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Many people are familiar with growing marijuana, but far less people are familiar with cultivating psilocybin mushrooms.  I have actually never cultivated magic mushrooms myself, but had two friends in college that made quite a bit of money doing this.  So I am extremely familiar with the process and have watched it being done, but I don’t have any actual hands on experience.

The most important thing that you will need to cultivate your own psilocybin mushrooms is a sterile environment.  Mold and bacteria can easily contaminate your mushroom spores and prevent them from growing properly.  So pick an area of your house dedicated to growing mushrooms and throughly clean the area and keep it clean as though its a hospital operating room.

The second thing that you will need is a spore syringe.  There are several legitimate companies out there that sell spore syringes for microscope research use only.  Magic mushroom spores are legal because the spores themselves do not contain any psilocybin or psilocin until they are cultivated into Mushroom.  So it’s legal for these companies to sell the spores, but it is illegal for someone to cultivate these spores.  This is a ridiculous, but great loophole in our perfect legal system.

You can order a spore syringe from one of the legitimate spore sample suppliers below:

Spores101 (http://www.spores101.com) - they sell spores in sterile viles for ~$15-38 depending on the strain.
SporeBank (http://www.sporebank.com) - they sell spores in sterile viles for ~$15-25 depending on the strain.
MicroSupply (http://www.micro-supply.com) - all spore viles are $10 regardless of the strain.

You will also need the following supplies:

 - Sterile Glass Jars (8)
 - Vermiculite (8 cups)
- Brown Rice Flour (3 cups)

Substrate Preparation

This step involves combining the Vermiculite (8 cups), Brown Rice Flour (3 cups) and water (4 cups) to make the substrate.  Put the Vermiculite in a bowl and pour water on top of it.  Put just enough water to be absorbed by the Vermiculite.  When you tilt the bowl you should see a little water pooling up on the sides.   Pour the Brown Rice Flour over the top of the wet Vermiculite so that it is spread evenly.

Take 8 glass jars and remove the tops of the jars.  Fill each glass loosely with the substrate mixture.  Divide the substrate mixture evenly across all the jars.  Fill each jar almost up to the top with loose substrate leaving half an inch from the top of each jar.  Fill the remaining half inch at the top of each jar with dry Vermiculite.  Shake each jar to even out the top layer of Vermiculite.

Use a nail to punch four holes on the north, south, east, and west corners of each of the jar lids.  Put the lids on the jars.  Tightly wrap foil across the tops of each of the lids to cover up the holes.

Take a pressure cooker and fill it up with about an inch of water.  Put the jars inside the pressure cooker spaced out evenly.   Close the lid on the pressure cooker and cook it for 60-90 minutes on the stove to sterilize the substrate jars.  Sterilize the needle while the pressure cooker is sterilizing the jars.

After the pressure cooker has cooled take out the individual jars.  Remove the foild wrapping from the top of each jar.  Take the syringe and inject the spores into the substrate as show above.  You should use one syringe per jar and press the needle as far down as it will go (1.5 inches). Do not touch the lid! Cover the top of the jar with foil after injecting the spores into the substrate to keep the jar sterile.

Colonization

During this phase the jars are left out so that the spores can germinate and form the mycelium to colonize the substrate.  As the time goes by, the fungus will spread throughout the jar. Eventually, the entire surface of the glass will be covered with fungus. Typically, the bottom of the jar is the last area to be colonized. Be on the look out for any contamination.   The entire colonization process usually takes around 20 days.

Growing Terrarium

Take a foil cake tray and fill it a quarter full with clay glanulate.  Take each jar and flip it upside down and bang it against the counter top to get the colonized substrate to go to the top of the jar.  Remove the lid and flip the jar upside down inside the cake tray on top of the glanulate.  Remove the jar exposing the substrate to the air, it should stand alone like a tower.  Put 2-3 jars for each foil cake tray.

Take a rubbermaid clear plastic tub and place the cake trays inside the tub, cut holes in the tub lid for air, and put the lid over the tub.  Put some water into the plastic tubs.  The tub should be stored between 72-80 degrees fahrenheit or 22-26 degrees celcius, in high humidity with a little light.  You should always see water drops on the inside of the plastic container at all times.

Normally, it takes about a week for pin heads to form if the rice cake was removed from the culture jar as soon as it was 100% colonized. It can happen after just a couple days if the network is well established, or it can take several weeks if things aren’t just perfect for the cake.

You should avoid the temptation to grow the mushrooms as large as possible. Significantly more psilocybin is produced during the early periods of growth. By letting the mushroom grow too large you are simply consuming nutrients and moisture from the rice cake for no purpose. Also, the mushrooms taste increasingly bad as they get larger. Lastly, the mycelium network in the cake can only provide so much in the way of nutrients and water to maturing mushrooms. If you let the mushrooms grow too big, they will hurt the development of other mushrooms on the cake. The mushrooms should be picked just as the cap is starting to tear away from the stalk.

Drying and Preservation

To dry the mushrooms properly you need to get the following:

- Wire Screen
- Carton of Damp-Rid or Damp-be-Gone (Anhydrous calcium chloride)
- Large, freezer size zip-lock bag

Put the mushrooms on the wire screen on top of one of the Damp-Rid sheets inside of the sealed freezer bag and allow to try in total darkness.

The reason this system works so well to dry the mushrooms is the calcium chloride is a good desiccant. It has a very strong affinity for moisture and can pull almost all the moisture out of the air. Eventually however, liquid will start to collect in the bottom of the bag. Mushrooms are 92% water by weight. This moisture has to go somewhere when the mushrooms are dried, and it will eventually find its way to the bottom of the bag.

You have several choices when moisture starts to collect in the bag. You can simply drain it out and continue to use the old desiccant. It will work, but you should be careful not to contaminate the upper side of the bag or the screen with residue from the desiccant. You do not want your mushrooms to touch the residue. For one thing, it tastes terrible, but in addition to this, the mushrooms will not dry completely. The residue will attract moisture. If the bag gets contaminated and you still want to use the old desiccant, try to pour it into a new bag without letting it touch the top side of the bag. Rinse the screen and place it in the bag.

If they are dried correctly, nearly all of the psycho-active compounds can be preserved for many months.

Dosage

Most people consume anywhere from half-an-eighth of an ounce to an eighth of an ounce depending on their bodysize and experience.  I can’t really help you out on dosage because mushrooms are like snowflakes and no two are the same in terms of potency.  Just be aware that fresh mushrooms more potent than dried mushrooms.

One final note. If you ever find that you have dosed too heavily, just remember that 90 minutes after ingestion will be the peak experience. Things will start to settle down after that. The good news is that medically you can’t overdose on psilocybin. If you remember these things, and believe them, they can help ease you through a high dose experience.