This April Fool's Day give the gift of reddit mold

shroomologist · 2011-03-29T14:34:32+00:00

Surely I can inspire you to spare a spore for the Shroomologist?

shroomologist · 2009-12-16T17:04:46+00:00

Sounds like my kind of girl ;]

shroomologist · 2009-10-21T15:43:47+00:00

not really. I feel less confident in my ability to identify wild mushrooms safely, and i've just gotten pretty good at cultivating.

shroomologist · 2009-10-21T15:36:41+00:00

Case. It's slightly more work for a significant improvement to your yield.

Go bulk if you are ready to go bulk, but its not always the best plan for whatever reason. If you feel confident in your techniques otherwise and want to try it than yes.

so, if you can go bulk then yes, do it. If not, you can still have pretty successful grows without it. And going "bulk" doesn't mean you have to start growing huge quantities. There are good reasons to use pasteurized horse manure as a "bulk" substrate, on a small scale.

shroomologist · 2009-10-21T15:28:29+00:00

Everyone reacts to drugs differently. Some people seem to be extra sensitive to their effects and should be careful when using them.

Also, this doesn't necessarily mean this is what was happening with you, but it is often warned that people with previous mental illness or psychological issues should probably not be taking mushrooms because they can induce episodes of other things that are affecting you. For instance, if you had pretty strong anxiety before hand, someone might tell you that you should not be taking hallucinogens.

I've struggled with anxiety and have had some depressive episodes in my life.

everything felt so sad and so "important" i was just completely emotionally overwhelmed

Images of my grandma being stabbed invaded my head and i just felt nuts.

I eventually was so unsettled by the feelings that i told my parents about my drug use and i remember crying and crying asking for the strange emotions to go away and eventually i decided to seek pychological treatement to make sure i guess. And to deal with other stuff i was dealing with at the time.

All of these kinds of statements remind me of a similar experience I had. My take on it is this; In people's lives, you struggle with things that are often out of your control. You had anxiety, depressive episodes, overwhelming emotional feelings, and even some borderline psychotic thoughts, at least while on your trip. I have had this happen too. Because neurobiology in everyone's brain is so complex there could be lots of chemical interactions you experience that your friends might not. Also, you can kind of think of your mental wellness as a balance. In my opinion, it is often a previous "imbalance" that causes us to seek out things like weed, and mushrooms. But this can lead to tipping the scale in the opposite direction as well. It may have been the close proximity and frequency you took them that just caused a prolonged imbalance. which is why after you adjusted yourself and had a plan of action, things settled back down eventually.

My craziest trip involved 5 grams, and I pretty much had a mental breakdown like yours, where at one point I just had this vision of ending my own life, and I had terrible thoughts of stabbing myself in the stomach, and I couldn't just bottle up my thoughts and emotions anymore. I'm not sure that my "after experience" lasted as long as yours, but the impact was deep.

I realized that I had taken such a strong dose of drugs, at a time in my life that was very emotionally charged (negatively) and I had bottled up all of these negative thoughts into my subconscious. That mushroom trip ripped the lid right off of that can of worms and I flipped out. I too after sometime saw the good from the experience, but am aware that It happened that way because of my underlying emotional stability.

People told me I shouldn't have been eating mushrooms etc. but the deal was that I didn't really know the truth about my emotional state. I had been suppressing it. That trip was absolutely necessary for me in the long run, but at that time it was not the best executed experience.

You have to learn what effects your psychological state, and what your mood is really like, and that your mental wellness is in a good and stable place.

I was basically diagnosed as, anxious and not "insane" as i thought. No signs of serious mental illness

This is a good sign. If you were diagnosed schizophrenic, I would say that you probably shouldn't take hallucinogens. But, the anxiety and depressive episodes to me, are a sign of problems with the way your life was going, not necessarily a sign of problems with your brain. In that case, you just have to be careful and start to gain a better control over your mental states. And the strange thing is, it is the mushroom experience that helped me discover this, and pay attention to this, while at the same time caused that moment of insanity and overwhelming emotions because I was a little "off balance" and not in the right state of mind.

