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Cube2, or The Outdoor Cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis |
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Written by Gerald Peppard
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Tuesday, 21 December 1999 |
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Page 1 of 3 We have seen a plethora of information on indoor cultivation. But what I find amazing is there is little or no information on outdoor cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis. Let me ask you a couple of questions: Are you tired of small mushrooms? Would you like a mushroom the size of a small dinner plate? Are frustrated by the number of steps involved? Are you always worried about the possibility of contamination?
This species (P. cubensis) can be grown outdoors with a high rate of success and all with a limited amount of money and time. Even though P. cubensis is a warm sub-tropical mushroom, I believe it can be grown outdoors as far north as Canada. In order for a mushroom to grow it must have the right environment. As long as you meet the requirements, anybody can be successful.
Let`s talk about a location for these wondrous creatures. Clumps of grass, yes that`s right clumps of grass. You can look at a clump of grass as if it was a terrarium The grass will act like a barrier and keep humidity at a high level for well over 6 days. If the humidity level ever drops too low, take a hand mister and spray until the desired level of humidity is reached. The grass will then help with a couple of things by filtering the sun and absorbing CO2 during the day.
What substrate is suitable? Aged cow dung is best: but I would say horse dung might be a good substitute. A good way to determine whether or not the dung is aged enough, is observing other fungi growing from the dung. Some of the species you might encounter are Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Coprinus, etc... Another way of determining whether dung is aged enough is checking it out. I like to take my walking stick and flip the pies upside down and then break it in half with my stick to check the moisture content. It should be the same consistency throughout the whole piece of dung, dry. After awhile you will be able to judge what is suitable and what is not. Once it is determined to be suitable, pick it up and place it in a collection bag. A good bag for collecting cow pies is an old pillow case. For those of you who are a little squeamish about handling cow dung, go buy a pair of RubberMaid kitchen gloves. Pick up all sizes of dung for your future endeavor.
Personally I don`t pretreat my cow dung before use. The problem I see with pretreating the dung, is there is a chance you might kill some of the beneficial microbes. Besides that P. cubensis mycelium is known for its rapid and highly aggressive behavior. There are maybe a few other fungi whose mycelium can compete with P. cubensis in the wild.
Here are a few suggestions for those of you who want to pretreat their dung. First take the dung and place it on a cookie sheet. Then place the dung in the oven at 150 degrees for 30 minutes. Second you can microwave 4 cups dung with a 1 cup of water for about 5 minutes.
Watering your homemade cow pie is not difficult, just water the pie every 3 to 5 days. How much water to apply depends on how big of a pie you made. Personally I like to collect rainwater for my pies; but tap water will do if you let it stand for 24 hours before use. Water the pies directly from the top with a watering can. Apply the water all over the pie while allowing at least 60% of the water to flow through the medium and loose substrate. This will allow the water to transfer itself throughout the whole pie. Overwatering is not hard to do, so when the water comes rushing from out the pie you have overwatered. If you do overwater just add 1 to 2 days to your normal watering schedule before you water next.
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