Growing Report for Golden Teacher Shroom Grow Kit

Sometimes you just want to know what you can expect. Certainly, when you’re trying something new like growing your own shrooms, it’s nice to know what you’re taking on. In this growing report, you can read how we cultivated 470 grammes of fresh Golden Teacher shrooms by working in a hygienic and systematic fashion.

Summary of this Growing Report

Golden Teacher Shrooms

The Golden Teacher shroom gets its name from the gold-coloured shrooms that would offer wisdom to those who dare to ingest these powerful shrooms. Apart from the fact that they look cool during cultivation, when harvested these potent shrooms are not for novice psychonauts. You’d be better off trying half a packet of magic truffles. Truffles which grow underground contain less active substance per gramme than the magic mushrooms that we call shrooms. By the way, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take truffles seriously. You can get well and truly off your head from a couple of grammes of magic truffles. But if you’re really made of sterner stuff and you want to feel what a level 5 trip is like, then you don’t need so much when it comes to shrooms. These Golden Teachers will be happy to educate you!

The origins of these magnificent shrooms is shrouded in mystery but they were first spotted during the 1980s. The shrooms acquire a gold-coloured cap with white speckles that are some 3 to 5 centimetres in diameter on average. But when you cultivate shrooms yourself that is not relevant. You actually harvest shrooms when the membrane between the cap and the stem has not yet completely separated. That is the ideal moment for a balance between maximum yield in weight and the amount of active substances. Psilocybin, the main active substance in shrooms, is also present in the spores that are released from the shrooms. Once the cap opens completely, the spores are ejected and the effect is thus reduced.

 
The ideal moment for harvesting shrooms: the membrane is still just attached to the cap and stem.

Growing Report for Golden Teacher Shrooms

Day 1: The Preparation

In front of us, there is a box containing a 1,200 cc Golden Teacher shroom grow kit, a ventilated plastic bag and a pair of paper clips. We are growing this kit by the book. You can find that “book”, or rather the instructions for cultivation, here. 

The first step is to boil some water and rinse the outside of the kit with that once it has cooled down. With the kettle now on, we unpack the grow kit. We then wait for a couple of hours until the water has cooled down to room temperature and use about half of the water to make the tray and lid clean. We do this by pouring the water gently along the tray and rinsing it off. Don’t use a cloth or anything similar because then you’ll contaminate the kit rather than sterilise it. 

Now we put on gloves and a Corona-proof face mask to prevent us from contaminating the vulnerable shrooms with our own germs. Then it’s time to open the lid. We put on the kettle once more in order to disinfect a clean fork. Then we prick a number of rows of holes in the cake itself with the fork. Not in the lid. After that we leave the boiled water to cool down to room temperature and then pour the water into the tray up to the brim. Then we put the lid back on. Now the kit is kept outside the fridge for 10 hours. That has the effect of giving your shrooms the ‘Go!’ signal.

The objective: dried shrooms, ready for use!

In the evening we open the kit, again dressed like a lab technician with gloves and face mask. We pour off the surplus water into the sink (through a gap between lid and tray) and place the tray without lid in the supplied bag. We then put some lukewarm tap water carefully into the bag until there is about 4 centimetres of water in it. So it doesn’t slop into the tray. The tray has to remain dry now. It’s easier to add the right amount of water if you put the tray in the bag first.

Then we seal the bag with the paperclips and place the whole thing on the shroom heat mat. The infrared heat from the mat makes sure that the temperature stays high enough in a safe manner. The ideal temperature for all indoor shroom grow kits is 23.5 °C. We place the kit on a table away from direct sunlight for the entire cultivation period. In this way, the kit stays in the shadow as happens in nature.

Note: optional - The use of a face mask and gloves is recommended. But if you don’t have any, don’t panic. Just wash and disinfect your hands carefully and never breathe directly into the shroom grow kit. A heat mat is also optional. The reason for using it is to keep the temperature constant as this increases the yield.

Days 2-14 Yearning looks

In the beginning, having one of these grow kits is really exciting. Every day, we find our thoughts drifting towards the young Golden Teacher shrooms. We often start the day saying: ‘How are the shrooms coming along?

Full of hope, we peer at the plastic bag. On the sixth day we notice that the condensation inside the bag has slightly reduced. Shrooms thrive best in a moist environment. So we spray the inside of the bag with cold tap water from a plant sprayer, trying our hardest not to spray on the kit. This could contaminate the kit. On day 10, we spray a bit more in the inside of the bag because the grow kit is again clearly visible. That was the only time that we reopened the bag. Thus the air was not actively refreshed in the interim. The ventilated bag supplied should take care of that sufficiently.

Day 15: We have little ones!

During a routine check, you don’t expect to be attending a birth: the tray is full of miniature Golden Teacher shrooms! Well, yeah, shrooms.. they are still tiny brown pinheads, but it won’t be that long before we can harvest them. 

Day 20: The first crop

We began cultivation on 1 August. On 20 August we were ready for the first crop. That is faster than anticipated because it normally takes 21 days to the first crop.

Once again we don (new) sterile gloves and rinse off the outside of the bag with boiled (and then cooled) water. Then we carefully remove the kit from the bag and it’s time to harvest the shrooms. Take care to harvest all the shrooms. Even the very small ones. That’s important for the next crop. Our yield: 210.7 grammes of fresh shrooms! It’s vitally important for the next steps that you set to work in a hygienic manner. No gloves? Disinfect your hand before you harvest the shrooms.

Afterwards, we put the bag in the fridge in order to ‘reset’ the kit with a coldshock. That’s why it’s important to have removed the tiny shrooms as well – they cannot withstand this process. You give the grow kit its cold shock without first pouring in water – so, harvest and then back in the fridge with the lid back on.

Days 21-36: We want more!

We are cultivating shrooms again with the same kit. Not one time, but another three times for a total of four crops! We repeat the steps already described for each new crop: work hygienically, rinse and put water that has cooled down for 10 hours in the bag. Then cultivate, harvest and cold shock once again. We are unbelievably pleased with our total yield of just under half a kilo of Golden Teacher shrooms.

Shroom Grow Kit Not Growing

Are you having problems with your shroom grow kit or are you just wanting to get a higher yield? Consult this detailed article for handy tips and explanations about cultivating shrooms.

Drying and Using Shrooms

Now comes the best part: using your own shrooms. Fresh shrooms are a bit of a mouthful. It’s therefore best to dry your shrooms. Their effect remains the same but they lose a lot of moisture. In short: less chewing for the same effect. And they can be kept for longer. Do you want to know more about what comes after cultivating and harvesting shrooms? Then be sure to read our other blogs:

• Preserving and Drying Shrooms and Magic Truffles
• 5 Tips for Eating Shrooms and Magic Truffles
• The Spiritual side of Psychedelic Smart Drugs

Starting off yourself with Golden Teacher? Order your own complete grow kit here!