A Basic Guide to Mushroom Cultivation

Index:
Materials
Sanitizing
Preparation of substrate and jars
More sanitizing
Inoculating the jars
Mycelium growth and the waiting game
Setting up a terranium and fruiting cakes
Harvesting and preserving
Dunking and second flushes
Conclusion

Materials
Okay, so before you start growing your mushrooms you're going to have to buy everything you need to make a proper work environment. Let's start with the ingredients, then move onto the equipment and other goodies.

Brown Rice Flour
This can be purchased at any health food store, and some grocery stores. It is used to help colinize the spores to produce mycelium. A bag shouldn't cost more than ten dollars maximum.

Vermiculite
This volcanic substance can be found at any hardware or greenhouse/plant store. It is used mainly in the colonization process, but is used in the fruiting section as well. About ninety cents to three dollars per bag.

Spore print
The most important ingredient of the process. How can you grow your mushrooms without the spores? It is essentially a piece of paper with thousands/millions of spores embedded on it. In this guide I'm going by the way to grow psilocybin type fungus, as the processes vary from species to species. They are sold at many vendors on line, and are not expensive; shouldn't pay more than twenty dollars per print.

Water
The source of all life. Need I say more? Tap water should be fine, but if filtered with a Brita filter, or some other water filter will work better. The filter should filter out some chlorine, and many nasty contaminants that can kill your spores. Bottled water is alright too.

Perlite
This is another volcanic substance that can be found at any hardware or greenhouse/plant store. It is used to humidify your bin; mushrooms need a high humidity to grow.

Mixing bowl and Mixing spoon and measuring cups and a strainer
Plastic or metal or glass is much preferred to wood in this case; because wood is much easier to carry contaminants.

syringe and bic lighter
You use the syringe to suck up all the tasty spores off of the spore print. The lighter is used to heat the needle before the spores enter the syringe and after they exit into the substrate. A good size for the syringe should be higher than 20 cc, and extra long needles are preferred. It costs me 10 dollars for a bag of 25 at the pharmacy; I told them I had a foot fungus.

Big translucent bin
In personal experience, the best bins to use are 3.5'X1.5' with an easily removable lid. These can be found at any hardware store.

Hammer and Nail or knife
This is to make four holes in your jar lids. The smaller the holes the better; if you can use a knife to make a pinprick just big enough to fit your needle through; so be it.

Tapered Jars
Canning or jelly jars with the two piece lids. The smaller the better usually; because if you have a smaller jar the spores will produce mycelium much faster. Anywhere from half pint to two pint are preferred.

aluminum foil
Used in different parts of the process; can be used near the end to make spore prints if paper is undesirable. Costs about a buck for a roll.

Large cooking pot with lid
Used to sterilize the jars with substrate in them.

Hertel and bleach
Sanitary reasons.

Wash cloth and dish drying towel
this is used to wipe the substrate off the jars and drying the mushrooms.

Serving tray or plate
For drying the mushrooms.

optional, rubber gloves
Sanitary reasons.

If you had no materials to start off with, it will cost you roughly one hundred dollars to one fifty to start off with all the materials listed about. Of course; everyone has at least some of the things listed above, and it shouldn't cost that much.

Sanitizing
Okay, the main rule of thumb in the art of cultivating mushrooms is to be as sterile as possible. I'm putting this part before the main steps is to make sure you the reader has a successful yield.
To make sure everything is sanitary, run some hot water in your sink and poor some bleach in. It will say how much to put on the bottle; maybe add a little extra if you're paranoid. Throw all your jars and lids in there; especially if they are being used a second time. Let them soak for a while.

While waiting, grab your hertel. Spray down your bin with it. Make sure it is rinsed with water well. Next, spray down all your mixing materials (mixing bowl/spoon, measuring cups, etc.) and your hammer and nail, or knife. Now, spray down your whole work area and throw the clothes you are going to be wearing at the time in the washer to put on while you're preparing your substrate. Take a shower; you're fucking dirty you pig! We are probably the dirtiest things on the planet, and that is NOT good for your substrate. Now, take your jars out of the bleachy water and rinse and dry well.

Preparation of substrate and jars
Okay, now you have everything spic and span. That's the way mushrooms love it. Now it's time to make the substrate so your spores can colonize. Now, everyone has different ratios, but I prefer:

One cup vermiculite
Half cup brown rice flour
Half cup water

Take the vermiculite and poor the desired amount in the mixing bowl; then throw the rice flour in there; forgetting about the water for now. Now, mix it up very very well; it should be a dull grayish color. Next, add the water and mix it well.

Now it's time to put the substrate in the jars. Loosely fill the jars to about one and a half to two centimeters below the rim; wiping and substrate that might get on the brim away. DON'T PACK IT! I cannot stress this enough. The air in the substrate is what helps the spores to colonize. Packing it can result in a dud; with no mycelium at all; maybe not even contaminants or molds growing. Fill the rest with dry vermiculite and close them tightly; then you're on your way.

