Strains

[kcar181]

Hey guys I'm planning on adventuring into the world of Mushroom growing. I headed over to azarius.net and found many strains to choose from. Any opinions on the best / easiest? Also is there a good guide to do a quick read through? I have a video on the subject but I wanted to double check it's info and possibly expand my knowledge.

Also am I right to assume spore prints are legal to possess and ship to USA? The site said the growkits are excluded from USA but it seems the prints would be ok.

Thanks in advanced for all your help. Any advice on materials and sterilization will be a great help as well.

 

[Viaticus]

First of all, welcome to the exciting world of mushroom cultivation.

Among the strains that are generally thoght as "easy ones" there are Golden Teacher, Cambodian, Amazonian and Ecuador. The first strain ever for me was Ecuador and it's still one of my personal favourites. It's not the world's fastest colonizer but it fruits easily and the trips it gives tend to be great.

For great grow guides and loads of other information on cultivation I'd recommend shroomery.org. It's usually a good idea to start with basic PF Tek and then move on to other teks (if one feels there is need) after getting familiar with the basic ideas and techniques.

Good luck with your new hobby!

 

[forest]

what about the Psilocybe mcphersonii "fanaticus" ?

 

[HeartCore]

Ecuador is one of my favorites.

My personal favorite though is amazonian. Its the first strain I grew. Easy to grow, big fruiting bodies. As for effects, I love ama and ecuador equally. Very visual, alway bring me where I want to go.

 

[forest]

i'm moving tomorrow ( away from parents, to my own little place!!!!!) and gonna order the easy pakket to start growing, kcar181, you could try that it's way cheaper, and it has these 5 great strains:

- Psilocybe cubensis "Golden Teacher"
- Psilocybe cubensis "Ecuador"
- Psilocybe cubensis "Thai"
- Psilocybe cubensis "Cambodian"
- Psilocybe cubensis "Amazonian"

for 35 euro's 5 siringes

 

[kcar181]

Sadly I don't think kits / siriges are legal to ship to the USA so it seems I gotta do it the hard way. I was leaning towards the ecuador too thanks for the info. I'll check out shroomery and keep you guys up to date

 

[HeartCore]

Sadly I don't think kits / siriges are legal to ship to the USA so it seems I gotta do it the hard way. I was leaning towards the ecuador too thanks for the info. I'll check out shroomery and keep you guys up to date

Thats no problem really. I started a few times from spore prints. Just build yourself a glovebox. There are plenty examples on both shroomery and mycotopia.net. Using a glove box, latex gloves and sterile wate to make syringes has worked magically each time.

 

[kcar181]

You mean you grew them fine from the prints or you mean you made syringes from the prints? Wouldn't that be alot of work considering you could just use the prints? Or are the syringes really that much easier?

 

[HeartCore]

You mean you grew them fine from the prints or you mean you made syringes from the prints? Wouldn't that be alot of work considering you could just use the prints? Or are the syringes really that much easier?

If you use syringes, you reduce the risk of contaminations greatly. I tried the first time from prints and had 28 jars contaminated out of 30. Nine years later I tried again, 40 jars with a homemade syringe: 2 jars contaminated. Its just much harder to work sterile from a print.

 

[kcar181]

Ah yea I thought it was illegal to send them to the USA but it seems it's just azarius policy. Looking into a different site for them.

 

[ExecutionStyle]

Here's my two cents:

Mexican-Cubes are pretty abundant fruiters.

I was recently forced to go without a syringe and it's easier than many make it sound (providing you have some common sense). I did 6 jars, only 1 contamed, which is pretty damn good considering I didn't use a glove box. Just make sure everything else is SUPER sterile. You don't want something silly, like improperly sterilized jars, to mess up your chances.

http://shroomwizard.com
This site has a really basic, affordable, and realistic guide to shroom growin'. The site is often talked down for it's unsterile techniques, but it worked for me and the ShroomWiz himself has been doing it for decades.