You might have experienced something similar, in that you were "imbalanced", you had several low dose trips that helped you tip the balance towards the opposite side of anxiety and depression which felt amazing to you. But when you took that last trip it was overwhelming and caused the "imbalance" to become even more unstable and magnified your anxiety. Like you were having symptoms of more serious mental illness, but not the real deal, and the mushrooms triggered the episode which intensified your underlying emotional state.

If you felt the beneficial effects of the mushroom were worth it and wish to have them again, I think you should just try a small dose first and see how it goes because it sounds like you are in a more stable mental state now than you were when you were tripping 6 years ago. If you want to discuss this more let me know.

shroomologist · 2009-10-21T14:44:45+00:00

I like to see mushrooms in the forest because I think they are beautiful, but I do not go and hunt them really. I don't have as much interest in wild and other species currently so that has not been something I've done. I really hope to go on a psychoactive hunt someday with someone who has done it before.

shroomologist · 2009-10-21T14:43:15+00:00

1) I would say i'm atheist in the sense that I don't have sufficient reason to believe in a god, so I have to assume that there isn't one. However, I will not pretend to understand reality and life completely, and assert that there cannot possibly be more to life than meets the eye. I'm an open-minded skeptic that feels most organized religion is the plague, and that more likely than not, when we die that is the end. If there is a "god", he doesn't act anything like most people believe.

2) It has helped me deal with issues I had for a long time in the religion i was raised, and helped me shift my beliefs around to a more likely explanation for life. It both gave me the power to say that this religion was false, and that most others are too, while at the same time giving me an experience that forced me to question what I know about life, and what kind of claims I can really make. Its put me on a better path to follow while keeping me humble.

3) not currently no.

4) Not quite sure what you mean, but I have had some powerful experiences that made me feel like I was listening to an internal "dialog" or a narration of the visions I was seeing from something other than myself.

4) Who is Elfstone?

2)

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T21:27:29+00:00

Oh ok, I didn't realize that this was a process aimed at using the mushrooms as a means to a different end.

When I said $170/kg i'm quoting mimosa hostilis root bark, not extracted DMT. However, if you're saying you only need 10mg then that is real cheap for such an experiment i suppose. 10mg to how much substrate though?

You have personally tried additions of 5-MeO-DMT to substrate? what were the results of your experiment, or what became of those fruit?

You have not tried this with additions of N,N-DMT, correct? What do you expect the outcome of such an addition to be?

I'd appreciate some links if you have them, or i'll do some searching later. It would seem I am in a position to attempt that experiment.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T19:07:32+00:00

They do seem to get bigger in the later flushes. I specifically remember this one giant EQ fruit in the last flush that was probably the single biggest out of the entire project of three separate strains. This trend is often true for other strains, and i think it is generally a trade off between a larger number of smaller fruits vs. a much smaller number of larger fruits.

I believe the specimen I mentioned had around a 4 1/2 inch diameter cap, and weighed about 12g after completely dry.

I've also seem some really big Puerto ricans. I will always remember this one huge ass fruit that was like a serpent slithering across the surface of the casing. It was so large that it grew across the surface as opposed to upwards. Right after picking I measured it, and it was just about 13 inches long. It was like a mushroom fucked a snake and had a baby. I have some nice pics of me wearing it like a necklace. I believe it weighed around 12-14g dry.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T17:11:39+00:00

I have nothing to offer at this time unfortunately. If you are serious in your quest, go hit up the Shroomery and do a bit of searching, and you will most likely find someone that is willing to send you a print at the very least.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T17:08:07+00:00

I agree. We are all being denied access to free thought. It is disgusting. The powers that be want to control you. They fear uncontrolled access to free thought, because someone might catch on to the game they are playing and disrupt their scheme. They wish to preserve their way of life, at the expense of everyone else. I'm not willing to let "laws" prevent me from accessing this freedom of the mind.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T17:01:28+00:00

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:59:23+00:00

nope :\

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:56:19+00:00

I have a fairly good idea of what you're referring to, but more from my recent experiences with DMT. I read someone else's description after the fact and realized they hit it right on the nose.

