Ultimate Guide to Growing Magic Mushrooms Indoors

Making something from scratch feels so good. It gives you a sense of pride and satisfaction like none other. It’s the feeling you get when you bake your bread, grow vegetables in your garden, or prepare your favourite restaurant dish at home. Growing magic mushrooms will give you the same feeling, only that instead of looking forward to their nutritional benefits, you’ll be waiting to get high. This is good news for people who love to get stoned because accessibility is everything to them.

What Are Magic Mushrooms?

Magic mushrooms are the mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a psychoactive and hallucinogenic compound that occurs naturally. You will find magic mushrooms growing vibrantly in the wild or cultivated indoors for personal or commercial purposes. The compound psilocybin is among the well-known psychedelics.

Some communities have used magic mushrooms for many centuries to take advantage of the hallucinogenic properties. The mushrooms are dried, then mixed into the drinks or foods. Some people like to eat them freshly picked also. Whichever way, the effect will be felt. There are many names given to the mushrooms, including shrooms, blue meanies, and liberties. Terms like agaric, Amani, liberty caps, golden tops, and mushies are also popular.

Recognizing the Shrooms

Magic mushrooms have the appearance of dried ordinary mushrooms, having dark-brown caps and long thin whitish-gray stems. The center is either white or light brown. Mistaking something else for the magic mushrooms is potentially fatal because there are some poisonous mushrooms in the wild. The only way to be safe is to source the shrooms from a reputable dealer. You may also purchase the spores from them and grow out the mushrooms in your house.

Once you have your mushroom garden, observe the mushrooms as they go through various growth stages. Please do not wait until they are fully grown and are producing spores to start harvesting. The rule of thumb is to start picking them once the caps open. If you wait any longer, the veil will break, and the mushrooms will begin releasing spores.

When you’ve got your harvest, add the mushrooms to your food, brew them like coffee or tea, and drink the liquid. Some people add them to tobacco or add them to their weed joint. Liquid psilocybin can also be extracted as they do for CBD oil or hash oil from cannabis. items such as flowers, weed edibles from Just Cannabis, and more. The liquid that comes off is clear brown and is sold in a tiny vial.

Growing Magic Mushrooms at Home 

You will enjoy how simple growing the mushrooms is. The process begins with obtaining spores from a reputable source. Spores are analogous seeds that grow into plants. The mushrooms grow from spores and end up as spores if left on their own. However, since you will need the mushrooms, you will not get to the last spores stage. So, let’s see how to grow them.

The Things You Need:

Getting a grow kit is one of the easiest ways to increase your mushrooms. The kit comes with a substrate, a spore syringe, and a grow bag. This would be all you needed to start. Some other kits will even contain mycelium, which is the main body of the mushrooms. All you would have to do was add some water, and voila! You’re good to go.

If a kit is not within your reach or you want to embrace the entire experience, starting from scratch is the way to go. The process would need more of your attention and effort, but this method produces consistent results. It is also an excellent learning experience, and you reduce the likelihood of having contamination in your ‘garden.’

A Homemade Growing Kit

It’s easy to make a growing kit at home. Here is what you need:

• A 12 cc spore syringe
• 12 shoulderless half-pint jars
• A small nail and hammer
• Strainer
• Mixing bowl
• Large pot whose lid fits tightly
• A small towel
• Spray bottle
• Micropore tape
• A drill and a quarter-inch bit
• Large clear plastic storage box (50 -115 litres capacity)
• Heavy-duty tin foil
• Perlite

Make the Substrate:

• Quarter cup drinking water for each jar
• Two-thirds cup vermiculite for each jar (you may need more)
• A quarter cup organic brown rice flour for each jar

Observe the Utmost Hygiene:

Whether you purchase a growing kit or make your own at home, be aware that growing mushrooms requires a great deal of patience and hygiene. Cleanliness prevents contamination, and mushrooms are quite sensitive to pollutants. You will need several cleaning supplies, including a disinfectant, rubbing alcohol, air sanitizer, and a torch lighter. You may also want to don a surgical mask and latex gloves whenever you handle the mushrooms and the equipment.

The Planting Process

The process requires lots of preparation and accuracy. Do the following:

1. Get 12 Jars

• Your jars will need holes from which the mushrooms will rise when they sprout.
• Disinfect the nail and the hammer, and use them to punch holes on the lid’s circumference.
• Try to space the holes as evenly as possible.

2. Make the Substrate

• Bring together the substrate ingredients.
• Get your mixing bowl, and in it, put in the two-thirds cup vermiculite and a quarter cup of water for each jar.
• Next, disinfect your strainer, making sure to shake off the excess water.
• In the mixing bowl, add the quarter-cup rice flour for each jar, and give it a thorough mix.

3. Fill the Jars

• Get your jars, arrange them on a flat surface, and loosely pack your substrate inside the jars.
• Ensure that the substrate level is high enough, at least up to half an inch below the jar rims.
• Get rubbing alcohol and sterilize the exposed section of the glass jar. Top up the remaining space with dry vermiculite.

