network.
Basic procedure for mushroom cultivation

Substrate preparation/sterilization:
The substrate is loaded into glass mason jars with a lid that allows for gas exchange, or special plastic bags that have a filter on them (myco bags) and sterilized. THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. Everything has to be 100% sterile or else mold will attack the mycelium. Sterilization is usually achieved by pressure cooking. Or you can use an autoclave but those are very expensive. Once the jars come out of the pressure cooker they need time to cool before the next step.

Inoculation:
In this stage, the spores are introduced into substrate.

Spores come in 2 ways:
1.Spore syringes, in which the individual spores are floating around in a liquid medium.
2.Spore prints, usually tin foil with a ring of spores stuck to it. You have to make spore syringes from the spore print.
You can make a ton of spore syringes from a spore print, so it is usually more economical to buy a spore print instead of a bunch of spore syringes, although this is not recommended for first timers.

Mycelia growth
In this stage the spores colonize the substrate and mycelium grows. After inoculation the jars or bags should be placed in a warm dark place until they are fully colonized. It may be necessary to shake the jars every few days.
(Usually takes a week to three weeks for a jar to fully colonize)

Fruiting
If you have gotten to this stage you should have a lot of mycelium (spawn) on your hands. There are ways to extract the psilocybin out of the spawn, but you won’t get that much. Still though, if you don’t feel like dealing with the tedious/sensitive fruiting process you can just utilize these methods. The most common is filtering the mycelium through cranberry juice, and drinking it. (I have never done this personally).

If you want to grow the fruit bodies, there are 2 routes you can take from here.

1.Making Bulk substrate.
This is if you want to grow A LOT of mushrooms and requires some space. (Like pounds) not recommended for first timers. For this method, you need to prepare and sterilize several pounds of bulk substrate, which is usually mixture of equine (horse) dung, organic compost, vermiculite, worm casings, bird seed, straw, or sawdust. Then you wait until the spawn colonizes the substrate, and you need up with pounds of mycelium, which is capable of producing many ounces of dried mushrooms. Once the bulk substrate is colonized you proceed with route 2.

2.Culture (there are several ways of doing this.)

The most common is the tray method. Which needs to be done in sterile environment. The mycelium is broken apart into clumps and placed into a pan or plastic tub usually a couple of inches think. Then a thin layer of vermiculite or perlite is placed on top, and lightly misted. The mycelium will reestablish themselves underneath the vermiculite and eventually poke through and start growing. This is the stage where the light is needed.

The trays need to be placed into a chamber where temperature and humidity can be controlled. You could just put them on a desk or in a fish tank but if you do you need to make sure they are warm, the room has a humidifier in it, and there isn’t a lot of activity in the room (pets/kids/germs).

Harvesting/Drying
Once you pick your mature mushrooms, or the aborts, unless you plan on eating them right away they need to be dried or they will rot. You can freeze them too but a good idea for long term storage would be to dry them and freeze them or put them in an air tight light proof container.

Heat destroys the active chemicals, so don’t stick them in the sun and dry them like jerky, and if you are using a dehydrator, make sure the heating element is disconnected. There are many different ways of drying mushrooms out. Just remember that the longer they are exposed to air or light the faster they will lose their potency.

Consumption/Dosing
You can ingest mushrooms orally (eat them raw, put them in a burger or a pizza after cooking, or make a tea). You can perform Alkaloid extraction. This will leave you will crystallized psilocybin in a free base from which can be vaporized, or injected.

This technique is pretty handy to know. You can get several grams of crystal out of an ounce dry. Heres a link: http://deoxy.org/wiki/Mushrooms/Alkaloid_Extraction

If you have never tripped before or have only smoked weed, Eat 1 medium (2 inch) dried mushroom, and if you’re brave smoke a little weed. It is fucking nuts. You will never forget it. This will give you a pretty good idea of what tripping is like, and your next time you can double or triple the dose.

I believe mushrooms are meant to be used in nature. Take them for the first time around people you are very comfortable around. The best time and place would be in Midday, out in the middle of the woods or the beach. Just somewhere very isolated where there are no people and nothing to worry about. It will be one of the most profound experiences of your life, and will blow your mind wide open. Make sure you are mentally prepared for the trip and are able to just let go and experience it. Bring in ipod. Afterwards, give yourself a day to just relax, maybe smoke a little weed, and think about what you saw.

If you have any questions free to contact me at aarongriffin_@hotmail.com

Here are some useful images:

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NANA SPACEFLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY REVEALS CITY ON MARS!
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2005/084/hale-civ-evidence.htm

Good post. Lately I've noticed many shroom threads.
this thread should answer a lot of the questions.

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Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.-Einstein

sorry. My english sucks so theres probably alot of errors.

__________________
NANA SPACEFLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY REVEALS CITY ON MARS!
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2005/084/hale-civ-evidence.htm

Besides online, where would be a good place to buy spores? Would any smoke shops stock them?

Online is probably your only option.

Never seen in my local shops but possibly different by state.

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Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.-Einstein

I've seen spores in headshops before but they probably think that it's crossing the line a bit.

thanks alot, this helped me a bunch, im trying to get some goin myself cus i havent been able to get them recently but i got a few questions.
first do u know anything about boiling to sterilize? i have no pcooker
and also, got any suggestions for temp control? like to heat or maintain? thanks again

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cannibalize your brothers mind

nice i am thinking about growing some shrooms after i grow some ganja

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Grow it Roll it Smoke it repeat

very nice, thanks for the info, it sounds easier and takes a lot less time to grow some shrooms.. next year ill start growing weed but i think ill try some shrooms first!

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Que o poder que é atitude, respeito..

This is a very great post, +rep on this one!

A small synopsis on mushrooms, everyone will love that

Organic growth for the future!