Growing mushrooms using the Bag-o-Mush kit.

This is an instructional page for growing goumet mushrooms using the Bag 'o' Mush kit available from us.

The kit comprises of.

*Injectable, sterilized, rye substrate bag,
*Bag of casing mix,
*Humidity tent with perlite,
*Alcohol wipe,
*Full instructions.

(we had to stop including the Golden oyster mushroom culture syringe, as we wanted to keep the cost of the kit down to a minimum. Gourmet edible live cultures are available from us though.)

All the information in the world wont help you if you dont keep youe gourmet mushroom growing project CLEAN!

Wipe surfaces, use anti-bacterial soap, wear surgical gloves even a mask. Take every precaution you can to keep contaminants away!

 Why waste all this time and effort if you are going to cut corners on the preparation?

#1. Wipe the injection site with the alcohol wipe provided.

(The wiping action is almost as important as the alcohol on the wipe.

 Remember clean is good!

 #2. Inject the silicone injection site on the bag.

(Try not to puncture the needle right through to the other side of the bag!)

 Incubate at 25-30C in the dark or with ambient light.

 (the airing cupboard is often a good place, or build a tub in tub incubator.)

 

#3. The mycelium grows on the grain.

 After a week gently break up the grain through the bag.

This will speed up colonisation.

Colonisation should take 25-30 days, assuming the temperature is right.

 #4. When the grain is completely white

 (colonised) its time to case. Add about

  300ml of very hot water to to the bag

 of casing mix and leave it to cool.

Casing is added to the top of the bag to keep moisture levels up and help prevent contaminants getting in. The casing layer also provides good conditions for baby mushrooms (primordea) to develop in.

Wrap the cased bag in tin foil and put it back to incubate (25-30C) for a further 3-5 days.

During the days since you put the foil wrapped bag back in to incubate, the mycelium will have started to grow through the casing layer, although this may not be immediately obvious.

#5. Fruiting. Roll down the remaining sides of the grain bag, leaving the tin foil on.

Dampen the perlite in the large humidity bag with about 350ml of cold tap water.

(this will provide humidity in the bag). Place the now open grain bag into the humidity bag on top of the wet perlite. Close the top of the humidity bag with a bulldog clip or clothes peg.

Place the bags in a warm, light place (20-24C), but not in direct sunlight. Open the bag and mist occasionally with clean water.

After 1-2 weeks you should start to notice the formation of pinheads (baby mushrooms).

Bag in fruiting conditions Pinheads developing

#6. The mushrooms usually take about a week to develop and can then be removed with a gentle twist and lift. You can expect several flushes (crops) of mushrooms per grow, with about a week in between them. After harvesting a flush, mist well for a few days to replace lost moisture. Good luck and enjoy!

PAGE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON!

Growing Khat TEK

This is how we grow catha edulis (khat) from seed.

It works well for us, so we thought we'd share it!

Catha edulis is an African flowering plant. It has been used by the indiginous peoples for many thousands of years as a stimulant.

The plant is legal in the UK and in some parts of Africa. It seems to be illegal just about everywhere else though.

(note, seeds are legal everywhere as far as i can tell)

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The TEK.

Khat seeds are very small (about1-2mm) with a small wing on them.

Sometimes the wing falls of in transit but the seed is still good.

They are reasonably easy to germinate, as long as you get good, fresh seed. They seem to be viable for upto 6 months but after that their viability drops off sharply.

Its quite possible to germinate them in damp tissue in a baggie, but I prefer the following method.

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Fill a pot or plant-pod (below) with vermiculite. No compost needed at this point.

Make sure that the vermiculite is moist, but NOT soggy.

Sow about 5 seeds per pot, anymore than this and they get overcrowded and some of the weaker ones will suffer.

They need to be surface sowed. That is, placed on the surface of the medium and not covered.

Give them a little misting with water and put the lid on (if its in a pot, cover with cling-film)

Place in a light warm place (not in direct sunlight as this can overheat them).

Germination will take between 10 and 20 days depending on the conditions they are in.

About 2 weeks after germination, seperate them into their own little pots, using compost, perlite and vermiculite mix (1:1:1)
Keep them warm and light, however now they can go into full sun. Make sure the roots dont dry out totally, but dont allow them to become soggy either. After a while you will find a suitable balance between wet and dry.

Keep re-potting up until they are fully mature. The one below is about 2 years old now. They are slow growers! New rooted shoots are produced at the base of an older plant, these can be snipped off and planted!

