When you start growing mushrooms in a growkit (such as golden teacher or mazatapec) at home, you may notice something strange happening as the process progresses. You will begin to notice pins (i.e. the tiny mushrooms we wrote about in the article on the life cycle of the mushroom) not only on the top part of the “cake,” i.e. the contents of the growkit, but also on the side and bottom parts that are adjacent to the plastic of the box.
When you grow mushrooms in a container, one of the common problems you may encounter is the growth of side pins, which over time become full-fledged mushrooms wedged into the side or bottom of the box between the cookie and the plastic. But what exactly are side pins? How can you get rid of them or prevent them in your magic mushroom growing system? It’s very simple, and staying away from them requires only a few basic precautions.
Getting rid of the aforementioned pins is quite important, but preventing them altogether is even better.
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What are the side pins of psilocybin mushrooms?
One might get the impression that the pins growing on the sides are some kind of strange, unhealthy growth. However, this is not the case as a matter of principle. It’s just that the growths on the sides are magical mushrooms that grow on the sides and it’s ok with them.
I’ve written about this before, but I’ll remind you for those who don’t know, the substrate is a cake of natural material with vermiculite, from which your mushrooms grow. The important thing is that there is a small space between the cake and the container in which you store it. In this space, under certain conditions, you will notice that the side pins begin to grow.
Why do mushrooms like Golden Teacher grow on the wrong side of the growkit?
The fact that such increases occur at all has to do with the specific area in which they occur. This is simply due to the fact that our cake in the growkit (substrate) shrinks during the growth process, creating this small space between it and the container. This small space, oddly enough, is the perfect microclimate for the growth of more magic mushrooms. And even the fact that it is a much smaller space than the one above, the mushrooms will naturally form in this direction.
In theory, they are the same magic mushrooms as any other. However, the space in which they grow is quite moist and they may end up pressing against the container, as there is little space. With increased humidity in a compressed space, there is a pretty good chance that these areas will become a breeding ground for bacteria and mold. What is obvious is that this is the last thing we would want because it can “poison” our cake.
Problem with growkit – mushrooms have grown on the sides and bottom – what to do?
The aforementioned space between the walls of the container and the cake creates ideal conditions for side pins, what can you do to stop them? Fortunately, you have some solid options.
Ensure adequate moisture levels
To begin with, it is important to realize a point – mushrooms have ideal conditions on the sides because that’s where the humidity stays higher. What you can guess as a further consequence is that your cake has too little moisture in the middle, so it needs to be rehydrated.
A properly moistened cake is the best way to make sure that the aforementioned side gaps do not even form. Why – because you keep the humidity on the top and middle and thus you will “induce” the mushrooms to grow in this particular space. When the microclimate on top is optimized, and any gaps that may appear on the sides are not so tempting. Simple, isn’t it?
What is quite important, however, is that unreflective spraying of the cake will not work in the desired way. Apply a couple of splashes to the top, however, focus mainly on occasionally spraying the inside walls of the grow bag.
Block light access to the growkit on the sides
Use the cardboard box in which the growkit arrived to block light access to the sides by putting it together with the bag in the cardboard box. This solution, however, is only suitable for the first throw of growingkit golden teacher in the new version because there, no water is needed in the kit. For other growkits (like Mazatapec or B+), use a cardboard box in which the kit with water will fit comfortably. It is important that it be 2/3 the height of the standing set.
The content on psychodelicroom.co.uk is educational, research, and is an expression of many opinions, to which one should reserve. We do not encourage or even discourage the use of any means of influencing consciousness, all of which can both cure and do great harm. In particular, we advise against growing mushrooms from growkits in countries where it is illegal – min. in Poland – because it involves criminal liability. We recommend that growkits purchased from us be disposed of 72 hours after receipt.