 

[Viaticus]

You might want to order prints and then make your own syringes from them. Prints don't look as suspicious as syringes and there is less change for the spores to lose their viability.

 

[HeartCore]

I was recently forced to go without a syringe and it's easier than many make it sound (providing you have some common sense). I did 6 jars, only 1 contamed, which is pretty damn good considering I didn't use a glove box. Just make sure everything else is SUPER sterile. You don't want something silly, like improperly sterilized jars, to mess up your chances.

Its a fact that its much easier to start from a syringe. There are so many contams flying around, especially in older houses, that its just asking for trouble. Some houses are just loaded with green mold spores.

But it CAN work, for sure, its just not the best way to start, especially if you are new to growing.

 

[kcar181]

Yea I'm worried about my house. It's about 100 years old and it used to house mill workers. But it's obvioously been renovated so maybe it doesnt matter much.

ExecutionStyle: Thanks alot that's exactly what I was hoping to find. great guide. I'll continue reading up on shroomery. This might take a few weeks to start up and get all the supplies. But if everyones interested I'll post my results.

 

[HeartCore]

100 years old house?

There is a chance it will work but I think a bigger chance it wont. Anyway, just make your plan and do it. Every grow is a learning process and eventually you'll master it. If you dont succeed from a print, you can always reconside?

I am a chaotic guy and whenever I take a shortcut in these processes,

 

[Brewmaster]

Hey got to EarthsTongue.com. They have tons of strains to choose from in print and syringe form. Plus they use 20cc syringes!!! Everywhere else sells 10cc. And they're all $20. So you get twice as much for the same price and your jars colonize in like a week with most strains. And they're in the U.S. so they don't go through customs or anything. I just got started a month ago myself and just pulled my second flush of "Creepers". They grew wonderfully and since I used 20cc of spores on only 6 jars, they colonized so quickly that there was no chance of contamination taking over all that mycelium. And like homeboy said, go to the shroomery.com for advice on growing. I rigged myself up "the poor man's terrarium" I think, with some aquarium equipment like bubble rocks under the perlite so the whole thing is self ventilating.

 

[HeartCore]

Hey Brew, did you already trip on the Creepers?

 

[kcar181]

Oh yea I saw that rig. Looks great. Didn't have the greatest instructions for it though but looks pretty straight foward. Was it expensive to make? Also do you have to change / add water at all after the initial watering or does it just get recycled through over and over? You still have to fan the air out right?

Sorry I had those question while reading the thread on shroomery

Ah nice thanks wonder why I haven't seen that site before. Looks to be very good. I as well am going to order the creepers seems to be overall pretty good.

Thanks for that was a huge help. (If I order now can I keep the syringe for a few months before use? Where should I store it?)

 

[Brewmaster]

No, Heart, I don't eat shrooms anymore. I just grow em to slang on the mean streets of Richmond. Really I just grow them for my friends and as a hobby, you know, just to see if I could. The first flush was gobbled up before they were evn dried and everyone who took em ( maybe 5 people ) all tripped face. Said they were some of the most "visual" shrooms they've ever had. ( I grow san pedro cactus for when I want to trip )

 

[Brewmaster]

Kcar, you shouldn't have to add more water if you put enough in in the first place. I use something call hygrolite instead of verm or perlite like the kid on that tek did, or maybe he used lava rocks.? Anyway, hygrolite is sweet if you can find it, I got mine from a local hydroponics shop. Grow rocks are good too, they're all a lot less messy than verm or perlite. I also put an aquarium heater in the water underneath the rocks as well so I used a lot of hygrolite and a lot of water. With the heater alot more water evaporates and if the heater ( $12 walmart ) isn't underwater it can melt the bottom of the tupperware and possibly start a fire. As for ventilation, that's the beautiful part. You poke a couple holes in the top so a little bit of air is escaping but also staying humid. Even if you get good equipment as opposed to the cheapest and smallest of everything ( me ), you should still be under the $100 mark.