P. Cubensis questions

[SITG]

Once long ago, I was looking through an oversized text book in a used book shop and found several loose pieces of typewriter written paper.  They told the story of a man (Alex Hamilton) who grew magic mushrooms in his closet.  That man was successful and lived happily ever after.

Recently I was in the same used book shop and found the second part of the story in another book, but this part was unfinished.  Hopefully some helpful bees can give me the needed advice to finish the story.  When the story left off, Alex was thinking once again of the magical fungi, but this time he was thinking that it would be easier and faster to extract the psilocybin & psilocin directly from the mycelium rather than growing carpophores.  He had looked around and found a lot of helpful reading materials but still had a few unanswered questions.

1)   Alex read that any part of the ‘shroom could be used to grow more fungi.  He knows where to get spores but would rather not spend the $ and expose himself to the risks inherent in mail-order.  So does Alex have to go slogging through cow shit looking for fresh samples, or would little pieces of ordinary, dried-up, plastic baggie type ‘shrooms grow just as well?

2)   Most of the ancient texts Alex studies mention using MeOH for extraction.  However some say EtOH.  Does it matter which alcohol is used?  What about Isopropanol?  How important is it that the alcohol is anhydrous?

3)   Alex is planning to do a pre-wash with acetone, but skip the Chloroform as he doesn’t have any laying around handy.  What is the purpose of these pre-washes?  Specifically what’s the purpose of a Chloroform pre-wash?  Is it true that the goodies are completely non soluble in NPs?

The more I think about it, the more I think someone abandoned this story for a good reason, (it’s sort of boring-needs more in the way of plot) but any advice from experienced bees would bee much appreciated.


Wellll, I'm that kid in the corna
All fuked up and I wanna so I'm gonna...

[Pharmer_John]

Growing Psilocybe Mushrooms is VERRRRY easy if you have the right technique, Psilocybe spores
from a baggie of shrooms will never germinate, spores need sanitary conditions to germinate
Check out WWW.fanaticus.com They have all you need to know. next, buy the book, The Mushroom Cultivator by Paul Stamets

[SITG]

Thanks Pharmer_John but you don't get it.  Try reading a little closer.

Psilocybe spores
from a baggie of shrooms will never germinate, spores need sanitary conditions to germinate

I happen to know that spores from a plasic baggie will germinate and they will germinate in unsanitary conditions.  Every hear of nature?  However, in this story I found, the main character is interested in growing P. Cubensis mycelium from little tiny pieces of mushrooms. (it's faster)  This will work if the 'shrooms are fresh (still living) I was wondering if it would work with dried out mushrooms.  Like yeasts can be dried out and stored for years and will still grow when introduced to the right conditions.  I'm guessing that they won't (only spores can lie dormate) but was hoping some bee would know for sure.  The protagonist of this story wants to extract the goodies from the mycelium and my other questions were on that subject.  I'm the sort of writer that makes sure every detail is right.

So yes, thanks, but I've read the book and been to fanaticus and I know all about sanitary conditions, some bee who knows what they're talking about what to respond to my questions?

Wellll, I'm that kid in the corna
All fuked up and I wanna so I'm gonna...

[Lilienthal]

Pre-extraction steps are to remove unpolar compounds (like fatty acids, waxes) which would be the main constituents of the extract otherwise.
Psilocybin is very polar and doesn't dissolve in chloroform, acetone, ether, hexane, or iPrOH.
Extracted psilocin organic salts may be a bit more unpolar, but the same is true for them.
For the same reason it is better to use methanol instead of ethanol for extraction. Pure water or methanol / water would be even better, but we don't want the powder to become a slimy mass or to extract too much sugars. So methanol would be the solvent of choice.

[foxy2]

I wonder if you coudn't evap the methanol down and then crash out some crystals with dry ice cold acetone??

Crystals are pretty


Do Your Part To Win The War

[SITG]

Thank you, Lilienthal!  That's exactly the info I'm looking for.

