Psilocybe azurescens (Wild Astoria)
Submitted by Skillet
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Psilocybe azurescens
1. Patch collected in Astoria OR 12/19/99. Patch dug up and placed,
along with grasses, into large flower pots.
2. Pots brought back to Seattle, WA. Patches were then cleaned up of
extra debris and alder woodchips were added. Makeup of pots as follows: Pots
filled 3/4 with beach/riparian sand/silt. dune grasses and other plants arranged
on sand. Mycelial bits laid on sand surface around grasses. whole thing covered
with alder chips and planings.
3. Each pot was watered deeply and placed in a south facing window
sill. The pots were sprayed with distilled water every day. note: after two
weeks, there were signs of black mold in one of the pots. I cleared the mold
out with tweezers and stopped spraying the pots. I noticed lots of mycelium
growing at the border between the sand and woodchips. The pots were then watered
only once a week, allowing them to dry at the surface. The grass has taken off,
as has the weeds. A coast lupine has sprouted as have lots of other weeds.
4. Three of the six pots were taken outside on 2/6/00, 7 weeks after
starting. Daytime highs were in the mid-50's, lows in mid-40's. I hope to have
Mushrooms growing in flowerpots by mid-March. They should make lovely pictures.
After the last flush, the pots will be broken down and planted into prepared
beds. These beds will be composed of pits dug out and filled with sand from
a nearby river. I will try to recreate the environment of the West Oregon sand
dunes and get the Azurescens to take to the Puget Sound environment. A portion
of the patch will be dug up and moved every year to a location along the Puget
Sound. There are places locally with sand dunes containing dune grasses that
the Azurescens will probably adapt to readily. Within ten years, Psilocybe Azurescens
will be a predominant species in the Puget Sound Region.
5. A week after being put outside, a hard frost set in so I pulled the
pots back into the house for a few weeks.(2/13/00-2/27/00) All the pots were
put out on 2/28/00 along with a batch of P. Cyanescens. As of 4/7/00 there is
no sign of activity from any of the pots. The weather has been 1/2 dry 1/2 rainy.
Highs have been in the upper 50's to lower 60's, lows from the low 30's to mid
40's. With the weather warming (highs this weekend to near 70 degrees F.) I
am fearing that any primordia may abort. Also, the pots go through a period
of drying every week. I'll give it another month before I abort the mission
and begin work on an outdoor patch.Psilocybe Azurescens
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