How to Grow Magic Mushrooms | Beginner Grow Guide (2024)

What are Mushrooms?

These aren’t just any mushrooms – these are magic mushrooms. Also known as psilocybin mushrooms, these mushrooms are well-known for their psychedelic effect when ingested.

How Do Mushrooms Grow

Magic mushrooms grow the same way as other mushrooms. They begin their life cycle as spores, growing through feeding on the organic matter until they grow into the form with which most users are familiar.

Unlike plants, fungi get their nutrition from organic matter, though that matter can take a wide number of forms.

How Magic Mushrooms Change Your Brain

Magic mushrooms are psychedelic. When you ingest them, your body transforms the psilocybin in the mushroom into a substance called psilocin.

This substance, in turn, can distort the way the sensory processing parts of your brain work. This means that not only might you experience auditory or visual hallucinations, but you may also experience radical shifts in how you perceive time or movement.

As you might imagine, combining mushrooms with other substances can lead to even more changes in the way your brain works.

What You Need to Get Started Growing Mushrooms

Before you start growing, you’ll need the right equipment. There are certain pieces of equipment that almost everyone agrees you need, while there are others that simply might make growing your mushrooms a bit easier.

As always, it’s up to you to decide which items are most important for your operation.

All the Essentials For Starting Your Mushroom Farm

There are a handful of items that most consider a necessity for growing mushrooms. These items include:

• Mushroom spores
• At least one spore syringe
• Substrate materials (brown rice flour, vermiculite, and water)
• Pint jars
• Mixing Bowl
• Tin foil
• Plastic storage jars

Optional Items to Make Your Life Easier & Increase Chances of Success

There are also a handful of items that aren’t one hundred percent necessary, but that can help you to be more successful. These items include:

• Incubator
• Humidifier
• Dehydrator
• Fruiting chamber
• Antibacterial aerial spray
• Surgical gloves and mask
• A basic magic mushroom grow kit

Guide to Growing Magic Mushrooms: Setting Up For Ideal Growing Conditions

As with anything else you’d want to grow, you’ll want to set up an ideal growing environment in order to get the best yield from your mushroom harvest. Doing so requires taking an umber of steps to not only make sure that the mushrooms have the best possible substrate in which to grow but that you’re also set up for harvesting in aw ay that will maximize your crops.

Stage 1: Setting Up The Substrate

You’ll want to start up by setting up your substrate. The substrate is simply a technical term for the material on which your mushrooms will feed, and setting up your growth medium is going to have a huge impact on your mushrooms’ growth.

Technically, you can grow your magic mushrooms on just about any organic substrate, but most will turn towards a good mixture of brown rice flour, vermiculite, and water.

Stage 2: Inoculating the Substrate (Growing the Mycelium)

Now it’s time to grow the mycelium, also known as inoculating your substrate. In simpler terms, is the process by which you introduce your mushroom spores to their growth medium.

You’ll need to thoroughly clean the room in which you’re working at this point, as accidentally introducing any other kind of airborne mold to the substrate could introduce too much competition for your mushrooms.

So, what does this really mean?

It means wiping down all nearby substances with isopropyl alcohol, changing into fresh clothes, using a disinfectant spray in the air, and wearing gloves and a mask while you clean. Once this is done, use a syringe to introduce the spores into the substrate, making as small a hole into the jar or bucket holding the substrate as possible and sealing it back up quickly.

Stage 3: Incubating the Substrate

Now it’s time to let the mushrooms incubate for about two weeks. Doing so means finding an ideal temperature (62-82 degrees), an ideal humidity level (over eighty percent), and an ideal amount of light and airflow (as little as possible).

If you have access to a good humidifier in a closed space, this can work. If not, there are dozens of plans for at-home humidifier kits that will allow you to get the air in your space up to the needed humidity level.

Stage 4: Preparing Substrate Fruiting Trays (Rye Grain Only)

Now it’s time to get ready for fruiting by getting your trays ready. There are plenty of different types of fruiting trays out there, from high-end Petri dishes to DIY kits.

The important thing here is that you create a space with high humidity and a high temperature, but with a bit of light and airflow.

Stage 5: Initiating Fruiting

Now it’s time to take the tops off of your growing kits and expose the mycelium to the world. Once you’re able to expose the mushrooms to some light and air, you can slowly but surely count on them to grow.

Don’t get too impatient here, though – if you touch mushrooms before they’ve actually begun fruiting, you can absolutely stop the growing process.

Stage 6: Harvesting & Drying

Now it’s time to harvest your magic mushrooms. Pinch each mushroom off at the base, carefully transferring them over to a dry paper towel.

It might take some time to get all of the mushrooms and it’s totally normal to pick them off over the course of a few days as you wait for each mushroom to get to the proper size.

Once they’re off the mycelium, you can allow the mushrooms to dry out on a paper towel. You can also use a dehydrator, of course, but simply letting time and heat do the job is a perfectly acceptable choice as well.

How Long Does It Take to Grow Magic Mushrooms?

Unfortunately, this isn’t a quick process. It should take you between one to two months to fully grow a useful magic mushroom crop, depending on the conditions in your growing area and the particular spores that you chose to transfer over.

Troubleshooting Tips & Tricks

The most important thing you can do to keep your mushrooms growing is to pay attention to the temperature and humidity of your grow area. If you’re not getting any growth on the mycelium, the odds are that there’s an issue with either the heat or humidity.

Likewise, make sure that you’re doing a good job of keeping your substrate uncontaminated. There’s really no such thing as being too thorough with your non-contamination protocols when preparing the substrate, and if you’re noticing mold or other issues while growing there’s probably something other than just mushrooms growing on your mycelium.

A Final Word

Growing magic mushrooms absolutely takes time and patience, but it is a rewarding experience. Once you get the process of preparing your substrate down and paying attention to your growth environment, you’ll be able to grow all the mushrooms that you could want.

Though you may have a few early batches that don’t turn out well, in time you’ll be harvesting like a professional.