Cultivation of Caramel Cap Psilocybes with the PF TEK original source: https://mycotopia.net/topic/7234-cultivation-of-caramel-cap-psilocybes-with-the-pf-tek/

Caramel Cap Psilocybes are mushrooms which belong to the cyanescens species complex: they are closely related to eachother and it is often difficult to separate those in species which exactly can be defined. All Caramel Caps grow on raw uncomposted plant matter, preferably fresh twigs or wood chips, and they typically fruit in the fall when temperatures drop to ten centrigrade and below. Psilocybe azurescens is the most popular Caramel Cap due to its agressive growth, large mushrooms and high alkaloid content.

Psilocybe azurescens (left) and Psilocybe cyanescens (right).

Caramel Caps are quite rare in the wild. In the Netherlands the Psilocybe cyanescens is even specifically listed as an endangered species. Caramel Caps are near to impossible to cultivate indoors but grow easily in semi wild conditions. It are great mushrooms to grow in a shady place in the garden. Until recently there was no good method available to grow these species from spores without the need for sophisticated laboratory equipment. With a few adaptations it is however possible to grow these mushrooms in "PF TEK" style, i.e. by using a spore syringe and without the need of agar cultures, a pressure canner, isolation box etcetera. Such a technique is presented here.

For the "outdoor" parts of this Caramel Caps cultivation technique the text heavily relies on an excellent pdf manual which was published on the internet by "The Azurescens Foundation" in June 2003. A similar technique with equally great pictures can be found at the Erowid site.

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Method For outdoor mushroom cultivation or larger scale cultivation it is recommended to germinate the spores on a substrate of whole grain kernels. The protocol is very similar to the production of "PF Substrate" from brown rice flour and vermiculite. The main difference is that it needs to be boiled two times (a process which is known as tyndallization).

Needed: brown rice, small woodchips (animal bedding), 250ml drinking glasses or jars, tinfoil.

Step 1: boil a cup of grains or brown rice according the directions on the box they came in. A cup of brown rice normally needs to be boiled for 15 minutes in two cups of water. Pour off the water;

Step 2: boil three or four times as much woodchips for half an hour. Pour off the water and mix the rice with the woodchips;

Woodchips plus brown rice substrate.

Step 3. Scoop the mixture of grains and woodchips in tall drinking glasses of 250ml until a distance of two fingers from the upper rim of each glass.

Step 4. WAIT 24 HOURS! Important: the 24 hours waiting period is essential for the sterilization of whole grain mixtures without a pressure canner. This is because only living cells are immediately killed at the temperature of boiling water. But bacterial spores (endospores) are able to survive a boiling period when they are hidden in grains. They germinate in a few hours after the substrate mixture has cooled down. Therefore a double boiling period with a 24 hours pause in between kills contaminants, enables the contaminant spores to grow out (on the condition that the substrate is kept at roomtemperature) and then kills this second generation. This process is called "Tyndallization".

Step 5. Cover the glasses with tinfoil

Pan with substrate jars. Photo: Azurescens Foundation.

Step 6: Put the glass(es) or jar(s) in a cooking pot with tight closing lid. Boil the containers in the same way soma rights re-served 2 since 26.03.2015 at http://www.en.psilosophy.info/ cultivation of caramel cap psilocybes with the pf tek www.en.psilosophy.info/rxxtmqplboigbycucnapbajo but twice as long as PF Substrate jars: add cold water n the pot until the container(s) are halfway in the water and close the pan with a lid (or plate). Boil the water slowly for 60 minutes. Remove the pan from the gas stove.

Inoculation of rice/wood substrate.

Step 7: wait until the containers are cool to the touch and inoculate by using a spore syringe. The inoculation of azurescens spawn substrate is identical to the inoculation of riceflour substrate: lift the foil, inject the sporewater and replace the foil.

Colonization of rice/wood substrate.

Step 8: again just as in the PF TEK for cubensis, store the inoculated substrate at room temperature. The mycelium will colonize the substrate in about a month (for this picture the tinfoil was temporarily removed).

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Left: twigs, right: woodchips (photo: azurescens foundation).

Step 9: as soon as the Caramel Cap woodchip spawn cakes are colonized they can be crumbled and mixed with fresh woodchips (preferably outdoors). The best choice is a mixture of twigs, small chips and sawdust. A single 250ml glass of spawn is enough for several liters of woodchips.

An outdoor woodchips bed in the shade (photo: Azurescens foundation)

Step 10: preparation of an outdoor bed: An outdoor bed is a 15 to 20cm deep hole in the soil filled with wood substrate. Once a volume of one to several liters of mycelium on wood substrate has been obtained, the preparation of an outdoor bed is the final step, which will lead to beautiful mushrooms growing in your garden every year in late autumn and this for years. A mushroom patch can be prepared at every time in the year except if the soil is frozen. The chance for fructifications in autumn are excellent, if a bed is laid out in spring or even in autumn of the preceding year.