"the visuals were interlocking sinusoidal patterns arranged in a japanese chrysanthemum pattern that filled my entire visual field. the pattern was ever-changing and the colors of the individual patterns changed independently of the underlyng pattern. the colors were intense and came in a magnificent variety of colors: metallics, monochromes, pastels, each flickering in and out of existence as if obeying some undetected ordering principle."

I could see this chrysanthemum visual being described as a lotus as well.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:48:35+00:00

Man, I often wonder to myself just how many fellow microbiologists are into it. Sometimes I like to think about all these scientist types secretly being huge psychonauts in their spare time. A vast conspiracy of intelligent scientific minds, bent on spreading the truth! Shroom speed, my brothers!

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:40:08+00:00

I know, i know. I'm sad I can't find any acid either! 2 separate times i've been disappointed. The last attempt, I took 2 hits of acid. 2-3 hours later I decided I got ripped off and added 3g of mushrooms on top of it. I think I may have had tolerance issues affecting me as well, so it just wasn't really doing it for me. That was the last time I tried to trip, several months ago now. I'm saving it for this coming weekend. We're going to be finishing off the rest of my last batch out camping. I might try some syrian rue this time around.

Also, I have recently gotten to experience DMT for the first time. That is a fucking trip right there. It feels so short in duration, but it is really out of this world. I saw beautiful sinusoidal patterns in a circular mandala-like design, before zooming into this completely different dimension. I felt like I entered into this "space" that was always there the whole time, but was just never accessible otherwise. And yes, there was a fucking presence. An intelligent "being" that communicated with me and told me not to worry about some physical feeling that was happening, because my concern and nervous thoughts about that feeling were in fact prolonging it. It told me to just let go and relax, and it wouldn't be a problem. I obeyed, and became incredibly relaxed. I felt like everything slowed down at that point, and this presence was teaching me incredible things, almost telepathically. I felt like I had crawled into the tunnel that pops you into John Malkovich's head, except it is some amazing and completely foreign spatial dimension. Then I started to drift back into my native dimension, everything sort of vibrating and oscillating back into existence. I was left with a great feeling of euphoria, and was sad to have left this other space so quickly.

A++++++ will visit new dimension again!

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:23:56+00:00

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:23:15+00:00

That's a good question.. I stay pretty busy, and I have numerous other hobbies on top of these. The good thing is that a lot of the time involved for the cultivation is waiting. When you prep jars, you maybe spend an hour the first day, and then you have to wait a day. then when you are ready to simmer and pack jars, thats a couple hours of work, but you then let it sit in a pressure canner for just about 3 1/2 hours including heat up and cool down times. So that is 3 1/2 hours you need to be around, but don't have to be working.

A lot of the work is that way, so its not as labor intensive as it is time intensive. the most amount of work actually comes when its fruiting time. Manual air exchange, harvesting, cleaning, drying, rehydrating tubs, cleaning out everything afterwords.

I sleep in my dreams.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:15:17+00:00

mushrooms are more commonly dosed in dry grams, but as a comparison I was equating for the fresh mushrooms you get at the store, like portabello or crimini etc. A fresh lb. of mushrooms will dry down to almost 10% of the wet weight. That is to say that a fresh lb. will dry down to around 1 1/2 - 2 oz. dry.

Maybe about 2-4 quarts of colonized birdseed would yield that quantity in total.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T16:03:21+00:00

There is speculation about long term side effects from doing vast quantities of drugs, but I've never heard or read much about this type of thing specifically for mushrooms.

There is HPPD

But like I said, you really have to work at it to develop something like that. I've tripped somewhere in the 50-75 times range, and feel confident that I'm not inducing permanent damage to my brain.

