Growing and trying shrooms for the first time.

Miyagi said:

Good. That's all I want for myself really, some nice smoko and the odd shroom night. There are and will be the occasional exception, a few other entheogenic friends, but my family drinks into their 90's and I don't drink and have found mushies to be a more rewarding way to fulfill that human need to let go so I had high hopes of using them sparingly for a long time to come!

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Be aware however, that as one grows older, one is more and more likely to wind up confronting one's past. The best possible cure for regret is plan, or anticipation. The older one gets the less able one is to plan for a shorter and shorter future - so.... when one is confronted with one's regrets by that mushroom mirror, they can more easily be left with a deep sadness. On the other hand. On the other hand.. One of the plagues of aging is that acceleration of time. For me, a week is pretty much as a day was when I was 20. They say the reason for this is because of habit and repetitive process of simply living, there is less and less of the novel and so time speeds along. The judicious use of mushrooms tends to slow things down a bit. In practice, using mushrooms 4 or 5 times a year can give the older user enough novelty to where he may subjectivly gain many days of life for each day he experiences this sacred fruit. If you don't understand what I am talking about - you will. If you do, then please, learn ways to avoid succumbing to a rote, habitual, automatic zombie like existence - in my opinion they all involve experiences.

Miyagi said:

That is a long time ago. Props to the pioneers! Do you still take them now? Just curious. I spent a long time not taking shrooms and when I did, I felt so ripped off. Not from the shrooms but for all the years I could have been enjoying them instead of trying a heap of other junk. I'm not young but not that old and from my now educated perspective I see myself enjoying the fruit of the gods for years to come!

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I never thought of myself as a pioneer - but now that you mention it... Your complement has inflated my ego beyond it's customarily large size. We were just trying to find ways to enter that particular realm, the effort never seemed that "pioneer" like.

Someone/s had to keep it going while the rest of the world was confused/mislead. I myself was one of the confused.

I think I get you anyway, the reason I fell in love with them so much is the power they have more than any other intoxicant. In a couple of short years I have known joy like never before and sadness too. Others would think it silly that after 30 odd yrs a little mushroom could make me feel awake like never before- especially for someone known to have experimented heavily with substances- but mushrooms helped me laugh and cry like never in my adult life and I really needed both. I have devolved, seen my own birth, been reborn and learned to smile at the fragile desires of this bald little pink monkey on a rock flying through space.

I have also been reminded to stay grounded and get to work on the things I want and the things I will want in years to come. PLUS mushies are just plain FUN!!! I think you will get me but if not, much respect! And everyone should try mushies once!(Right time/place/people/state of mind)

I want to try shrooms

Alright time to take the plunge, I now have somewhat of a general idea of how to grow shrooms. Later tonight I'm gunna go get most of the supplies I need, I'm gunna go with the vermiculite and organic brown rice, does anyone prefer rye seed? Also I'm a tad cnfused about the beginning process of actually getting the spores into the jar. The spores come on a sheet of paper, do I have to simply cut a piece and place it in or is it more complicated? I plan on ordering the spores by Monday and getting all the shit set up this weekend, thanks.

I would get one of the eazy grow your own shroom kits in the hightimes ads my buddy got one and grew them under his waterbed in the drawers and hes a fucken idiot. They make it idiot proof with all the stuff there pretty much the spores in a syringe your rice stuff. I dont know if they are the ones that drop spores tho cause to me it seems that would be the way to go so that you could continuely harvest fungus i have like 5/8ths of an oz that ive been saving for awhile. I like to take them up to the mountains hike back to the lakes and set up camp once thats done and i have all the wood i will need then i eat the shrooms i always do this in a familar place that i have been and comfortable with. One time i ate over a quarter of shrooms and fried so hard that i couldnt get out of my head i couldnt comprehend shit but sit there and be a shroom my friend was talking about drugs and i couldnt comprehend what drugs were for me to not understand that shows how truly fucked up i was. If your really shrooming by eating a big amt even the simplest tasks become difficult counting for instance i had three friends over and was getting them juice couldnt count. Shrooms have different levels i dont like to go that far out there anymore by eating a quarter i stick with an eighth and thats usually good cubes some shrooms tho dont need that much. Peyote is another story in itself wow.

Thanks for the info, but don't those grow bags contain live cultures? I'm not too sure about ordering anything but spores cause I know they are legal. Where are you at in Montana? I've lived here my whole life and haven't found any fungus, it's frustrating.

Kush Push said:

Thanks for the info, but don't those grow bags contain live cultures? I'm not too sure about ordering anything but spores cause I know they are legal. Where are you at in Montana? I've lived here my whole life and haven't found any fungus, it's frustrating.

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Took me near 30yrs to find it near me, now every season I trip over shrooms everywhere Probably a good thing I didn't have good access to them at a younger age, who knows if I ever would have come back! (I really love shrooms!)

Ha I'm not gunna "lose myself" and take a shitload but I'm getting a quarter on Monday not sure what strain I'll be back with pics

Nice. The shrooms like you.

Try having a look at a few Teks online, if you want yields, try using a mono-tub techinque for growing.
Only problem with that is that there is a higher chance of contamination, you could try a more basic PF tek.

Here's some links.

https://mycotopia.net/forums/fungi-magic-mushrooms/79324-mono-tub-tek.html
http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek

badmojo420 said:

most important thing is keeping your shit sterile, the mycelium (that actual fungus, the mushroom is the fruit) is extremely susceptible to infection and disease.