Psilocybe azurescens fruiting and colonizing a sheet of cardboard (photo: Azurescens foundation)

The bed on the pictures was laid out only three months before harvest season and it showed fructifications in

soma rights re-served 4 since 26.03.2015 at http://www.en.psilosophy.info/ cultivation of caramel cap psilocybes with the pf tek www.en.psilosophy.info/rxxtmqplboigbycucnapbajo the same year, but the result may have been better if the bed had been prepared earlier. The later the patch is laid out, the more spawn has to be used to secure fructifications in autumn, and the later the mushrooms will appear. Of course you can also prepare much smaller patches; I saw marvelous mushrooms growing from as little as 0,3 litres of contaminated spawn that had been. A suitable place for the bed is a half shaded location below a shrub like this. A 15 to 20 cm deep hole is opened and filled with the wood chips/spawn mixture. The bed is watered with several liters depending on its size. The patch can additionally be covered with wet cardboard and perforated plastic or anything that keeps moisture high. Do not give to much water! It is better to repeat watering a week later than to give too much first. Make sure the bed is humid the first two weeks but not wet, then you will not have to give any more water until September. If you overwater during summer, the mycelium may grow aggressiveley, but you will probably see no mushrooms in late autumn.

Psilocybe cyanescens fruiting on woodchips in freezing temperatures (photo: PFE)

From september on keep the patch wet by watering once or twice a week. This is not necessary if it is raining a lot, what is not unusal in this season. In late september to early october, when the temperatures drop to 7°-10°C (45°-50°F), the first mushrooms can be expected, and they grow in usually two flushes about a month apart, until the temperatures drop below zero. Depending on the temperatures, mushrooms may even grow until january. By placing a tent over the bed, the fructification time can be prolonged. The cardboard, the bed is covered with, is itself used by the mushroom as medium. A new bed of wood chips could be inoculated just by placing the infected cardboard on a small layer of wood chips at the bottom of the new bed, and by covering the cardboard with wood chips. When the temperatures drop below 0°C the mushrooms stop growing. A layer of new wood chips can be worked in the top of the patch; this is the nutrition for the next year. Treated that way, a mushroom bed may last for decades and zillions of spores will be set free.

Psilocybe azurescens fruits upon a thick mycelial mat.

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Caramel Cap mycelium cleans up organophosphate pesticides

On October 28, 2004 , the world famous mushroom cultivator Paul Stamets filed a patent for the application of Caramel Cap mycelia for filtering wastewater, breaking down organopesticides and even cleaning up nerve gas residues from military sources(!). The latter two qualities are a directly related to the producing capabilities of these species. In all cases the patented technique for the application of mushroom mycelia is quite simple: a wall of mycelium-colonized woodchips is placed around and/or mixed in the contaminated soil. The mushroom mycelium then excrete the phosphotase enzymes which rapidly break down the pollutants.

Paul Stamets writes: "Phosphorylated compounds such as the chemical warfare gases and many organophosphate pesticides have proven particularly resistant to breakdown and bioremediation, as few organisms are equipped with the appropriate dephosphorylating enzymes. Fungi, on the other hand, have a number of enzyme systems and paths for dealing with phosphorylated compounds and are therefore particularly suited for remediation of organophosphates. Preferred species include (...) agarics such as Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe cyanescens containing phosphorylated tryptamine compounds and their dephosphorylated analogs. (...) Since both Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe cyanescens can possess up to 1-2% psilocybin, a phosphorus rich molecule, and/or , the product of dephosphorylation of psilocybin, these species can be used to dephosphorylate toxins wherein phosphorus contributes to the toxicity of the pollutant (such as the phosphorylated chemical warfare gases above and organophosphate pesticides). Grassland species such as , also rich in psilocybin, may also be preferably employed; such grassland species have the advantageous characteristic of acting as saprophytes, decomposing organic matter, or acting as ectomycorrhizal species, directly benefiting plants via symbiosis, depending upon circumstances. (...) The growth of algae in ponds and lakes can be directly attributed to the phosphorus-rich runoff from agricultural fertilizers and other industrial pollutants. Phosphorus is typically the 'limiting nutrient' of algae growth. By removing phosphorus using mycocloths, mycomats and mycoberms infused or spray hydroseeded with dephosphorylating fungi such as (...) Psilocybe azurescens (...) the over-growth algae can be limited in lakes and ponds, providing cost and ecological saving benefits to fishery ecologies and the watershed."

( Patent Application 20040211721, see: http://appft1.uspto....Juncus effusus

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