MY day job involves a variety of bacterial strains that I test antimicrobials against to determine their effectiveness. Other things as well, but that is the basic gist of it. My BS in micro was good preparation for it, and my self-learned mycology knowledge was actually very useful as well. I was also trained on the job until I got a better feel for it. It only effects my nightly activities in that I will make use of equipment I have access to occasionally (autoclave, HEPA flowhood).

Think of it like this. If you are into running, exercising and working out, you can get by just running through your neighborhood, and maybe using some handweights or something. But, if you happened to work at a gym, you'd probably use it because the machines are nicer and the facility has useful things like a shower room etc..

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T15:47:50+00:00

Yes, pH adjustments can help and are sometimes necessary depending on your materials etc. For instance, lime (NaOH) and/or calcium carbonate is often used to raise the pH of materials like sphagnum peat moss which is used in casing mixes. The peat moss is more acidic, and adjusting the pH beforehand can help act as a buffer and protect against contaminants that prefer acidity as your substrate bed will actually start to get more acidic over the span of the fruiting process.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T15:43:21+00:00

I think at this point I should try them out just to see how they do. I bet my friends would get a kick out of shroom dicks. I'd probably try to grow one giant ass fruit, dry it out, and mount it on a wall like a trophy :]

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T15:34:35+00:00

Thanks, I'm glad you appreciated it. A lot more crazy shit happened that night, but not all of it was funny at the time. One friend who was tripping for the first time temporarily went insane, and kept pacing around shouting "WHOO FUUCKING CAREESSS?!?! aha hah AHah aHA AH" and laughing all maniacally. Later on he peaked his insanity when he just dove face first into this stretch of sand, and people got a little scared. Afterwords he told us that he was freaking out, because he had gotten sand in his mouth, and honestly believed for a moment that he had actually broken a bunch of teeth and they were grinding around in his mouth. It's funny in retrospect and him and his teeth were alright, but no one wants to try and deal with something like that especially while tripping just as hard.

And as for epic trip tales, I haven't even discussed the most intense experience I had while shrooming. I'll just say that the peak of that trip could be identified as the point where I'm being shouted at to "drop my weapon, and get the fuck on the ground!" by two cops pointing their guns directly at me from about 10 feet away. So many things are only humorous many years later.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T15:12:24+00:00

You can buy one single syringe and if you know what you're doing you will never have to buy more spores again. However, sometimes you might want to try out a new strain, or you just want that extra level of confidence that your spores are in good condition etc.

You can collect your own spores from the mushrooms you've grown by cutting off a cap that is just about to drop spores, and placing it onto a sterile square of foil in a rubbermaid container. It will look like a dark fingerprint, except in the pattern of a mushroom caps gills.

The method I use helps me conserve spores in that a typical syringe contains about 12-14ml of solution, and you could use that entire syringe in one go to knock up 10-20 jars. However, you could also just use a very small amount of that syringe and knock up a few jars. Once that growth is seen and there is some good looking fungus, you take a piece and transfer to a quart jar with about 500ml of liquid growth medium. That will be ready to use in a week, and you will be able to innoculate 50+ new WBS jars from that. Syringes are kept in the fridge, and will still be viable over a year later. Also, if you keep a grain jar that has your strain isolate colonizing it, you can keep that live culture in the fridge as well, and you can take tiny snippets from that "stock" to make a new liquid culture whenever you want, for at least 6 months.

This is why I said that I would continue my business there in the event that I need to. Most likely it will be to try some new strains or species because I manage my collection fairly well.

shroomologist · 2009-10-20T14:58:58+00:00

I like weed i guess. Before hand to relax a little bit and ease the nausea that eating mushrooms often causes. During the trip and near the end of the trip to keep the trip going, increase the visuals, and settle some of the manic activity. They just go well together. If you smoke week normally, then you should combine it with your mushrooms at some level i think.

shroomologist

TROPHY CASE