Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook Read online

  Several years after Falconer’s book was published, scientists working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture discovered that many of the contamination problems previously associated with mushroom production were eliminated by using horse manure that had been subjected to heat sterilization before being inoculated with Agaricus mycelium.This process created in essence what was the first pure mushroom “spawn.” Then, in 1930, while working at Pennsylvania State College (still today one of the leading centers of mushroom cultivation research), mycologist James W. Sinden found that sterilized wheat grain made an even more effective and robust spawn substrate. Whole grain would in time prove itself a nearly universal spawn medium and has remained the medium of choice for the cultivation of many species of mushrooms to this day.

  In the late 1950s, the French mycologist Roger Heim was the first to successfully cultivate several Psilocybe species, using materials brought back from his travels with R. Gordon Wasson in Mexico. To determine optimal conditions for fruiting, he tested each species they collected on a variety of sterilized substrates. With Psilocybe cubensis, he found that the best fruitings occurred on cased, sterilized horse dung. However, because of the relative obscurity of Psilocybe mushrooms and their powerful effects, along with the fact that Heim’s writings were not translated into English for nearly twenty years, his work remained mostly unknown to the wider world.

  The latter part of the 1960s saw the publication of a number of “underground” pamphlets and booklets describing the manufacture and cultivation of a variety of psychedelic drugs (many of them at that time still legal to possess), among them several species of Psilocybe mushrooms. However, the techniques they described were either crudely presented or far too technical for the average person to utilize with much success, and many of the books gave the impression that perhaps even the authors themselves had not put their own methods to the test.

  It was not until the publication of two books in the late 1970s, O.T. Oss and O.N. Oeric’s Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide (1976) and Dr. Steven H. Pollock’s Magic Mushroom Cultivation (1977), that reliable techniques of Psilocybe mushroom cultivation became widely available. While the methods these books described were still fairly complicated for the layperson to master, they were well researched and clearly presented, and with a modest effort and perhaps a little luck, just about anyone could make them work. The two books covered similar material, but each took a slightly different approach to the subject, and both would prove influential on future developments of the art.

  O.T. Oss and O.N. Oeric were pseudonyms of brothers Dennis and Terence McKenna. Their book was the outgrowth of their experiments with Psilocybe cubensis cultivation on sterilized rye berries using James Sinden’s grain spawn methods. As the brothers discovered, this species grew and fruited quite happily from rye, especially when a sterile casing layer à la Falconer was applied atop the colonized grain. In their method, spores were germinated on a sterile agar medium and the resulting mycelium was transferred onto sterilized rye grain in quart canning jars. The casing layer was added directly to the colonized jar cultures, and fruiting would commence several weeks later. The relative simplicity of their method, with its reliance upon the use of more or less readily available ingredients and tools, along with the book’s quirky aesthetics and psychedelic, sci-fi musings, served to give it wide appeal, and spread the mushroom and its message far and wide.

  Pollock’s book was decidedly less whimsical than the McKenna’s and only remained in print for a brief time, but it was perhaps ultimately just as influential. In it, he described the results of his experiments on the cultivation of a wide array of active Psilocybe species on a variety of substrates. While he too found that P. cubensis fruited from a number of different cereal grains, he settled upon brown rice rather than rye as his preferred substrate, since it was cheap and widely available. This was a fortunate choice for two reasons. First of all, some twenty years later it would be determined that mushrooms grown on brown rice are among the most potent reported for this species, containing as much as 1% alkaloids by dried weight.4 More importantly, it would later inspire one of the great advances in simple Psilocybe mushroom cultivation methods, the “Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique.” Sadly, Pollock never lived to take credit for his legacy, as he was murdered under mysterious circumstances in his Texas home in 1983, at the age of 33.

  Meanwhile, in autumn of 1972, students at the University of Washington, Seattle, discovered that the bark mulch used to landscape buildings and greens around campus was covered with a species of Psilocybe mushroom, Psilocybe stunzii. It was quickly determined that these mushrooms, nicknamed “Blue Ringers” for the brilliant colors they turned upon handling, were quite active, and they soon became a popular recreational psychedelic. Though the mushrooms fruited rather prolifically on their own, observant students discovered that portions of mycelium-impregnated mulch could be transferred onto virgin bark to speed the dispersal of the organism and promote larger fruitings, much as had been done with Agaricus in France for hundreds of years. The intervening years saw the description of several Psilocybe species from the Pacific Northwest that were new to science, among them Psilocybe cyanescens, P. cyanofibrillosa, and P. azurescens. All of these discoveries led to the development of methods for the outdoor cultivation of wood-inhabiting Psilocybe species, as detailed in Paul Stamets’ (himself a student in Washington at the time) book, Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms.

  In 1991, an enterprising experimenter by the dubious name of Psilocybe Fanaticus published a new cultivation manual, The Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique. His book described a highly efficient and nearly foolproof technique of Psilocybe cubensis cultivation on brown rice and vermiculite “cakes” in half-pint mason jars. While this method (the “PF Tek,” as it came to be known) obviously borrowed much from its predecessors, it was unique in a number of important ways.

