Mushroom Grow Journal - PF-tek, Casing

nashbar said:

just a hint about strains... marijuana or cubensis

THEY'RE ALL THE SAME

i encourage someone to test it and prove me wrong. i don't have photos, but i've grown multiple strains in the same grow and couldn't tell them apart, aside from the labelling that i made...

penis envy might be an exception, i haven't grown it myself so i don't have any proof. i've seen conflicting information on whether PE is a function of genetics or environment. there's pictures on www.shroomery.org of penis envy that look just like every every cubensis...

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All of the P. Cubensis "strains" are actually "land races" - I hesitate even to use that hence the quotation marks. There are distinct differences in the shape of the fruit, the growing characteristics, the propensity for the mycelium to become rhyzomorphic and to a tiny degree - potency. If you chose for strength you will be dissapointed. There are differing ratios of psilocybin, psilocin and baeocyctine in each "land race" there is also another compound that is very poorly understood. It can be found in the rare mushroom that stains green rather than blue but I have yet to find anyone - including myself that has detected a noticeable difference between this chemical an the other two. The baeocyctine is a very long story, to me it seems that it has an "upper" or jittery effect and I opt for mushrooms with as little of this chemical in it as possible.

All that being said - aside from Penis Envy which is an anomoly, any spores you get will be just about the same - only the most experienced conesure of p. Cubensis mushrooms will be able to detect a difference.

If one opts for other types, such as Concybe, P. Mexicana and the like then they will find an enormous difference in potency but these are completely different organisms. Some are very difficult to grow, some demand entirely different temperatures and substrates (some of the most potent species fruit only on wood with high sugar content).

Aside from those, most of the others are of small stature and their yield even taking into consideration their increased potency are never equal to p. cubensis in terms of raw mg of active chemicals.

I encourage anyone who has managed to get half a dozen good grows under their belt to try some of the more exotic species - it is very gratifying to get one of them to fruit and the highs are quite different from that of cubensis. I find that the P. Mexicana is one of the purest, most crystaline, least confusing, least introspective highs in the group.

Coop25 said:

i agree with Potheadsmoker, iv been reading up on the PF Tek method for about a month, and in no way did i ever hear boiling a pot of water would work, YOU NEED A PRESSURE COOKER

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Let us put this to rest. You do not need a pressure cooker in order to grow mushrooms. Neither does a hydroponics grower of pot need a PH meter or strips. You don't need a hammer to build a house either.

There are methods of sterilizing grain and other substrates that don't require 1 hour of 15 lbs per square inch of pressure or 250 degrees. You can use progressive sterilization and you can get lucky.


Progressive sterilization involves allowing the endospores of nasties to germinate. Germinated spores are most vulnerable to 212 degrees of wet heat.


If you take your grain and soak it, or boil the grain until it is at the correct moisture throughout you can then allow that grain to "incubate" for a day or two and then boil the jars you have placed the grain in for an hour. Wait a day or two, Then do that process over again for two or three hours, what you will have done is to allow the spores to germinate, killed that germinated organism and then allowed any surviving spores the chance to germinate whereupon you will have killed those as well.

That coupled with a perfect willingness to toss any contaminated jars you encounter through diligence will get you a finally sucessful grow. But this involves a total understanding of what it is you are doing and an ability to spot contamination at an early stage, something that newbies have endless trouble with.

Your implements must be sterile as well and this pesents another problem as spores on instruments will not germinate as they are not resting on a wet and nutritious surface. In this case you can imerse your instruments in pure alcohol or high concentrations of bleach for extended periods.


Now wouldn't it be a better use of your time to save up your money for a good, under $100 pressure cooker?

a lotta good info in this thread