OH! Before you close them tightly, Make four holes near the edge or the rim of the lid. Spread them out so it's a squarish shape.

More Sanitizing
This is probably the most important step in the process; right beside to all the other sanitizing procedures . Make squares out or your aluminum foil, and double them up. Put the squares over the lids of the jars. Not too tightly; don't worry if they don't hug the sides the way you want to; it is just to make sure no water goes into the jars.

Take your cooking pot and put all your jars in (that will fit); then put about an inch or inch and a half of water in the bottom of of the pot. Slowly bring to a boil; if you boil too fast the jars can crack. Boil for two and a half hours. Even if the outside of the jars feel cool, the middle of the substrate probably isn't; so it is best to leave them overnight; don't get impatient.

This method isn't as good as the pressure cooker in some people's opinions; but not mine; it saves you lots of money and I've had a 90% success rate with this method, so I can't complain. I know people that have had a lesser success rate with the pressure cooker method so you can't go wrong here.

Inoculating the jars
Here's the most tricky part and is a MUST that you have freshly laundered clothes, just jumped out of the shower and have cleaned your work area thoroughly.

Take out your spore print and syringe and water and lighter. Light up the needle on the syringe until it is red hot. Let cool. Now, drop a few drops of lukewarm water on the print, and suck it up with the syringe, drop it out and keep doing it until there are no more visible spores; add more water if needed but try not to have too much. Suck in a little bit of air and heat the needle to red hot again. Let cool.

Now, it's time to add the spores to your substrate. Add about .5-1.0 CC into each jar, splitting the amount into the four holes; maybe cutting it up eight times; two in each hole; one push deep and one shallow. This spread the spores throughout the substrate and gives it a better chance of colonization; and makes it colonize faster. Put the aluminum foil back on; or leave it off it doesn't really matter; I mix it up and do either every once in a while. The foil just helps prevent air-born contaminants; adding to the vermiculite barrier.

Mycelium growth and the waiting game
This is the hardest part of the grow. Waiting. It is going to take a long time for the spores to fully colonize the jars. The jars should be kept some place warm, about 24 to 29 degrees Celsius until they are fully colonized. Cleanliness is less of an issue now, put them on a shelf and forget about them for a while. Check them every few days for contaminants; the first sign of contaminants should in the first two; but some can form later on so be careful and make sure you discard the contaminated jars as to not infect the others.. Just don't be a fucking slob and they should be fine.

Setting up a terranium and fruiting cakes
Okay, so you've waited many weeks and you've had some bumps in the road have several discarded jars; but several prevail and have fully colonized. Great! If the success rate is higher than 0, it's a success, I say. Now that you have the cakes, what the fuck are you supposed to do with them? Luckily you have my guide to help you.

Take your big bin and hose it down with hertel again, and rinse well with a damp cloth. Take your perlite that you've been saving from the beginning and put in in your trusty mixing bowl. Poor water in it until the perlite is submerged. Next take the strainer and strain it out; you don't want the perlite too wet. Keep doing this, and putting it in the bottom of your bin until there is about a half inch covering the bottom.

Now it's time to work with your jars. Open them up and shake off the top layer of vermiculite into a bowl, it can be cooked and used later for other grows. If you're a rich bitch that throws away perfectly good items, throw it away. Now, put the flat part of your lid back on loosely and flip the jar upside down; tapping on the bottom (now top, because it's upside down ) lightly until the cake plops out onto the lid. Now, just place it on the perlite and do this for the rest; then close the lid on the terranium.

Once you notice pins forming, notice ones that don't get any larger after two or three days. Make sure you pick them, because they can be a real hassle; they can cause infected cakes and that is bad.

Harvesting and preserving
Now I'm sure you're all getting very excited. You just had your first successful grow! But it's not quite over just yet. You have to pick them, and preserve them or eat them on the spot.
To pick them, it is best to use a sharp knife; cutting them close as possible to the cake. Or, you can just grab them close to the cake and twist them off; either works; but I find they bruise too much when twisting.

Now; you have three choices depending on what you want to do. You can either eat them once you've picked them; put them in a closed tupperware container and put them in the fridge; or you can dry them. These methods are placed in order of what will make the mushrooms last the longest. Let's talk about the drying method, since the other two are simple as pie.

By far the least complicated method of drying is taking your freshly picked mushrooms and set them out evenly on a flat surface (plate, or serving tray) and place a dish drying towel over them and set them out in front of an open window, or a fan on low. Flip the mushrooms every six or twelve hour intervals. To tell if they are completely dry, they will be very crisp, having no bend in them at all. There you have it! A successfully grown and preserved batch of magic mushrooms for you to do whatever you want with.

Dunking and second flushes
What? It's not over yet? Oh no my friend, them cakes are still good for a second, third, and maybe even third flush. How you ask? Easy! Once your cakes have been fully picked, take them and dump them in a bowlful/cupful/whateverful of water, making sure they are fully submerged. Let it sit for at least twenty-four hours, but not passing thirty-six. Take the cake out and place it back where it was and repeat the procedures.