  First of all, the substrate it utilized was a mixture of moistened brown rice flour and vermiculite. Its open, airy structure made it an ideal medium for the rapid and vigorous growth of the fungus, eliminating the need for shaking or otherwise disturbing the substrate after inoculation. It was also readily sterilized in a simple boiling water bath, obviating the need for one of the more prohibitively expensive and hard-to-obtain pieces of equipment previously essential for mushroom cultivation, the pressure cooker. Second, the PF substrate was covered in a thin layer of pure, dry vermiculite, which served as an effective barrier to contaminants during inoculation and incubation.This allowed the cultures to be handled openly without the need for glove boxes or careful sterile techniques. Minimizing much of the risk of contamination in this way did away with yet another obstacle that had previously stymied many a would-be cultivator. By utilizing an aqueous suspension of spores as inoculum, the PF Tek also eliminated the need for difficult and contamination-prone agar techniques. After the substrate had been sterilized, it was injected at several locations from a syringe containing a sterile spore solution. The pre-hydrated spores soon germinated at many locations throughout the jar, and the substrate quickly colonized.

  Rather than relying upon a casing layer to promote fruiting, the PF substrate was popped out of the jar as a solid “cake,” which was then placed into a small chamber containing a thick underlayer of moist perlite (an inert water-absorbing material used in horticulture), which served to wick water into the cake as well as humidify the atmosphere within the chamber. When placed beneath sufficient lighting, the cakes soon fruited at many locations on their outer surfaces.

  The utter simplicity of the Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique, combined with the rapid dissemination of information in the age of Internet news-groups and websites, created a flurry of new interest in Psilocybe mushroom cultivation and spawned an entire generation of amateur growers.5

  Meanwhile, at the very same time that Psilocybe Fanaticus was perfecting his methods, another innovative amateur mycologist, Rush Wayne, PhD, was quietly preparing a cultivation revolution of his own. W
ayne, a biochemist by training, had become interested in the idea of growing edible mushrooms at home, but his familiarity with the complications of sterile culture work had discouraged him from trying. That is, until he read a journal article describing the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in orchid seed germination. Apparently the peroxide killed bacteria, yeasts, and fungal spores in the agar medium, while leaving the orchid seeds themselves unharmed, since orchids, like most multi-celled organisms, produce peroxidases, enzymes that catalize the oxidation of compounds by peroxides. Wayne wondered whether this method could be applied to mushroom culture work, given that mushroom-producing fungi also synthesize peroxidases.

  He performed a long series of experiments on different fungi and media, using a variety of peroxide concentrations, and discovered that his hunch was correct: most mushroom species grew quite happily in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, while contaminant organisms did not. As long as the media were sterile to begin with, the presence of relatively low concentrations of peroxide rendered the cultures resistant to contamination for long periods, allowing them to be handled in the open air without specialized techniques or equipment. As with the PF Tek, gone was the need for air filtration, clean rooms, or glove boxes. Wayne published the results of his research in a 1996 book, Growing Mushrooms the Easy Way: Home Mushroom Cultivation with Hydrogen Peroxide.

  Hydrogen peroxide is ubiquitous in nature, thus it is not surprising that fungi should thrive in its presence. Chemically, it is simply water containing an additional oxygen atom. Since this makes it a relatively unstable molecule, the extra atom is readily released as a free radical. Free radicals are highly reactive and quickly bond to nearby molecules, which can themselves then become free radicals, beginning a chain reaction. If this cascade takes place unchecked within a biological system, it generally leads to cell death. Most multi-celled organisms, fungi among them, produce hydrogen peroxide and peroxidase enzymes as a means of protection against bacteria, yeasts, and viruses. In addition, fungi use peroxides and peroxidases to break down the cell walls of their food sources. Since most fungi produce peroxidases, hydrogen peroxide offers no protection against living fungi, including contaminant molds. Nevertheless it does destroy spores. Therefore, as Wayne discovered, as long as the medium was thoroughly sterilized or pasteurized to begin with, the addition of peroxide to cultures effectively protected them from all airborne contaminants.

  Without question,Wayne’s discovery represented a true revolution for generalized mushroom cultivation techniques. What the PF Tek did for Psilocybe cubensis cultivation, the “peroxide tek” does for the cultivation of nearly all species of mushroom-producing fungi. A practice that had one been open only to experts with specialized skills and expensive equipment was now made available to anyone with a pressure cooker6, a few mason jars, and a clean-enough kitchen counter.

  It is no exaggeration to state that the book you hold in your hands would not have been written without Rush Wayne’s discovery and writings. The inclusion of peroxide into our own repertoire allowed us to explore mushroom cultivation to a far greater depth than we had previously done. Chances are, without Wayne’s work, we would have called it quits in frustration long before we had even thought about writing our own cultivation manual. For that reason, our book is dedicated to Wayne, as well as to the many other pioneers of mushroom cultivation who preceded him. It is our wish that this book may similarly serve to motivate others to explore the fascinating and beautiful mysteries of the mycological universe.

