Growing magic mushrooms at home is becoming increasingly common due to the rise in their consumption. Because it’s easy, quick, and convenient, as well as profitable, more and more people are opting for home cultivation. While it may sound complex at first, with the right instructions and materials, it becomes a rewarding experience within everyone’s reach.
Today, we want to make things easier for you with this introductory guide, which covers the basic and most important aspects of growing so you can successfully harvest your mushrooms without any setbacks or headaches. Let’s get started!
General instructions on how to grow magic mushrooms
Each brand offers its buyers instructions on how to achieve abundant magic mushroom harvests. Although we recommend following each brand’s instructions, certain general guidelines can be applied regardless of the growing method chosen.
To grow magic mushrooms at home, the first step is obviously to find a mushroom cake. To do this, and especially if you need some extra information to help you decide, you can visit our posts on magic mushroom varieties for beginners or magic mushroom varieties for experts. If you’re just starting, you basically have two options when it comes to growing mushrooms: the first is to choose mushroom cake kits, which come with a plastic container that houses the mycelium and which you’ll place inside a bag (included in the kit) or in a small greenhouse.
Alternatively, as a second option, you have grow bags that come pre-filled with mycelium and ready to fruit, such as Mycobag. This option is even more convenient, as you basically just need to make sure you place the bag in a suitable location. In any case, whichever method you choose, there are some parameters you should keep in mind:
• Temperature: between 22 and 26 ºC.
• Humidity: It must be above 80% at all times. You can spray water on the inside of the bag or propagator walls to keep it high, for example, when you air the cake daily (this step isn’t necessary if you grow with Mycobags or similar bags, only if you use the bag that comes with the kit or if you’re using a plastic propagator).
• Ventilation: It’s best to open the bag for a few seconds each day to refresh the air inside and prevent CO2 buildup. Again, you’ll only need to vent your bag if you’ve chosen the kit with a plastic container. The bags that already contain mycelium have a ventilation port to facilitate gas exchange, so there’s no need to open them until harvest day.
Once the product arrives home, the first step is to decide where you’re going to grow. Choose a location with temperatures similar to those indicated, preferably with indirect light. Never place your grow kits or bags in full sun! If possible, and to avoid possible contamination, try to keep them as far away from the ground and away from drafts as possible. Let’s now look at how to grow them depending on the method you’ve chosen:
Growing magic mushrooms with grow bags
As we’ve mentioned, growing with grow bags like Mycobag, which already have the mycelium ready to fruit, is the easiest option. Simply keep the closed bag in a space between 22 and 26°C with indirect light. The mycelium will soon begin to form primordia, which will turn into fully developed mushrooms in just a few days.
When you see that most of your mushrooms are beginning to open their caps, it’s the ideal time to harvest them, before the veil completely breaks and they release their spores. Disinfect your hands well (or your nitrile gloves if you’re using them) and proceed to open the bag and carefully remove the mushrooms from their bases, rotating them slightly to facilitate harvesting.
You can eat your mushrooms fresh, although they’re usually dried and stored in airtight containers. The refrigerator is an ideal place to store them.
Harvesting, drying and storing magic mushrooms
You have successfully grown your mushrooms, but you still have to harvest them at their optimum point, dry them properly and store them in a suitable place; well, today we will tell you everything you need to know to carry out these three operations without problems and in a really easy way.
Growing magic mushrooms with grow kits
This option includes mushroom cake kits from brands like Tatandi or Freshmushrooms, which actually come with instructions that you can also find on this blog. Let’s see how to proceed step by step to harvest them without problems:
- 1.- Thoroughly disinfect the surface where you are going to work, as well as your hands or gloves.
- 2. Remove the lid from the plastic container and place it inside the bag included in the kit, or in a small propagator. This will ensure the right environmental conditions for fruiting: between 22 and 26°C and a minimum of 80% humidity, with indirect light.
- 3.- To maintain these conditions, you’ll likely need a water mist sprayer and a heating mat, depending on the time of year. Make sure to ventilate the bag daily by opening it for a few seconds and taking the opportunity to spray water on its interior walls. This will help maintain high humidity.
- 4. After 15 to 35 days (depending on the variety), you should harvest your first magic mushrooms. They should be picked when the cap begins to open, but the veil has not yet broken. When harvesting, be very careful not to break the growth layer and thus affect future harvests. Yes, after this first harvest, you can make more flushes by following the instructions in your kit!
- 5.- Dry the mushrooms in a cool, dark, and airy environment until they break when bent.
- 6.- Try to keep magic mushrooms in a glass jar or vacuum-sealed in a cool, dark place.
