Indigenous cultures have used Magic mushrooms for thousands of years like the Nahuatls, Olmec, Chinantecs, Chatinos, Mayans, Mazatecs, Totonacs, Mixes Zapotecs, Colima, and Purepecha. For example, Mazatec healers (such as the infamous Maria Sabina) used Psilocybin mushrooms (known as teonanacatl in the culture) to understand disease and create holistic paths to healing.
The hard work is done – you’ve sanitized, inoculated, let the mycelium grow, spawned to substrate, and watched the magic of fruiting unfold. Now is the time to bring it all home – ensuring that you harvest magic mushrooms at the right time is important. When you harvest affects not only the aesthetics of the ‘shrooms, but also the potency as well as the cleanliness of your growing tub. This is no easy process – growing magic mushrooms is very time sensitive and often volatile. You must create a contained habitat that reaches close to 100% humidity, somehow mist the mushrooms without overwatering, and provide the precise amount of light that will ensure the growth of a healthy and aesthetically attractive fruiting body.
There is a definite ‘sweet spot’ or golden window of opportunity in which to harvest your magic fungi.. Too soon, and they won’t reach their full psilocybin/psilocin content. Too late, and an unsightly black layer of spores will drench everything in the tub. After the caps open, there is also a loss of potency regarding the psychoactive alkaloids. It’s not the worst thing in the world to eat mushroom spores, but eating a lot can cause nausea as the cell walls are extremely tough and difficult to digest. In addition, opened mushroom caps are much easier to tear, making them crumbly during the drying process and giving an unsightly appearance. It may sound like an exaggeration, but just a few hours can be the difference between the most beautiful mushroom you’ve ever seen, and an ugly little guy that hurts to look at.
The best technique to harvest is a simple ‘twist and pull method. If you try to pull them straight out, they will take a large chunk of the substrate with them, adding an extra step of cleaning and opening the substrate up to contaminants (like an open wound).
There is a definite ‘sweet spot’ or golden window of opportunity in which to harvest your magic fungi.. Too soon, and they won’t reach their full psilocybin/psilocin content. Too late, and an unsightly black layer of spores will drench everything in the tub. After the caps open, there is also a loss of potency regarding the psychoactive alkaloids. It’s not the worst thing in the world to eat mushroom spores, but eating a lot can cause nausea as the cell walls are extremely tough and difficult to digest. In addition, opened mushroom caps are much easier to tear, making them crumbly during the drying process and giving an unsightly appearance. It may sound like an exaggeration, but just a few hours can be the difference between the most beautiful mushroom you’ve ever seen, and an ugly little guy that hurts to look at.
The best technique to harvest is a simple ‘twist and pull method. If you try to pull them straight out, they will take a large chunk of the substrate with them, adding an extra step of cleaning and opening the substrate up to contaminants (like an open wound).
The best technique to harvest is a simple ‘twist and pull method. If you try to pull them straight out, they will take a large chunk of the substrate with them, adding an extra step of cleaning and opening the substrate up to contaminants (think of a hole in the substrate like an open wound on your body).
We recommend wearing clean rubber gloves that have been misted with rubbing alcohol before harvesting – our hands contain tons of potential microbes (i.e. contaminants). Wash your hands with soap and water before putting the gloves on, ideally. Any tools or containers used during the harvesting process should also be sterilized with rubbing alcohol prior to coming in contact with freshly picked mushrooms. Many commercial growers take advantage of the precision offered by a mushroom knife, which allows them to cut the stem as close to the surface as possible – leaving behind a little stump (something like a razor blade or exacto knife can suffice). For tiny mushrooms that may be hard to access, tweezers can be helpful.
Seasoned growers generally prefer to follow every mushroom individually, waiting for each to reach its full potential before harvesting. Harvesting them all at once may seem more time efficient, but you’ll miss the window of opportunity on many of them, or harvest prematurely – resulting in a less than ideal yield for your months of hard work. Generally speaking, once you see a pin forming, you’ll have about three days before it’s ready to be picked.
Don’t be overwhelmed – harvesting is a ton of fun, and with a bit of practice you’ll be a master in no time. Then there’s all the wonderful sensations that come along with it – that peculiar mushroomy smell known and loved by mycologists worldwide.
And of course the best part is that once you’ve made it past harvest, you’re only a few days away from having a giant bag of fungi that can literally change peoples’ lives. It’s a hobby, yes, but it’s much more than that. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, end-of-life troubles – these are all ailments being clinically studied to be treated with psilocybin mushrooms.
To your health and happiness, always!