Foxy: I'll try it and tell you if it works.  However, I was planning on ending the story by filling empty gel-caps.  I know making crystals is not easy, and not really needed.  If (in this story I'm writing) Alex evaps the MeOH and is left with sticky gooy stuff does that mean that there's water in it? (ie he used hardware store MeOH which was less than anhydros)  Or does it mean there's still alcohol in it and he needs to put it back in the bath?  A.H. certainally wants to avoid injesting methanol!

One more question for all those psilophiles out there:

I read somewhere gelatin can be used in place of agar in the growing medium.  Has any bee done this?  know anything about it?

thanks

Wellll, I'm that kid in the corna
All fuked up and I wanna so I'm gonna...

[Lilienthal]

> ... and he is left with sticky gooy stuff does that mean that there's water in it?

Possibly. It could even be that that stuff is a bit hygroscopic due to sugars and related compounds.

> A.H. certainally wants to avoid injesting methanol!

The methanol evaporates easily. And methanol is not toxic in that mg amounts. But he should avoid drinking it   .

[Ghost_Of_BT]

Spore prints and syringes are some of the safest things to order. I'm not kidding. I have bought several syringes and prints and I live in California. If the cops come knocking, as long as you dont have a big setup in your home, you can just say that you didn't order it. The vendors all accept cash. And what's so expensive about a $10 syringe that you can make 10 pf cakes from or a $20 print that you can make 5 syringes from? Visit www.shroomery.com

[Pharmer_John]

I'm in cali too and it's the only state where spores are illegal, they've sent them to me on a few occasions.


Pharmer_John

[Pharmer_John]

Why use an inferior substrate like geletain when you can buy agar? it's not watched and is
a far better substrate than geletain, why do you think they use it? I suggest you find a liquid substrate, so you can just pour it in a strainer.



Pharmer_John

[paranoid]

"I happen to know that spores from a plasic baggie will germinate and they will germinate in unsanitary conditions.  Every hear of nature?"

While yes, obviously shrooms grow in "nature", it occurs due to the incredible amounts of spores released by these organisms.  The chance of any spore actually finding its way to germination is incredibly low, literally a one in a million shot in nature; of course when you have billions of spores released from the existing shrooms it eventually occurs.  There are far more competitive organisms that find their way into the natural fruiting media and once they've colonized it, well, forget shrooms growing.  Shrooms you've bought in a bag are no doubt highly contaminated with all manner of bacteria and other fungi, most often from the genus Aspergillus.  While not impossible to germinate, the chances of success are extremely low.  Better off to spring for the $10 - $20 dollars for a spore syringe; believe me, they won't give you a hassle.
  As for trying to grow mycelia from dried material, forget it.  Unless the material is still alive, it won't grow.  Furthermore, if you want to use fresh shrooms, you must cut out pieces from inside the basidiocarp under as close to sterile conditions as possible, as exposure to air makes the shroom bits a wonderful medium for bacteria and molds itself.

[spric]

It is quite possible to grow shrooms from a bag of dried shrooms if a cap or 2 has begun the spore cycle.  The first time you transfer spores from a mature cap, a cornicopia of different fungi will also grow.  Asperigilus and penicillium are a given bad guy that will be there.  If anything germinates and forms that nice little clamp connection of fungi love, transfer a small piece of mycelium to another plate, and continue until you can isolate a pure colony.  Expect to use 3 or 4 different plates if you even have any viable spores.

My guitar killed your mama.

[goiterjoe]

has anyone had trouble with their mushrooms losing potency?  when I first started growing, all that was needed for a rock your world trip was a third of an eighth.  I've continued growing this strand through another 3 rounds with the same growing techniques, but each time they lost potency to the point that it takes almost an eighth to get a decent trip out of.  now I am contemplating growing off of straight agar in 2000 test tubes for extraction purposes, but I'm starting to wonder if this strain will regain it's potency or not in a different media.  I doubt it would be worth the effort at the psylocybin content it is at now, but this used to be one of the strongest strands of psylocybin I've ever consumed, and I've had well over 100 mushrooms trips on everything from homegrown to numerous Angus cattle fields to judge by.

If pacman influenced us, we'd glide around dark rooms eating pills and listen to repetitive music.