
PfTek Compatable Strains??
#1
Posted 29 December 2020 - 07:18 PM
I am interested in growing the mckennai mushroom. Is this possible using the PfTek method? If not, then what options do i have? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, its good to be back! WoodenMushroom!
#2
Posted 29 December 2020 - 11:31 PM
A Mckennai isn't any different from golden teacher, they are both P. Cubensis, with a fancy name slapped on them.
So if whatever worked in the past got you fruits, go ahead and do the same thing, they will look almost identical to golden teachers.
- WoodenMushroom likes this
#3
Posted 30 December 2020 - 05:04 AM
#4
Posted 30 December 2020 - 08:41 AM
I thought Lizard King was another cubensis, dunglovers not wood lovers.
I think you are thinking of either P. Cyan, P. Azure, few others that love woodchips.
Where are you getting your info from? I believe someone was working with Lizard King here too.
#5
Posted 30 December 2020 - 10:02 AM
I grew them out before myself many moons ago and I can't say much of anything other then the stems pigment is grey and the caps are sunburst and they bruise a brilliant neon looking blue. Those colors what made it stand out from some other p.cubensis like gt(gold caps) or b+ brown caps.
As far as woodchips I doubt they'd behave any differently then any other cube would. The mycelium in general from Ms is very aggressive.
Lizard king is a well domesticated cubensis but hard to find.
#6
Posted 30 December 2020 - 11:32 AM
#7
Posted 30 December 2020 - 11:35 AM
#8
Posted 30 December 2020 - 11:50 AM
***The Lizard King.
Here is a quote from the Man him self.
Quote:
Lizard King said:
This week just keeps getting more strange by the day for cubies. I can't find a single cube in the local cow pastures, but here I am finding them in horse pastures and wood chips of all places!! You see, there is this horse park where I live, the 96 Olympics were there. Anyways, there are stables, and riding arenas all over this park, and there are what you call "manure pits", where the manure and stable bedding gets shovelled into. Well, I stopped and asked an attendant where they empty these dung pits at? He directed me about a mile up the road to the dump site and said I was free to take all I needed. So I get up there, and the dump consists mainly of the wood chip bedding from the stables, and a few horse turds here and there, didn't look very promising. Low and behold though, I step out of the truck and there sits a fat cluster of three large cubies. The thing is, they were growing from freaking wood chips!!!! I am sure there is horse shit buried under those chips somewhere, but the mycelium was actually growing in the wood chips, no dung visible at all, and I even dug a little. This has got to be the strangest of places I have ever found, or ever will find a cubie. I couldn't f*#&ing believe it!!
I found a horse stable close to home and asked them where they dump their stable trash, they told me where to go and said to take all I wanted. Stable waste is 90% wood shavings, its used for bedding for the horse, the other 10% is the dung that the horses drop in their stables. When I first pulled up to the site I spotted 3 nice fat cubies and couldn't believe it!! I picked them in a pile of wood chips, the mycelium was eating it up and loving it, there is absolutely no horse dung in site around them, not under it, beside it or around it. I think there is or was probably a small piece of horse dung that was colonised and spawned itself into the wood chips, its so apparent that it doesn't mind the wood chips, it actually loves it and seems to benefit from it, they grow way more healthy, thicker stemmed, plump and potent. They're awesome!!
hmmmmm very interesting.***
Everything within the *** is what is stated. Let me know what you guys think?
#9
Posted 30 December 2020 - 12:18 PM
The truth is a psilocybe cubensis in general can grow off of anything that's cellulose. A well known microbiologist that goes by RR from another site grew them off a hallowed out bible. As it turns out as cool as that was he didnt win any favors , unfortunently. But it goes to show cubensis will grow off anything comprised of fibrous material given the proper environmental condition's.
A tip I got from a experienced mushroom hunter was the best time to go hunting is after a forest fire (given the temperatures are optimum for mushrooms) but he said its solid gold because all of the sterilizes dead wood. Not sure if I'm giving away a trade secret but it would make sense and also shows the diversity of mycelium that will grow off of wood.
- WoodenMushroom likes this
#10
Posted 30 December 2020 - 01:53 PM
LK will grow just like any other cube. That's what they are.
As for compatible BRF(which is PFtek) sub-variants of cubes that are compatible, I would say many. I have seen GT's, B+, Cambo's, PR's, Chitwan, Transkei, Maza, Huatla, LK, and other cubes all grow on BRF/ PF cakes. You have many cubes to choose from. Now whether they do good is all up to the one taking care of them.
Edited by Baphom3t, 30 December 2020 - 01:58 PM.
- WoodenMushroom likes this
#11
Posted 30 December 2020 - 07:20 PM
#12
Posted 30 December 2020 - 07:29 PM
#13
Posted 30 December 2020 - 10:37 PM
LK tends to grow in clusters, at least the genetics I have do. Instead of Mckennai, shoot for GT or B+, but that's just my humble opinion.Those two seem to work best for new growers. GT and B+ are very contam resistant when fully colonized, I'd venture to say most cubes are, but those two are resilient like cockroaches. I have a batch of GT going right now in a bag and that mofo is like the energizer bunny, I'm getting my third pull from it in another day or two.
