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These mushroom cultures would then be propagated and expanded onto rye berries. In the early days of indoor psilocybin mushroom cultivation the mushroom inocula had to be made by first finding wild Psilocybe species and germinating spores on agar petri dishes, slants, or baby food jars for the more resourceful. Innovations came from unexpected places: internet entrepreneurs selling 'spore syringes', experimenting with climate controlled containers, and even using Martha Stewart branded storage closets repurposed as miniature greenhouses ideal for fruiting vertically-stacked racks of psilocybin mushrooms! Todays enthusiasts can simply turn to a YouTube channel or Reddit thread and become a mushroom farmer overnight.
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PSILOCYBIN SPORE SYRINGE MANUALS
In the 1970s and 80s growers honed their trade over the course of years reading paper manuals and articles in High Times magazine, then went online in the 1990s and 2000s trading tales and technique on forums like Shroomery and Mycotopia.
PSILOCYBIN SPORE SYRINGE FULL
What began in kitchens with single mason jars filled with homemade substrate mix has progressed to climate-controlled rooms lined with monotub racks full of mass-produced sterile substrates. The evolution of psilocybin mushroom cultivation is a continuous one, built on a raw citizen science informed by thousands of enthusiasts willing to take risks, innovate, fail, and try again. Paul Stamets and Jeff Chilton’s The Mushroom Cultivator (1983) paid particular attention to sterile technique, further fueling the home cultivation revolution.
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The guide was the first to offer a step-by-step process for home cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms and sold over a hundred thousand copies in its first four years of print. Enthusiasts’ prayers were answered with the release of Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide by O. Seasonality limited supplies of fresh, wild Psilocybe cubensis from tropical Mexico and South America, creating a demand for a way to grow them safely at home. Research on psilocybin in the United States ceased after the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, but interest, cultivation and use of psilocybin mushrooms continued.
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