In article <1993Jan18.727747426.AA05910@urchin.fidonet.org>
NaChaSh writes:
>In article <1993Jan18.235323.26780@fuug.fi>,
>an6454@anon.penet.fi writes:
>> This was given to me by a well-known mycologist from
>> Vancouver, Canada after a brief discussion I had with him
>> on the "Lepiota Peele".
>Can you tell me if the species Lepiota peele does, itself, manifest the
>psychactive effects that Mr. Peele claims?
It appears not. Peele gives only anecdotal evidence regarding the psychoactive properties of this species--see Mycotaxon v. 43 pp. 461 to 469. Incidently, this is not a new species, it was first described by Hume in 1943 and is called lepiota humei. For pretty pictures, see _Field Guide to Southern Mushrooms_ under its proper name.
>a> The only good reference on
>a> growing psylocibe mushrooms is Jeff Chilton and Paul
>a> Stamets' "The Mushroom Cultivator" published by the
>a> Homestead Press.
>I have found the out of print _Magic Mushroom Cultivation_ by Dr. Steven H.
>Pollock to be an excellent reference for alternative growing techniques,
>especially the brown rice technique.
>Does anyone have any idea if a new updated edition of _The Mushroom
>Cultivator_ will be released?
"Alternative" usually refers to using a substrate (the stuff you use to grow the 'shrooms) different from sterilized straw or Rye grain. The thing you have to watch out for with different substrate material is contamination. Mycelia are not very picky eaters but some major-league irritating contaminants like rich substrates. My concern about the brown rice technique would be that the grains support too many organisms besides cubensis mycelium. If you're serious about growing, grow out (on Rye grain) as
many jars of spawn as you can (good luck, this is the hard part) then go to a farm supply store and get a bale of WHEAT straw (about $10) and cut (or mow) it into 3-4" chunks and sterilize it in a pressure cooker. When your spawn jars are grown out, using careful sterile techniques, inoculate the sterilized wheat straw--the mycelium really like it and it produces far less in terms of contamination than even trays of Rye grain. Grow out, case and treat it right, then watc!
h large stands of Cubensis appear!
Also, the nice thing about the Chilton-Stamets book is that it has a lot of material on contamination. It's still available (at least in Vancouver--check out Banyen Books 2671 West Broadway, Vancouver B.C. 604-732-7912 (they do mail orders)). Paul Stamets is apparently writing a new book dealing with a larger number of species.