If you're doing cubes, you're gonna hear all kinds of casing recipes for the substrate. Substrate for cubes is not hardwood, at least from what I know and done. I'm not saying they won't grow using hardwood, but from my experience, they do better on grain substrate(rye, wheat, or wbs) and then cased with a non-nutrient casing. I have used anywhere from 100% verm casing to doing casings of 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, and all mixes in between with verm/coir. I've done 100% coir, I've used potting soil that had no miracle grow as a casing. It all comes down to sterility for colonization and pasteurizing for casing.
Putting cubes on hardwood is overthinking the simple process IMO and opens you to more chances of contams. From my experiences, cubes do best when you use grains and case with a non-nutritive casing as I mentioned. Hope that helps.
Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.
Edited by Baphom3t, 30 December 2020 - 10:52 PM.
- ChocolateStarfish likes this
#14
Posted 31 December 2020 - 04:17 AM
- Baphom3t likes this
#15
Posted 31 December 2020 - 09:54 AM
I've heard the same background story before about lizard king.
The truth is a psilocybe cubensis in general can grow off of anything that's cellulose. A well known microbiologist that goes by RR from another site grew them off a hallowed out bible. As it turns out as cool as that was he didnt win any favors , unfortunently. But it goes to show cubensis will grow off anything comprised of fibrous material given the proper environmental condition's.
A tip I got from a experienced mushroom hunter was the best time to go hunting is after a forest fire (given the temperatures are optimum for mushrooms) but he said its solid gold because all of the sterilizes dead wood. Not sure if I'm giving away a trade secret but it would make sense and also shows the diversity of mycelium that will grow off of wood.
https://blogs.scient...shroom-bonanza/
Yet other than the timing of their appearance, burn morels remain mysterious. The morels that fruit after fires seem to be different species than those that appear spontaneously and sporadically in unburned forest. Exactly what fire does to trigger their fruiting remains unknown. Many ideas have been proposed, though: loss of food, removal of the burden of needle duff that may physically block morels, soil pH or chemistry changes, sudden release from competition with other organisms, or sudden flushes of mineral nutrients released from burnt trees and needles.
#16
Posted 31 December 2020 - 01:36 PM
Also people claiming lighting strikes give bigger patches too.
Why fruit on wood? Most of us are having great success with just coconut coir. They are decomposers and they can probably grow on wood, but they are dung lovers.
If you are trying to refill your medicine jar there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. Do what worked in the past or follow the classic teks.
I'd say 90% of mushrooms people know how to cultivate will work on BRF. There's nothing special about spawning mushrooms, fruiting is where it gets tricky.
Maybe someone smarter then me can provide some substance.
But a cubensis is a cubensis don't overthink it. Over half of the names are just bullshit to get you to spend more money on spores.
Edited by rockyfungus, 31 December 2020 - 01:37 PM.
- WoodenMushroom, ChocolateStarfish and Auhron like this
#17
Posted 31 December 2020 - 02:47 PM
The lightning thing is legitimate, it's mentioned in either Stamets GGMM or McCoys Radical Mycology, I can't remember which. Super short (nanosecond) bursts of ultra high voltage can increase yield. Interesting, but pretty much useless for the home cultivator. Don't electrocute your mushrooms, it requires specialized equipment.
#18
Posted 31 December 2020 - 03:32 PM
But a cubensis is a cubensis don't overthink it. Over half of the names are just bullshit to get you to spend more money on spores.
Although a cube is a cube they all have subtle differences IMO. GT's don't put me to the floor like Cambo's or Transkei.
GT doesn't feel spiritual like most Mexican and Asian variants do. Although they grow the same way, their environments create the subtle difference simply from growing in different places on earth. The soil in Central America is not the same soil that's in Thailand. The soil in Thailand is not the same as the southern gulf coast and so on. Cubes grow in Hawaii and that soil is different than the soil that's on the mainland in bumfuck Indiana.
Edited by Baphom3t, 31 December 2020 - 03:34 PM.
- WoodenMushroom likes this
#19
Posted 31 December 2020 - 04:09 PM
You say the fruiting is where it gets tricky? What do you mean by that? I thought once i got past all the colonization, the spawning, the pastuerising of manure and eventually got to getting my fruits i was in the clear?
Edited by WoodenMushroom, 31 December 2020 - 04:24 PM.
#20
Posted 31 December 2020 - 04:12 PM
Although a cube is a cube they all have subtle differences IMO. GT's don't put me to the floor like Cambo's or Transkei.But a cubensis is a cubensis don't overthink it. Over half of the names are just bullshit to get you to spend more money on spores.
GT doesn't feel spiritual like most Mexican and Asian variants do. Although they grow the same way, their environments create the subtle difference simply from growing in different places on earth. The soil in Central America is not the same soil that's in Thailand. The soil in Thailand is not the same as the southern gulf coast and so on. Cubes grow in Hawaii and that soil is different than the soil that's on the mainland in bumfuck Indiana.
So with that being said, and following on from my last post about the fruiting stage is where it gets tricky, how can certain cubes be harder to grow than others? For instance what would i do differently from my previous grows if i wanted to grow a more spiritual mushroom rather than golden teachers?