I have recently decided to start (or at least make a first attempt) at cultivating some shrooms. I am using the method popularized on www.mushroomvideo.com in which one uses organic brown rice flour and vermiculite as a substrate in cake form. I have already gotten a glovebox, terrarium, vermiculite, rice flour, perlite, jars, and all other materials needed besides the spore syringes. One more thing: I live with my parents (I am 17, not a bum). The initial colonization in the jars will probably take a good 3 to 4 weeks to complete, and the subsequent fruiting should take less than a week before harvest. My Questions: 1.) Any brilliant ideas as to where I could complete both stages at home, maintaining a certain level of secrecy while exposing the jars to adequate conditions? 2.) I am currently looking to buy about 10 spore syringes from a website like www.sporestore.com . I guess I am just going to try to have an 18 year old friend use a card and have it shipped to their house or something. I am really not sure at this point. Any ideas? Also, if you have any other suggestions as to where I could get syringes safely and efficently, please let me know. 3.) Is there any particular strain in which I should be interested? I have read that the Puerto Rican version is a rather potent variety. Anyone with any experience have any input? I would really appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot in advance.
1. I'm not too sure really because I never had to hide mine. For colonization, just try hiding it away in an old shoebox or something, just keep tabs on the heat. 2. ralphstersspores is a great site without the use of credit cards. Completely legit and of good quality. (10 spore syringes is quite unnessecary though imo, especially for a first timer). 3. Strain doesn't matter one bit. Although for your situation you should go for a strain with faster growth. Hope I helped.
Hey man If you haven't turned to Shroomery for your answers you should give it a try. Here is a link to their strain guide which should help you pick a strain. http://www.shroomery.org/9102/P-cubensis-Strain-Guide. Some say strains are not important. I disagree but I tend to have an overly shamanic view of mushrooms and put a lot of stock in which parts of the world they come from and what their traditionalal uses facilitated for the people who took them. As far as keeping them hidden... a closet is ideal. If not maybe somewhere in the attic or basement where you're parents don't normally go. If you do it in your room try using an inconspicous container or box, make it hard to reach and pile some heavy shit on top of it. If its something that is psuedo obvious and blends with the rest of your stuff it might work. Don't underestimate nosy moms though. Also if you haven't been on www.mushbox.com take a look there too. There are small preconstructed chambers for fruiting and incubating which will save space and hopefully be easy to hide. 10 syringes is way too many. If you were to use 1 syringe per jar that would still be way more then you need. If you have trouble getting / paying for spores try this site or look for others like it in Canada http://www.fsre.org/. They offer free spores!!! Best of luck, remember to stay clean. Gloves, masks, alchohol ect. And take advantage of the time it takes to grow them to do some reading, educate and prepare yourself for the experiences ahead.
hey, thanks for the responses. I really appreciate the input. The only thing that worried about the closet/shoebox kind of secrecy was the complete lack of lighting. I have read in some FAQ's that a certain amount of light was needed in order to direct the growth of the mycelium and eventual fruiting bodies. If I need not worry about this, then I find myself in a much smaller predicament. By the way, I was planning on getting 10 syringes for the discount, assuming that I was going to continue growing for the next couple of years. If nothing else I planned to use them as a supplementary source of spores in addition to the spore prints I will be able to produce
Learn how to make liquid culture; it's easy and will allow you to continue your crop forever, hypothetically, as it can be made from a piece of tissue. My friend takes a freshly picked mushroom, breaks the stipe in half by snapping (not cutting, because then there is less contact since you don't have to touch it with anything in order to access the stipe's interior), and puts it into a solution of 4% honey (karo, molasses, and many other things also work) and 96% water that has been sterilized by pressure cooking it for 15-30 minutes (it is not necessary to pressure cook liquids as long as solids; you can probably just boil it for a liquid culture). Furthermore, it is unnecessary to expose the mycellium to light before birthing the brf cakes. Exposure to light "activates" the psilocin and psilocybin and is only required to ensure potency.
I'm pretty sure mushrooms need some light just to give them a sense of which way is up. They don't rely on it to grow like plants. Keeping your grow chamber compact and tucked away at the back of your closet is fine. If you want give em some light if your chillin in your room for a few hours and all should be well. Also double check the life of a syringe. I think its several months maybe longer if kept in a cold, dark place, like your fridge. But if you're trying to be covert I'm sure they'll be noticed in there eventually. Spores101 will give you like 3 or 4 syringes at a discount if you figure out your credit card situation. That should be more then enough to get you started. Then just learn how to make spore prints for future use.
use google video and find 'mushroom growing guide' its an hour long video that explains it all. its step by step and pretty easy to follow. good luck!
1. The jars can be kept anywhere (closet, shoebox, basement) you just want to keep tabs on the temperature, and how much it may fluctuate between day/night. 2. Does spore-store accept money orders? If they do, you could try ordering it that way, unless they ask for verification of age... Other than that, you really have no options, aside from having a friend order it. 3. The potency of a strain has a lot more to do with how it was cultivated, than the actual strain itself. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there is very little difference in potency among p. cubensis. Meaning the PF-Tek will produce considerable smaller and weaker mushrooms than some of the more advanced techniques out there, but dont get me wrong, you'll still have lots of fun with them.
My hubs grows em & says that B+ are relatively easy to grow. Strain REALLY matters. It's like plants, man...some plants are tougher than others. Yeah, check out the shroomery & read about sanitation & temperature & all that. You can get some crazy invaders that will DESTROY your shrooms if you're not careful. Spiderweb mold, ahhhh! Best of luck.
hey, thanks for all the help just an update - i have all the supplies i need, ready to go. i have made my terrarium, ground up some organic brown rice for flour, and have all my other supplies ready to go. I just ordered 2 spore syringes (PES Hawaiian strain) from www.sporestore.com which only ran $14.95 (free shipping), and I am having it shipped to a local UPS Store. They asked no questions and will sign off for the delivery and everything, free of charge. Everything's looking really nicely thus far. Once the syringes come in (probably Saturday or Monday), I am going to mix and sterilize my substrate and get everything inoculated. I plan on getting cakes from 12 1/2 pint jars. Again, thanks for all the input---it has helped a great deal and definitely saved me a good amount of money on syringes. question: What kind of yield am I looking at? I have read in some places that about 1/4 oz. can be harvested from each 1/2 pint cake, but I really have no clue otherwise. Also, how many flushes do you think I could get from each cake? Having picked mushrooms from the first flush, what should I do to maintain the cakes and ensure that they produce more in the following flushes? What kind of time frame am I looking at? THANKS
I think that you should expect somewhere between one and two ounces if you have 10 brf cakes. You might get up to a quarter of an ounce or more on some but will probably get less on others; it's really difficult to estimate yield because there are many factors that go into it depending on what you do.
