Going to attempt cultivation... but have some questions

Never tried this before~ i've started to read some guides on how this is done but some things seem a bit unclear.
Under this short guide here
http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_cultivation8.shtml
It sounds like it can be made without spores of mushrooms, is this true?
Other guides talk about mushroom syringes and spore prints, and I have absolutely no idea what that is, or how I would attain something like that in the U.S~ although I do have a small stash of about 2.5g laying around.
Is a pressure cooker always needed for this? A lot of guides seem to need things like that, for sterilization I imagine.

If you've done this before and have a link to a guide that got you to success, I'd appreciate the link!
Thanks for any and all advice!
-llewelyn

 

Check out fungifun.org and look at their teks. Easy to follow and with pictures of every step. Also about your questions, yes you need spores, and a pressure cooker is not always needed unless using grains. Check out the site and it will answer any other question you might have.

 

I need to get some spores for growing.... If only I could find a way to get them to California...

 

You need spores to grow mushrooms. They are basically mushroom "seeds". You couldn't grow a tomato plant without seeds. It is supposedly diffficult to get viable spores from dried shrooms. I would just invest the 15 into a couple syringes if you live somewhere you can get them. If not, you'll need to spore print fresh shroomies.

The PF tek doesn't require a pressure cooker a does well for most newbies.

The best advice is to read tons and follow teks closely. Sterilization is key, so this isn't a project to improvise.

Cheers

 

Kind of. You can grow from live cultures, but you're going to need spores to grow mushrooms to get a live culture. Try spores101.com unless you live in Idaho, California or Georgia. Spores are illegal in those states.

See above.

It's not necessary, but it's a good thing to have. For a PF Tek (which is what I suggest you use because it's the easiest) you can get away with boiling the jars. Just make sure to pack them, then let them sit overnight before boiling. This lets most of the endospores in the substrate germinate and be killed in the boiling.

As far as a guide that works, http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek should work for you. I'd suggest doing away with the fruiting from cakes part and use http://www.shroomery.org/54/50-50-Casing-Tek instead. Casing does introduce a step where you can get contamination, but it's well worth it, IMO. I could never get a cake to pin or produce very well, but I've had decent success with casings.

I would also reccomend buying 2 books: The Magic Mushroom Growers Guide by Oss & Oeric and The Mushroom Cultivator by Paul Stamets and J.S. Chilton. Those 2 books can answer any question you may ever have about mushrooms. The Mushrooms cultivator is a little hard to read, as it reads like a textbook, but it's got EVERYTHING.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3286686859329905674&q=Grow+Mushrooms&ei=u7xrSMtFhaqvAse4gJ8P is a fairly good, simple video guide to growing.

You could also get the "Let's Grow Mushrooms!" DVD set from Roger Rabbit at Shroomery.org. I haven't seen it yet, but I've read his posts and he knows his shit very well.

 

Thanks! Quite useful! Which type of spores should I purchase? I see a list on each website.. I'm not well versed in the pros / cons of the different species.
Also~ would spores101.com be the best place to buy then?
Thanks so much for your help!

 

Spores101 is a good vendor, but sometimes they're slow. I've had great results with Sporeworks before. I got a few syringes from Sporebank, and they were all duds.

 

So which species of spores should I go with? I suppose a maximization of easiness to cultivate, and potency~ so which would that be ?

 

A P. cubensis strain is the most common and easily grown. Most people say the strain choice is mainly personal. B+ and Golden Teacher are commonly recommended for beginners.

Check shroomery.org for a sponsor vendor. Those all seem to be reliable.

Cheers

 

http://video.google.com/videosearch...sitesearch=video.google.com&q=mushrooms&dur=3

Most useful information I've ever seen. It teaches you all about sterility , cultivation , spore prints , enclosures...everything.

Just learn about cultivation with more common strains and get your technique down before you move on to something stronger.

 

That video is OK, but some of the stuff in there is outdated.

As far as a strain to go with, it's personal choice. Definitely pick some kind of Cubensis, though.

 

How long are the spores good for?

 

Pretty much forever. The only thing you can really do is get them too hot. They'll even survive in space.