 

Cristate Trichocereus pachanoi.

Found growing with a local grower, 'Geiger' is a Trichocereus pachanoi (cristate).

People who grow these are unlikely to sell them as they take for ages to grow (especially in the UK),

so getting this was a bit of a coup.

Cash and luck played a big part in his aquisition!

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trichocereus bridgesii cuttings

Bolivian torch cactus

We were lucky enough to get these beautiful clumps of cactus from a local grower.

So we chopped them up!

And now have 3 cut plants ready to pup!

And about a dozen cuttings for sale!

They have been dipped in rooting powder and some of them even had roots forming before we cut them!

they are available HERE for £5.99 each.

Cant find them on the net any cheaper anywhere else.

Beautiful blue colour to them and they tend to grow fast (upto 6" per year) and are a much more reliable and consistant mescaline container than San pedro.

customer competition

Send us a picture of something you have grown (from us).

competition will be judged by the-mush-room and the best one will recieve a selection of cactus seeds and a cactus cutting!

Judging to take place 30/6/12

So what are you waiting for? send your pictures to shop@the-mush-room.co.uk you gotta be in it to win it!

All pictures will be available to view in our 'customers pictures' section of this blog.

customers pictures

This is a gallery of pictures we have been sent by some of our customers.

If you want your pictures to be included here, please send them to shop@the-mush-room.co.uk

All pictures posted anon unless specifically requested.

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Roy sent these pictures of some of his plants. 1st is this Peyote looking happy and fruiting!

 Second is a Bolivian torch cactus (Trichocereus bridgesii).

 And finally an Hawaiian baby woodrose.

All looking great Roy!

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                                                                                                 Sun opener by James

                                 Salvia from James          

                                                                                               Below is a Trichocereus bridgesii from seed.

  Left is a Psycotria alba from a leaf cutting. We get cuttings in occasionally.

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Jason sent in this picture of his Kanna cuttings doing well in the American sunshine!

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 Khat (catha edulis) above

and Hawaiian baby woodrose below by Roy.

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Above is Andrew's Peyote, grafted onto Pachanoi.

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These are some pictures from Mr. T. in the UK, of his salvia, reed canary grass and sun opener plants.

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Below is peyote and kanna by Adam.

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Below is salvia and 5Peyote by Dustin

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Below is a picture of some Peruvian torch seedlings, grown from seed by Tom.

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Here is a Salvia Divinorum. Photo taken by Magickal Gardener.

Magickal was one of our first e-store customers and still keeps us updated with his plants progress!

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Below is a picture from Geoffrey from Washington, USA.

It is a newly popped Peruvian torch cactus baby, still with its hat on!

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reed canary grass

                   Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea)

Sowed in spring 2011 and on its second year of doing nicely.
Surface sow onto moist compost/vermiculite/perlite (1:1:1), mist and cover with cling film.
Took about 2-4 weeks to germinate and has been going crazy ever since.
Dies down over winter and will happily survive the harshest of UK conditions outside.
When its died down I usually flame it to burn the stubble. Seems to like this, as it shows.
If we put this into the ground it would reach 2-3 meters in height, but as we ship these all over the world we keep them small, so you can plant them.

 Leaves of Reed canary grass contain DMT, 5 MeO DMT and related compounds. Levels of beta carbolines and hordenine have also been reported.

They are invasive, so dont plant them anywhere that this may cause problems.
Wikilink to Phalaris arundinacea

Trichocereus cuzcoensis

   Trichocereus cuzcoensis.

Came to us originally as T. pachanoi (duke of york), but after much research we have come to the conclusion that its a Cuzcoensis.

If anyone disagrees, please let us know!

It grows about  5 inches per year and is our only cactus without a name.

nicotaina rustica

Nicotiana rustica seeds

We are not allowed to sell these on our site. Not sure why but hey, thats big business, stuffing the little guy for you!
 We have packs of Nicotiana rustica seeds available now.

To order please contact us here.

We accept Paypal, Cards through Google Checkout, bank transfers and cheques/cash in the post!
Wikipage on nicotiana rustica.

dexter

Dexter is not an exotic plant, nor is he ethnobotanical,

but he is quite sweet. He is a Chug. Half Chihuahua and half Pug.
Great at catching rats, no sense at all tho!
He does like to eat certain things we plant tho, usually at the seedling stage, so we have to keep him away from them sometimes!
He's my boy.

Salvia divinorum W&H and blosser for sale.