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Actually the mycelium is very good at fighting off infection, I have seen mold and mycelium in the same jar and the mycelium out ran the unwanted mold. Where the biggest problems occur is with uncolonized substrate. Yes sterile technique is the most important part of growing mushrooms, without it you have no chance, and it takes time and practice to learn. Fruiting chambers are far from sterile, once you have a colonized substrate unless you don't provide it with adequate air exchange the mycelium will resist mold until it has fruited and becomes weak. I typically get 5 to 6 flushes out of my cakes before they start to contaminate and my normal fruiting chamber a plastic tubs with holes in them for air exchange. So they are open to air and anything that is in the air. After I am done with my cakes, depending on what time of year it is, I put them outside and cover them with damp leaves and usually get another flush or two out of them. Usually only a few shrooms but hey, a few is better than none. Mono tubs are cool, but you will want to start with PF Tek to learn the life cycle of mushrooms and to learn their growth parameters. Learn to take spore prints and make syringes to become self sufficient so you don't have to buy spores. Also, learning to clone is your best bet at solid consistent yields.

Just a heads up you don't need "organic brown rice", I buy my brown rice at big lots, it's $1.48 for 32 oz. bag which is enough for probably a couple dozen jars, not completely sure as I really don't pay attention to it, I just buy several bags and grind them up and put it in a tupperware bowl to use as I need. If your going to start with PF tek just use brown rice, vermiculite and water. Also, do not buy a spore print for you first try, if you have print you have to make syringes which is not easy to do until you learn some sterile tech. Just buy syringes, you can take prints of the shrooms you grow and try to make syringes later.

Only.... it would be best for newbies not to use PF Tek, it is far too divergent from the normal growth cycle of the mushroom. One cannot orchestrate pinsesets with PF, which is why one commonly gets so many flushes. In an orchestrated pinset, 70 - 90 percent of all potential fruiting bodies grow in the first two flushes with 10 - 20 percent in flush three leaving only a few percent for any subsequent flushes - not worth the contamination risk or the ongoing environmental control. Shaggy manes rarely yield a 3rd flush at all, so you get all your fruit in one and two.

I just can't see recommending bulk to someone that hasn't grown mushrooms before. Having to pasteurize substrate and prepare grains is not that easy until you learn sterile technique which can be learned by using PF Tek. Unless of course you just by pre-sterile stuff and do it that way.

smilinjack said:

I just can't see recommending bulk to someone that hasn't grown mushrooms before. Having to pasteurize substrate and prepare grains is not that easy until you learn sterile technique which can be learned by using PF Tek. Unless of course you just by pre-sterile stuff and do it that way.

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I try to do it this way - Most here grow marijuana, and most who do insit on having a ph meter or ppm meter. It is a tool of the trade. Pressure cookers are cheap if one purchases a small one - I've seen them new for as little as 20 bucks and they will cook half pints all day long. A pressure cooker is a tool of the trade. While I agree with you that bulk is a rather high hurdle for a newbie, innoculating sterile grain is no different than mixing up vermiculite and grain flour. This is a lot of processing and strangeness simply to avoid purchasing a pressure cooker. Now I consider bulk as anything that is spawned, that is, going beyond colonized grain into horse manure or straw or coir or some such other non-sterile medium. .

The real breakthrough was not PF's tek but the widespread use of syringes, eliminating the need for glove boxes or hoods or agar and dishes. I have often seen folk simply expand their pf tek to dozens or even hundreds of jars, now honestly, no offense to anyone who does or has done that but what it shows is that the grower has not really understood the growth cycles of the mushroom, and in so doing has increased his workload and diminished his yield capacity greatly, simply because he believed that the next step was too great an undertaking. If that grower had perhaps simply gone to the production of spawn (which is actually what is being done anyway), then if he should proceed, he will more likely know what he is about. And for me, I encourage folks to go on and grow other mushrooms, and many do. I don't believe that any save perhaps oyster will grow using PF tek.

But again, this is simply my opinion as to the right way to approach the basics.

I understand the legality of spores, they are legal except for in three states but I'm not sure of the legality of syringes, honestly how safe is it to order them?

spores in a syringe and spore prints are the same thing, they don't become illegal until you innoculate a nutritive substance and germinate the spores. You can store spore syringes in the fridge for years. If you were using spores for microscopy, I would think you would want to rehydrate the spores from a spore print when viewing them. So it is just as legal to order syringes as it is prints.

Yeah I couldn't tell you if any others will grown PF tek style, I have only grown pans and cubes. I don't like to eat edible mushrooms so I would never take the time to grow them. I do agree with you that PF tek is more work compared to yield but I still say it's a good way to learn and practice sterile technique, instead of wasting pints or quarts of spawn before you learn how to be sterile. Many people will have contam problems in the beginning especially starting with bulk and may get discouraged and give up before they see the fruits of their labor. At least with PF tek, it can be a confidence booster.

smilinjack said:

I just can't see recommending bulk to someone that hasn't grown mushrooms before. Having to pasteurize substrate and prepare grains is not that easy until you learn sterile technique which can be learned by using PF Tek. Unless of course you just by pre-sterile stuff and do it that way.

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my first grow was BRF in shouldered jars...I just crumbled them up in a zip-lock and preped my sub of h-shit and verm...then added the zip-lock contents...was a great success...just my experience...