Customer Reviews

Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook: Easy Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mushroom cultivation techniques are improving fast, especially with the advent of Internet discussion boards where new techniques are being discovered every day.

This book is very recent (as of 2006), and is the clearest and most easy to read book I have seen on the subject. It gives a clear and concise summary of many of the best techniques for growing the most popular type of hobby mushrooms, and discusses where to go to learn more about mushrooms of all types.

Compared to doing research directly from the Internet, this book is clearly organized, well written and authoritative. But perhaps the most valuable resource in this book is its list of reputable web sites and forums on the Internet, which helps you avoid the unreputable sites. Scams on the Internet are abundant, and anyone new to this hobby needs to be careful to find trustworthy sources for discussion and for purchasing equipment and culture spores to experiment with. There are many sites that will make big claims and then not deliver, leaving many beginners frustrated and much poorer with nothing to show.

The importance of finding clear and reputable sources of information and supplies cannot be understated. This book will help you get started safely and quickly. Buy it, read it, then go to the forums listed and compare what you have learned with what other people have already been through. Use this knowledge to avoid the common scams and pitfalls. Follow this plan and you will be happy.

I bought this book having no experience with growing mushrooms and hoping to start for a small investment. Most mushroom growing methods (it seems) require a pressure cooker for sterilization; however, purchasing a pressure cooker could be quite expensive. For this reason, I wanted to start with the PF Tek method, which only requires a boiling water bath for sterilization. This method is covered in the book and the book even gives some improvements to it. This is the method I tried and so it is the main focus of the review of this book.

Primarily, I will say that the authors' descriptions were lacking in detail. They outline the steps, but they were not precise enough to execute the actions without having questions and doubts. In my opinion, if you buy an instructional book, it should be all-inclusive and cover you 100% from start to finish. Otherwise, you could just research this stuff online for free. Because of a few steps that could have been performed better or different, this method ended with the bacterial contamination of most of the jars.

If you are a beginner like me, and just want to try out growing mushrooms without a huge investment, then I would definatley recommend trying the PF Tek method to start because it does work. You just have to be very careful in your execution of the steps. I would recommend going on Youtube and typing "PF Tek" in the search field. There is a four part movie on there entitled "Let's Grow Mushrooms! pf tek part #". That instructional video will give you more information than this book does on the PF Tek method. Also, it actually shows you how to perform the steps so that there is no doubt. Furthermore, it's free.

As for the rest of the book, it is informational as a primer guide, but definatley not as thourough as it could be.

An update on simple accessible grow techniques is long overdue. This is book is perfect for newbies. I recommend supplementing this book with other available information on the web, just to get a thorough scope of what's ahead of you, and what came before the improvements the authors present in the book. There's a surprisingly well written and researched Wiki page on psilocybin for those of you who are curious about its history and chemistry. Excellent color section, resource list and appendix.

This is the most thorough book on this subject to be published, containing NUMEROUS methods for growing the mushrooms, a detailed list of materials needed, a glossary, background information, and 32 pages of color photos.

I really like this book, but I had to give it four stars because of its subtitle: "Easy Indoor & Outdoor Cultivation". The term "easy" is a little misleading. This book is a truly thorough work. In addition to the several chapters on cultivation methods and technique, the Mushroom Handbook contains a chapter devoted to the history of psilocybin mushrooms as well as chapters tackling biology and chemistry. You get a pretty hefty load of mushroom fun & facts for only two hundred pages.

I forsee a potential disappointment for those who purchase this book hoping to learn a simple approach to growing mushrooms. The instructions contained in this handbook are detailed, exacting and require the grower to purchase a long list of materials. I have to admit--I have NOT tried any of the techniques offered in this book. There are easier ways to grow mushrooms that require less time and expense. That being said, I think that the background knowledge and experience of the authors make this little number well worth the buy. It works as an excellent reference book, full of great tips to anyone willing to commit to the reading. The authors demonstrate sincere passion and expertise, and they aren't offering any shortcuts.

I will have to admit, prior to this piece of literature I was completely ignorant of ANYTHING and ALL THINGS mushroom. For me to make any inclination towards whether the scientific lingo, or the description of the biology of a mushroom, is correct or incorrect would be intellectually disingenuous. However, the book is very definitive in those avenues that I cannot either confirm or refute. So, with that disclaimer aside I can scribe my review:

The book begins out of a comical, humorous and sarcastic fashion that ensnared my attention to what I thought was going to be a very soporific read. After the first three chapters of the introduction to the biology of mushrooms and other technical aspects, of which the authors' comical bearings aid interest, the book starts to yield some of what you seek. However, the fourth chapter is on sterility of the environment and materials-which the authors inundate you with pervasively- this seems extremely inane at first. I was initially feeling that their emphasis on sterility was nothing short of a nuance of madness. Throughout the book I asked myself was the processes, materials and sterility too meticulous, but after I finished the book I understood why it was so. When cultivating these species on a mass scale you may NEED to use the ornate procedures and materials to render the fruits of your labor and to obviate contamination.

