BREEDING PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS WITH A GROWKIT - PART 2
This is my second cultivation report on Magic Mushrooms. Read my first blog about growing mushrooms here: Breeding psilocybin mushrooms. This second Magic Mushroom grow report would be about my first harvest and the start of a new "grow" also called "flush". Just a quick reminder, so I have grown and harvested Golden Teacher Mushrooms with an all-in-one growkit.
Harvesting my magic mushroom all in one growkit
After about 3 weeks, it was time to harvest my first cultivated mushrooms with a growkit. I chose to harvest them when about 50% had opened the hat and 50% were intact. This way, I can show you clearly the difference between harvest your magic mushrooms on time and not too late. See picture under this text. The mushroom on the right is ready for harvest, better is when the membrane under the cap of the mushroom is not yet open but almost, This is difficult to see. That's why it's easier to harvest ass you see on the picture. Spores will not fall right away out of the head when the membrane opens up a bit. Mushroom on the left, it's too late, spores have fallen will not be beneficial for your second or third flush. This doesn't mean you won't get a second or third flush.
Normally you want to keep 75% intact, so unopened. This means that the membrane under the cap of the mushroom is not yet broken in at least 75% of the mushrooms. Often this happens just after the hats of the mushrooms have opened. This moment is when the mushrooms are strongest and should be harvested.
Use a mouth mask and gloves during harvesting your psilocybin mushrooms
So I started again with hygiene first, I put on my mouth mask and gloves before I opened the growbag and took out the grow kit. The mushrooms had grown big! Now we need to start the task of picking. You can do this picking by gently grasping the mushroom (s) and turn them first to the left then to the right while carefully pulling them out of the growkit. You want to remove as much or actually everything from the mushroom as possible to give room for new growth. If the mushroom (s) are difficult to come off, you can use a sterile knife to cut them loose. In about 10 to 20 minutes I loosened and harvested all the magic mushrooms. I cut off the bottom with a knife, where the mushroom was stuck, because the substrate is on it. The mushrooms or the substrate can turn blue, this is due to bruises and will not hurt.
Drying my psilocybin magic mushrooms
I had no intention of eating the Golden Teacher mushrooms fresh right away and start tripping, so I decided to dry the psilocybin mushrooms. I did this by placing them on double-layered kitchen paper to dry, which is also possible on toilet paper. I put on a fan so that the moisture was blown away and the air changed. After about one week to 10 days and changing the kitchen paper in between, the Magic Mushrooms were completely dry. After this, they can be stored in airtight Tupperware boxes or glass jars in the dark for months to years.
Re-setting up my magic mushroom grow kit All-in-One for a new flush (harvest)
Of course, it is possible to get multiple grows or "flushes" from a Magic Mushroom Growkit. I will certainly do this and explain how this should be done. You do this immediately during / after harvesting your mushrooms. It is actually very simple: Place the growkit with the lid back on in the refrigerator overnight (about 8 to 12 hours). Then I take it out, and the lid off. Finally, 500ml (1200cc & 2100cc) water goes into my Growbag and the Growkit goes back into the Growbag. Now I just fold the Growbag again once or twice, so that it is closed, and I put the paper clip back on. Now we have to wait for the first "Pinheads" to emerge. After this, I open the Growbag again daily for fresh air and therefore oxygen. After about two weeks, I was able to harvest the next Flush again! So those mushrooms grow really fast. A tip: keep a close eye on them, because they grow at bulletspeed! The (repeat) process is exactly the same for every flush. You can continue until the Growkit is completely exhausted. I'm already going for my third flush now! How do you know if the Growkit is exhausted? Well, then no more new mushrooms will come out.
Hopefully you have learned from this and are you already curious about which Magic Mushrooms and Growkits we offer. More info about growing mushrooms with a growkit: Growing Your Own Mushrooms growkit
