Growing Mushrooms: PF Tek

This instructable will go over one of the most basic grow techniques (PF Tek) for growing a wide variety of mushrooms including Shaggy Mane, Lion's Mane, and P. Cubensis.

Video of some time lapses that I've done

Step 1 Supplies to begin

To begin growing your own mushrooms you will need the following for the PF tek:

-Pressure cooker
Check thrift stores such as savers and goodwill, also browse your local craigslist.org listings for a cheap pressure cooker, my 8 quart set me back $50, the single most expensive peice of equipment to begin growing.

-Organic brown rice flour
I found the rice flour at Sprout's grocery, any health food or organic food store should sell this.

-Vermiculite
Found at nurseries, skip the big home improvement stores

-Perlite
I found perlite at Home Depot, but this can also be picked up with the vermiculite at a nursery

-Canning jars (Ive seen 1/2 pint used alot, as well as 8oz and 250mL jars)
Safeway, but any department store, even craft stores. Be sure to use wide mouthed tapered jars! To find out why check step 11

-Spore Syringe
Can be found online, or local shops, depending on species that you wish to grow

-Aquarium/Terrarium/Large tupperware (for humidity chamber)
I found a nice medium sized aquarium for $9 at a thrift store

-Hammer and Nail

-Aluminum foil

- Alcohol lamp or lighter

Comments

[bmaggard]

Does dunking it really make that big of a difference?? and at what temp. do u keep your fruiting chamber?

[lpmm215]

hello great explication thank you but i am having the problem of find a spore bank that sends to portugal can you guys help me

thank you

[nava787]

Great instrutable cant wait to try it out, any suggestions on where to get spores in the USA or Texas or Houston,
Thanks

[bwarman14]

Be careful not to get ripped off a lot of spore vendors on the net will do just that.
Use Mushroom Prints if you can, they are totally reliable and sometimes give away free spores and stuff with orders.

[g0pher]

contams can be a health hazard, some of them being very toxic. for example the black mold. if your jar is contaminated DO NOT OPEN IT, when you open a jar with mold in it, the spores go everywhere, and if inhaled in enough quantities, it will take you down. pressure cook the contaminated jars before opening to kill off the mold, then wear a mask and dispose of properly. i would just get rid of the whole thing, jar and all, your life is worth a lot more than a jar :)

[Raziel7]

I have opened contaminated jars before and nothing happened. Although i would not recommend it because the spores can affect other things in your house, though this is also not very likely.

The jars can be used again if you are in need just use a pressure cooker to sterilize them. A warning though, there is the small chance that some unbelievably resistant spores may lurk in the jar, in which case your new medium will also be contaminated.

This is not likely and has never happened to me. People really make a bigger deal about it than it really is, but that is not to say that needless safety precautions are a bad thing. In fact they help you establish a succesfull work routine. But if you you really need the jar just reuse it, just make sure you dispose of the contaminants properly. (not anywhere near your house)

[ungsluggerdood2]

not only worry about it being a safety hazard but , you have a chance of those free floating spores contaminating over and over making it so you cant grow your mushrooms... so throw it away do not open it.

[Bando800]

We don't want to spread fear mongering sensationalism. Not too likely your going to die from opening a contaminated jar buddy. Just like if your spaghetti sauce goes bad, it may stink but it's probably not deadly unless you eat a lot of it. True, you don't want to open it because it can spread the kind of spores or bacteria you don't want in your grow area. This can damage your success rate. Just throw it out. It's not any more dangerous than any spoiled kitchen item though.

[glowingiunknwn]

20 cool points to who ever made the video for using shpongle as the background music!

[MrCodeE]

 Instead of a pressure cooker, I used a large, deep pot, with lid, and just duct taped it to seal it up.  Kind of white trash, but saves on the cooker.

[fat64]

Yes. This video describes another method for using just a pot instead of a pressure cooker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHJQrsZFQdE&feature=PlayList&p=E242984A46FADF3E&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

[rocketsbeast]

when your fruiting them how long do you leave them in their for? and are they in the 8 oz jar or just dumped in there?

[iquitsmoking1]

Questions actually, how long until you picked mushrooms and per jar or number of jars how many mushrooms or pounds of mushrooms did you harvest?

[chriskarr]

I have heard that it is common to harvest a half ounce of mushrooms per cake, so if you're growing 10 cakes at once, you get 5 ounces.

[MrCodeE]

 That's about right...  without dunking I had 12 jars, and after 1 flush I ended up with 5.5 oz of dried mushrooms.  Had I dunked, it would probably be a lot more.

[MrCodeE]

 Proper drying is important too....  Air, light, and heat degrade the ...  special.. quality of certain mushrooms.  When harvesting, be sure to remove aborts too, (the mushrooms that never fully fruited).

