A magic mushroom grow kit is a tub of substrate already grown through with Psilocybe cubensis mycelium. Kept warm, humid and in indirect light, it produces its first mushrooms in one to three weeks and usually two to four flushes in total. A kit that is too cold or too dry shows it within days, and so does mould. In the Netherlands the kits are legal to sell while the mushrooms they produce are banned; in almost all other countries the mushrooms are illegal too.
This logbook explains each stage in the order you meet it, with the conditions producers recommend, what laboratory studies have measured, and where the two disagree.
The kit in numbers
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Species | Psilocybe cubensis in most kits; Panaeolus cyanescens in Copelandia kits |
| Block sizes | 1200cc standard, 2100cc XXL |
| Temperature | 21 to 26 °C; growth slows below 20 °C, contamination risk rises above 28 °C |
| Humidity | 80 to 95% before pins, 85 to 90% after |
| Light | indirect daylight, as a signal only |
| First harvest | 1 to 3 weeks after set-up |
| Flushes | 2 to 4, the first usually the largest |
| Between flushes | 12 hours in cold water, then drain |
| Legal status (NL) | kit legal to sell; mushrooms banned since 1 Dec 2008 |
Temperatures, humidity and timing come from the instructions that Dutch-Smart and kit producers publish; they are recommendations, not measurements. The grow guide notes where instructions differ.
Where to start
- New to kits: read how a kit works, then the step-by-step guide.
- Kit already running and something looks wrong: go to contamination. Blue patches are harmless bruising; green or orange patches are not.
- Mushrooms nearly ready: harvest, drying and storage.
- Choosing what to buy: kits and strain names, including what lab studies say about strength.
- Before anything else outside the Netherlands: legal status by country.
Three mistakes to avoid
- Waiting too long to set up. A colonised kit is a fresh product. Dutch-Smart advises setting it up on arrival and keeping it in the fridge for no more than a day if that is not possible.
- Mistaking bruising for mould. Blue stains where the mycelium was touched come from oxidised psilocin and do not spread. Mould grows in patches that turn green, grey-fluffy or orange.
- Freezing fresh mushrooms. In a storage study, psilocybin and related compounds broke down most in fresh cubensis frozen at minus 80 °C, and least in dried mushrooms kept dark at room temperature.
Kits to start with
A standard kit of a common strain is the easiest first grow. Strain names say less about strength than labels suggest; the kit guide explains why.
Golden Teacher - 1200cc Mushroom Grow Kit
€33.95Dutch-Smart
Stock ref DS-2776
Golden Teacher - FreshMushrooms Magic Mushroom Grow Kit
€39.50Dutch-Smart
Stock ref DS-4668
Golden Teacher Grow Kit – Royale Flush
€37.95Dutch-Smart
Prices include VAT and update automatically. Set the kit up on the day it arrives.