WHY DO MAGIC MUSHROOMS TURN BLUE?

When you grow your own mushrooms with a growkit, you may encounter many different colours. Sometimes your mushrooms will turn blue, which raises quite a few questions. Where does the blue colour come from? Are the blue spots harmful to your shrooms? How does that blue colour affect the strength of your mushroom? We explain it to you in this article.

Psilocybin causes blue spots

Although there is still a lot of uncertainty about the blue colour of magic mushrooms, recent research showed that the main reason is bruising. After picking your mushrooms, you will often see blue spots where you touched them. Every time you pick them up, move them or store them, these little bruises appear. Don't expect neon-blue spots (you will probably see those during your trip) but indigo or a little jeans-blue-like colours.

The blue colour is due to the substance psilocybin, the same active ingredient that gives the psychedelic effect. Bruising the mushroom releases a chemical reaction between different chemicals that create the blue colour. So at least with blue spots on your mushrooms, you can be sure you have a magic one.

The mycelium can also turn slightly blue. That does not immediately mean it has a fungal infection. However, it is important to check if it is actually blue or if it is a fungal reaction. You can do that with a cotton swab. Does that also colour blue? Then you're probably dealing with a fungus.

Are blue mushrooms stronger?

In general, the bluer the stain on the mushroom colours, the more psilocybin is or was present. Yet this does not directly say anything about the strength of the mushroom. This is because the reaction and blue colour is caused by a compound between different substances. On average, as many as six substances present are needed to get the blue colour on a shroom. There are many kinds of mushrooms that do not get blue spots at all because the combination of substances is not present, but still give great effects. A great example is the Panaeolus Cambodginiensis, or Copelandia Cambodginiensis. This mushroom turns blue very quickly. Although this shroom is among one of the stronger ones, it is nowhere near as strong as, say, the Copelandia Cyanescens Hawaiian. Which, by the way, is currently considered the most powerful mushroom!

Other colours on your mushrooms

Other colours may also appear in your grow kit. It is important to know what each colour means. Think of colours like black, green, yellow or even pink. In some cases, your mushrooms are no longer safe for use, and this can be seriously dangerous. For example, if mushrooms get black spots that smell unpleasant, this often indicates mould. Sometimes this can mean that your mushrooms are no longer safe for consumption. However, if you keep a close eye on the mushrooms and catch them in time, you can still save them from developing fungal infection.

Careful harvesting of your mushrooms

The blue spots on mushrooms are mainly caused by bruising. So it is important to harvest your shrooms as carefully as possible to avoid this. Think about wearing sterile gloves and a mouth mask. Should moulds and toxic toxins occur in your kit, you really don't want to inhale them. Careful handling of your grow kit is therefore very important. Not only to prevent your mushrooms from bruising, but also to prevent mould contamination of your growing soil. A healthy grow kit with a tended mycelium can ensure not one, but several harvests.

It is important to observe your grow kit closely and harvest on time. Before doing so, it is important to read up on how you will harvest the mushrooms. After all, you can stock up on the more difficult to obtain types of mushrooms. You do this, for example, by drying the mushrooms.

Mushroom cultivation

Growing your own magic mushrooms in, for example, a B+ grow kit is a painstaking but easy process. In about three weeks, you'll have them in stock and ready to use. Not only is growing your own mushrooms a great way to get your produce, it's also incredibly fun. The advantage of growing your own mushrooms is that you have a lot of control over their strength and dosage. Because we understand that inexperienced growers may have doubts about the dosage, we have created this handy mushroom calculator for you.