[34120060]

first off i thank you so much for this guide and what not i had trouble understainding the writen versions i have found :P i am planning on growing some during the summer because of the cold winters were i live (could i use a heat lamp and what not maybe?) anyway i was wondering how you did the oxyegen exchange without loosing humidity if i didnt drill holes in the auquarium? also how often would you have to change the water soaked perlite that you used for the humidity? iquitsmoking1's question how many mushrooms does the average 12 jar setup harvest?

[chriskarr]

Without any venting holes, you should waft the air out with your hand. If you blow on the mushrooms, you will blow contaminants into the cakes; mushrooms use oxygen, like humans, so you blowing the CO2 in your lungs at them won't make them happy. Also, since a drop in CO2 levels as well as a drop in humidity and a drop in temperature all work in causing the mycelium to fruit. You don't change the perlite often, only change it when you change the cakes, any less and I would be concerned with contamination. I replied to the quantity question below.

[harley_rly]

you could always just pokes some holes in the lids of a couple jars(to provide slower, longer release) puts some peroxide, and chicken liver in the jars and set them in the tank. It would give off oxygen so you wouldnt need to worry bout vent holes. you would probably have to put fresh jars in every now and then though.

[NZsquigg]

Would microwaving the jars work instead of a pressure cooker...hmm, not sure if microwaving glass works, not in the smartest state of mind at the moment

[kretzlord]

You can microwave a tupperware dish with the medium in it, works pretty well.

[nak]

The metal tops wont microwave, pyrex glass is ok, but cheap canning jars might crack. I bet if you microwaved them and got a lid on them without exposing them to air it would work, sounds like it would be more difficult than pressure cooking, but if you experiment let people know how you did it (if it's successful!)

[Gjdj3]

P. Cubensis? Haha, I think the U.S. law frowns on people growing cubes. Anyway, nice job! One thing though... you don't necessarily need a pressure cooker. If you don't want to spring for one, you can get away with boiling the jars (Though you do increase the risk of contamination).

[kretzlord]

I've used a bamboo steamer on top of a large pot of boiling water without any contamination. 45-60 minutes does it for me, and it allows you to stack more if you want.

[cakemixer]

I have black patches growing on my mushrooms and the caps are starting to peel backwards. Is this black mold? iduno. somebody help me out.

[kretzlord]

If the mushrooms have been left long enough, the black patches could be dropped spores. I've had a cake with a big dark spot on it because of this. Just a thought, always be safe though

[avacado]

Check out these sites for Mushroom Kits and Spore Syringes

[strmrnnr]

I see after the mycellium is formed and mated that you are not that worried about contamination. Could these cakes be broken up and place anywhere at this point - say the compost heap, spread in a layer in the aquarium.

[yooo]

what will happen if the spores are injected in the center of the jar instead of the walls?

[strmrnnr]

they may also be a chance they will not fruit although the mycelium does grow. As in the 'Science' step you need two different mycellium to come together to 'mate' for fruit to grow.

[Blattman]

It will take a lot longer to colonize

[phirebirdX]

nothing.. as in you won't get the same mycelium coverage on the outside of the cakes if you force the spores to grow from the core of the cake instead of the outside; and a good mycelium mat is where the mushrooms fruit from. also, shrooms are photosensitive in the fruiting stage and won't "sprout" or "bud" unless the mycelium network is getting some light.

[jaagiv]

okay this seems really cool and i would like to try it myself, where do i go about finding "spores" to do this project?

[chicKintAco]

If you're serious about growing cubes you may want to check out the PF Tek on www.shroomery.org. This Instructable is good however there are a few items that should be noted like: a pressure cooker is not completely necessary if your environment is sterile; I know of people having 100% success (meaning not one contaminated jar) rates using the regular canning method without the lids inverted. Also, it should be noted that the jars need to be completely cooled after sterilization, prior to inoculation, or you could kill the spores. Otherwise, Awesome! It's good to see others growing cubes out there! Good Job!

[tenovio]

For psilocybe cubensis spores syringes http://www.yuckatopia.com

[tenovio]

get your spores here:

http://www.sporesmart.net84.net

[FunkNattidelic]

isnt it illegal to grow any form of Psylocybin mushroom? Not the wisest choice to put on the internet... but great instructable, i might try it with some shrooms i am trying to grow down by the river =P

[tenovio]

You can also get some very good quality spore syringes at this place:

http://www.sporesmart.net84.net

thehave super fast shipping anda syringe is only $5 compared to $15 and up for other sites

[nak]

What!? Those aren't magic mushrooms, those are just a species that just LOOKS like them, completely psychedelic free!! Also depends on what country you live in, maybe if you live in some country with a parent government growing them for your own use may be illegal, but if you live in a free country it's fine.

[FunkNattidelic]

what species WERE you growing in your 'ible?