4. Sterilize Using Steam 

• Place the lids on the jars and ensure that they attach to the jars tightly. Cover the jars with foil. The foil ensures that no condensation or water can get into the jars through the holes.
• Get the towel and place it on the base of the pan. Arrange your jars on the towel. Get water and pour it into the pan until it rises halfway up the jars. Put the pan on medium heat and slowly bring it to a boil.
• Let the water boil, and the steam rises to the jars for 75 to 90 minutes. If the water decreases significantly, add some more hot water.
• Throughout the steaming process, the jars should remain upright.
• When the time elapses, turn off the heat and leave the jars to cool at room temperature for some hours. Leaving them overnight would provide enough cooling time with no interference.

5. Get the Spore Syringe Ready

• You need to sterilize the spore syringe also before use. Get a lighter, and heat the syringe needle until it is red hot. Place it on a clean surface, and wait for it to cool down completely.
• Get some rubbing alcohol and some cotton. Wipe off any substances on the needle, and be careful not to touch it.
• Get the jar of rubbing alcohol, place the syringe in, and pull back your plunger a little bit, and give it a thorough shake. Squirt the alcohol out, pull the plunger to the end to allow the alcohol to evaporate
• The next task is to assemble the spore syringe. With your items sterilized, you may not want to risk contaminating them again. Get your latex gloves, put on a surgical mask, and get to work.

6. Inject the Spores

• By now, you have got all the equipment ready. It’s time to inject the spores.
• Peel off the foil from your cool jars, and insert the syringe through the holes you poked. Ensure the needle gets as far in as possible.
• Now, inject the spore solution inside the jar, about a quarter of it. Do this for each of the holes.
• Moving from one hole to another, wipe the needle and syringe with rubbing alcohol to avoid transferring contamination.
• After attending to each hole, cover it with a piece of micropore tape.
• Do this for all the jars and all the holes.

7. Hold Your Horses

• As mentioned earlier, planting magic mushrooms is a game of patience and sanitization. If you’re not cleaning or disinfecting, you are waiting. For this step, your patience is paramount.
• Get your jars and place them in a clean area. Ensure that nothing disturbs them. The place’s temperature should range between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (room temperature) and away from direct sunlight.
• In the next 7 to 14 days, some white mycelium will start to appear.
• 3 to 4 weeks from the day of planting, your jars should have lively mycelium colonies, called ‘cakes.’ It is not yet time to open the jars, though. Give the mycelium another week, so it gets stronger.
• If you notice contamination in any of the jars, dispose of its contents carefully. If you do this indoors, get some secure bags and avoid opening the lids.

8. Build the Fruiting Chamber

• Get your large plastic storage container. Use your drill and a quarter-inch bit to drill holes on the container, even on its lid and base. The holes should be two inches apart.
• Elevate the container by placing four steady objects to act as stands beneath the container. The items could be blocks of wood, evenly shaped rocks, or anything that will ensure stability. The elevation allows airflow, going even to the bottom of the container.
• Use a towel to cover the container. It helps to retain moisture.

9. Prepare the Perlite

• Get the perlite, place it on your strainer, and let it soak under cold running water.
• Give it time to drain completely, then spread the perlite inside the container.
• Do this repeatedly until you achieve 4 to 5 inches of base covering.

10. Moisten the Cakes

• Your cakes need moisture at this point. Get them out of the jars, being careful not to break the mycelium.
• Place the cakes under cold running water. The water should be poured gently onto the cakes to avoid damaging them. When doing so, any loose vermiculite falls off.
• Get your cooking pot, pour some lukewarm water in it, and place the cakes inside.
• Take a tray, plate, or another pot, and put them under the surface of the water. Leave this setup on the counter at room temperature for 24 hours. This water treatment allows the cakes to hydrate sufficiently.

11. Transfer

• The transfer begins with rolling the cakes in dry vermiculite.
• Take the cakes out of the water, and move them until they are completely coated.
• Pick the cakes and lay them out in the fruiting chamber.
• Slightly wet them with a spray bottle, and fan using the container lid before closing the container.

12. Wait for the Fruiting

• Every day, open the container and mist the cakes using a spray bottle.
• Do not overdo it so that the cakes soak.
• Fan the inside with the lid at least six times a day. Fanning improves air circulation inside the container.
• With time, the mushrooms will start to appear.

Length of the Wait 

After the transfer, you will need to wait, but not for too long. The mushrooms will be ready for harvest in the next 5 to 12 days. They first appear as white bumps before sprouting fully and looking like ‘pins.’ They will also have a structure built like a sheet underneath the cap. Once you see these signs, harvest them immediately. If you wait any longer, they may start to reproduce.

When harvesting, hold the mushroom by its stem and carefully twist its base while pulling it upwards. Take out all the mature ones.

On average, the time it takes to grow your magic mushrooms, from tiny spores to harvest time ranges between 1 to 2 months.

Growing your magic mushrooms takes a process, but once you master it, you can do it on autopilot. Contact CBD & Shrooms directly on our website for any clarification on the growing process. However, if you want to skip the entire process and enjoy some ready shrooms, we stock some high-quality ones.