  2

  THE BIOLOGY OF MUSHROOMS

  Picture this: a cow patty on a summer day in a grassy field on a dairy farm somewhere in the sunny tropics. Atop and embedded within this cow patty stands a solitary, majestic specimen of Psilocybe cubensis. Its stem is sturdy and plumb straight, its cap open, flat as a dinner plate, shadowing the turd in its wide, dark penumbra. For all the world it looks like the cow patty has somehow acquired a parasol in order to shade itself from the ravaging effects of the sun’s rays. From out of the darkness rains a silent, invisible, seemingly endless cloud of spores, carried away to places unknown on each passing breeze. Hold this image in your mind as you read this chapter; in it you will find most of what you will need to know about mushroom biology.

  This chapter contains a fair amount of complex information and technical jargon.You may find yourself yawning at the mere thought of wading through information about the behavior and biology of fungi. Then again, maybe you take great pleasure in exploring new areas of scientific knowledge. However you feel about the prospect, we ask you to bear with us, since understanding the underlying processes at play in the mushroom life cycle will make the cultivation techniques we present much clearer. If and when something goes not quite according to plan, this information will help you make real sense of what you are seeing so you can alter your approach appropriately.

  This chapter is as much about dispelling misconceptions as it is about presenting new information. That’s because most of us think we have an idea about what mushrooms are and how they behave in the world, and most of these beliefs are quite mistaken.We know this from personal experience. When we first attempted to cultivate mushrooms, we assumed we knew all there was to know about them, and our efforts failed rather spectacularly. Only when we really began to understand their mysteries did we meet with success.

  What is a Mushroom?

  Relatively few of us have anything to do with fungi, at least not by choice.7 This is a cultural phenomenon as much as anything else.When most people think of mushrooms, they imagine either the bland and innocuous toppings on their pizza, or the exotic, ornate toadstools of fairy tale and legend, the mere taste of which will drive one mad, if not kill him outright. For the vast majority of North Americans, mushrooms are either fearful poisons or inoffensive vegetables, and in either case not worthy of much thought. Even if you are in that tiny minority for whom mushrooms do offer fascination, wonder, and delight (likely owing to one or more experiences with a species of Psilocybe), you probably learned little to nothing about them in your high school or college biology courses.

  So what exactly is a mushroom? A mushroom is only one part of a fungus, and not a thing in itself, much like you and your left elbow are connected but can hardly be said to be one and the same. Strictly speaking, mushrooms are the reproductive structures of some fungi8, roughly equivalent to the flowers on an apple tree, which contains the “seeds” of future trees.

  That said, fungi are neither plant nor animal, though they have similarities with both. Not surprisingly, there has always been a lot of confusion swirling around the proper classification of these mysterious and secretive creatures. Most of us tend to think of mushrooms and fungi as a strange variety of plant, since they often spring up from the ground like plants, and appear unable to get up and walk (or dance or swim) around like we lucky animals can. This is the primary misconception most of us have about fungi, and the one that you that you should dispense with straight away. So here it is: fungi are not plants, and growing mushrooms is not like gardening.9

  Then again, fungi are not animals either, though despite appearances they are much more closely related to animals than plants. Plants, algae, and some bacteria synthesize their own food from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water, and thus are known as autotrophs. All other organisms, fungi included, are heterotrophs, meaning they derive energy from plants, or things that eat plants (say, a fish), or things that eat things that eat plants (a bigger fish).That’s pretty much where the similarities between animals and fungi end, however.

  Fungal Classification & Taxonomy

  In order to understand how fungi fit into the “animal, vegetable, mineral” order of things, you need to understand the more formal system biology uses to classify organisms, which is known as Linnaean taxonomy (named for Carolus Linnaeus, the 18th century Swedish botanist and physician who first devised it). In this system, every individual species is given a unique two-part (or binomial) Latin name, such as Psilocybe c
ubensis or Homo sapiens.These two names refer to the last two categories, Genus and Species, of an eight-part hierarchy that organizes all living things by their biological similarity to one another.10 The divisions, in order from largest to smallest, are Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. The easiest way to get a sense of this system is to see it in action:

  Examples of the Linnaean Taxonomic System

  As you can see from the table, the higher you go in the ranking, the greater the number of species included in each category. Fruit flies, peas, humans, and Psilocybe mushrooms are all found in the same domain, Eukarya, and thus are all more closely related to one another than they are to bacteria. Conversely, the further down in the rankings that you go, the more species begin to diverge from one another.

  For our purposes here, the most important ranks to consider are Kingdom, Genus, and Species. There are five kingdoms11, and the fungi reside within their own, the Kingdom Fungi. While there are numerous variations on the theme, the one thing all fungi have in common and what sets them apart from other organisms is that they digest their food externally and then absorb its component nutrients into their cells. All species of fungi described in this book are in the genus Psilocybe. Finally, every species has a unique binomial, such as Psilocybe cubensis or Psilocybe azurescens.12

  The Fungal Llife Cycle

  In order to get a good sense of exactly what fungi are, it helps to understand what they do for a living, how they get around, and what kind of love lives they lead. A good way to get a handle on this is to trace the fungal life cycle, the journey from birth to death, repeated endlessly with each successive generation. Understanding the life cycles of organisms is an excellent way of sorting out what is unique to each of them, since no two species do it quite the same way.