At times you can feel that some of the information seems self-contradicting, but if you read the book from cover to cover prior to your endeavor you will understand why it is that you confused yourself. Merely floundering around the book will manifest some confusion due to the myriad of processes and avenues described. For instance, there are different procedures you may take with one method that you will not use on another, such as materials, temperatures, containers, etc. I exhort you, as do the authors, to read the book in full prior to your mushroom cultivation.

This book, in my opinion, offered intricate and salutary references for ALL materials needed, and even those you do not. The chapter on materials has indications in the form of symbols meaning whether or not certain materials are needed initially, where to procure said items and free or cheaper alternatives. In this section I do have a few disagreements though. There are a few items that you DO NOT need to start that are indicated as items needed as a beginner (in their defense, the key states that the symbol means "likely to be needed as a beginner"). Those items are: a pressure cooker, petri dishes, media flasks, alcohol lamp, scalpel, funnels, measuring pipette & bulb, graduated cylinders, parafilm and malt extract. If you extricate these from your materials needed you will save two hundred dollars or more. Most of those items can be replaced by cheap alternatives or altogether negated from the process.

In the end I felt I got my money's worth due to the confidence that was vibrant and resonant with me after the read. Each process is definitively describe step by step. I even felt well educated on the biology of mushrooms and alleviated of several societal misconceptions.

In closing, I do recommend this book and feel that it is very user-friendly to even the most doltish individual destitute of knowledge on mushrooms and their cultivation. So, kudos to the authors for their work and amalgamation of the latest techniques and procedures for the discreet cultivation of such a benign (depending upon species) substance!

This isn't the most comprehensive guide to cultivating mushrooms, but it's a good reference to have because it touches on all the topics relevant to growing, preserving, and enjoying these wonderful fungi. It gives a novice a decent understanding of what a fungus is and how to go about growing the 'magic' ones you want without boring you to death. One of the best parts of the book was the list of websites in the back, definitely helpful for the aspiring shroomer.

This book gives some good advice on sterilization, equipment, and step by step instructions on a few topics like agar prep, spore germination, and a few different cultivation methods. If you want more info I'd recommend picking up Stamet's books (Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home). And as another reviewer said, check out the PF Tek videos on Youtube. Those helped me understand what the authors were talking about when it came to PF Tek. However the videos don't present the alternate fruiting methods and such that are in this book.

This book is great. I read it and it is very easy to follow. I knew nothing about growing mushrooms but this book made it easy to do. I love the photography that shows each step. It is well worth the buy. It showed me what supplies I needed and where to store them. I recomend this book to all.

This has got to be one of (or maybe the) most extensive books on indoor/outdoor psilocybe cultivation. This book to mushrooms is what Jorge Cervantes' "Indoor/outdoor medical horticulture bible" is to herb. Almost any question you have about cultivating, cloning, reproducing, substrates, spores and different species is covered in this book. Although somewhat of a small book, i don't think anything really important was left out of it. The author includes everything from old school techniques used in the 70s to the more recent ones developed in the last decade or so. If your contemplating cultivating look no further, this is the book you need.

PS: I do not condone or suggest you break any state or federal laws. Therefore, if you live in the US or any one of the many other (lame) countries where cultivation is still illegal than this book is strictly for educational purposes... that is until you move to another cooler country where you can use what you learned, legally.

Although the Stamets handbooks are very informative, they're more like reference encyclopedias to me.

If you want to try your hand at growing *ANY KIND* of mushrooms this is the book to start with. I just wanted to culture, innoculate and grow some edible mushrooms, but the stuff I've found on the internet was sketchy at best. Or geared towards hard core magic mushroom enthusiasts.

This book is a great, non-intimidating, basic guide to getting started.

Mushrooms are really mysterious but interesting things to grow. And you don't need crazy sterile culture laminar flow hoods and expensive equipment. The biggest expense is a good solid pressure cooker for sterilizing stuff.

I highly recommend this book, regardless of the kind of mushroom you're seeking to grow.