             Salvia divinorum (Wasson & Hoffmaan and Blosser)

If you have come here from the-mush-room.co.uk then welcome!

Neither Paypal nor Google Checkout will allow us to sell Salvia divinorum through their checkouts.


Salvia divinorum Blosser leaf.



However, we are allowed to sell it from here!

We have two strains of Salvia available right now, all fully rooted, organic and healthy cuttings, grown in the Cornish sunshine!

Blosser strain is much rarer in Europe and the UK than it is in the states.

It grows slower,
 roots slower but is said to taste less awful!



             

A rooted cutting of Blosser is £15.99 Plus £4.45 P&P

Wasson and hoffmaan strian (pictured below) is
faster to root, faster to grow and has a higher Salvinorin 'A' content. This is the one found in some European head shops.

A rooted cutting of Salvia divinorum W&H is £14.99 Plus £4.45 P&P    

All plants are sent 1st class, recorded delivery.               



Salvia divinorum Wasson & Hoffmaan leaf.

If you choose to order Salvia divinorum along with anything else in the store, postage will be combined so you will only have to pay postage once.

Wholesale enquiries welcome!

To order Salvia divinorum please contact us here

We accept Paypal, Cards through Google Checkout, bank transfers and cheques/cash in the post!

Back to http://www.the-mush-room.co.uk/

kanna

                             Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum)

Used by African tribes as a mood-altering substance for thousands of years, this succulant is easy to grow, pretty to look at and a facinating talkativiton.

The flowers seem to smell sweet/citrus when there are lots of them together, but on their own they are too small to smell.

Cuttings are super easy to root, just dip them in rooting powder, put them in damp compost/vermiculite/perlite mix (1:1:1) and keep misted.

They will look like they are going to die, they might wilt or go interesting colours but then they pick up and start pushing out new leaves.

Ive only had one or two fail out of the many hundreds i have rooted.

We always have un-rooted cuttings of Kanna for sale and often have rooted ones too.

Wikilink here.

Ephedra Sinica

                      Ephedra Sinica, joint fir, mormon tea.

Google checkout and Paypal will not let me sell E. sinica, plants or seeds, on my site because i would have to go through their checkouts.

They have decided that this is an 'undesirable plant' (their words not mine!) and therefore is unnacceptable.

We have live Ephedra sinica plants at £6.99

and packs of 20 Ephedra sinica seeds for £4.29

To order please contact us here
We accept Paypal, Cards through Google Checkout, bank transfers and cheques/cash in the post!

They have a very odd way of germinating.I planted 50 seeds in May 2011.

The first signs of life appeared about 10 days after planting and the rest continued to germinate for the next 3 months!

No particular pattern to it, much like Where's Wally?! Every now and then I would look into the pot and find another seed had sprouted.

These are one of the slowest things we grow. Like waiting for continental drift!

The picture above shows some of them at about 10 months old!!

They grow about an inch, then seem to stop, change direction and start on again for another inch.

E.Sinica seems to like dryish compost, with good drainage and lots of direct sun.

We have live E.sinica plants and vaible seeds available all the time, so if you want some please let us know.

Here is the Wiki page on Ephedra.

peyote grafts

                          A Peyote grafted onto San pedro

This is an old graft we have in our greenhouse.
It is a Lophophora Williamsii (caespitosa) scion, grafted onto a T.Pachanoi (backeberg) stock.
Nearly 12 cms across now!
For some reason our grafted Peyote seem to flower later in the season than the non-grafts. No idea why.

Looking nice now it is pushing flowers out.

Seems to be pushing lots more pup out this year, too.

You can see the stretch marks on the skin, where the stock has forced the scion to grow to rapidly.

Another one for the 'beautifully grotesque' catagory methinks.

Kratom

                  Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) Maeng Da.

Well we got 4 rather sorry looking cuttings from the Carribean a year ago and thought we would try to root them.
All of the most promising looking ones promptly died, leaving us with a poor and half dead twig.

As you can see from the next picture, somehow, with a winter of grow lights and heat mats etc, we managed to pull it back from the brink of oblivion.

It now looks an awful lot better, and stands one foot tall although we are still waiting for some side shoots to appear.
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Kratom update!

All the leaves fell off last week, scared the bejesus out of me.

I couldnt work out what had happened.

Turns out the side shoots were making an apperance!

There are 8 new shoots around the stem now and 2 really big ones under the top growing tip.

Got me worried for a bit, that did.

But all is well. It looks like Mrs Kratom is going to have some babies after all!

I will update as new things happen!

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