Penis Envy Magic Mushroom Strain Overview

There is no clear evidence on exactly where the penis envy mushroom came from. But legend has it that this strain originated from a very large and healthy Psilocybe cubensis mushroom found in the Amazon rainforest by the psychonaut and lecturer Terence McKenna. When McKenna was in the Amazon in the early 1970s, magic mushrooms were illegal in most countries due to the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

However, this legislation did not prohibit mushroom spores since they do not contain psilocybin or psilocin, the active compounds in magic mushrooms. McKenna took spore prints from the mushroom he found and boarded a flight back to the U.S. Back home in Colorado, he soon began cultivating mushrooms from these prints. McKenna also sent prints from the exceptional Amazonian specimen to his ethnomycology colleagues.

One such colleague was Steven Pollock, a medical doctor who was passionate about the healing potential of psychedelic mushrooms. Pollock set about propagating and refining the culture, strengthening its genetic profile until one day a mutation occurred.

The mutation resulted in the penis envy mushroom, with its noticeable physical characteristics outlined above. Along with mushroom enthusiast Michael Forbes, Pollock set up a company called Hidden Creek, which sold live cultures and mushroom growing kits. They also sold rare strains of mushrooms, with spores being sent worldwide.

How To Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms

If you?re wondering how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms, you?ve come to the right place.

Since germination and cultivation of mushrooms are illegal in most parts of the world and across most of the United States, this guide is for information purposes only. We do not encourage purchasing mushroom spores from FungusHead for any reason other than for research.

Not that we have the legalities out of the way, allow us to tell you everything you need to know to (hypothetically) get a successful crop out of these famous fungi.

The Pros And Cons of Growing Penis Envy Mushrooms

Due to their potency and the weight of their fruiting bodies, Penis Envy is a dream for any mushroom cultivator.

As with anything in life, there are pros and cons to growing Penis Envy mushrooms.

Cons

• The most significant downside to Penis Envy mushrooms is that they?re one of the most challenging varieties to cultivate.
• Another notable downside, most likely due to their physical characteristics, is that they drop very few spores. This means that cultivators need a few Penis Envy mushrooms to collect enough for a viable spore print or syringe.
• This genetic line is believed to be artificially selected, leaving Penis Envy mushrooms less resistant to contamination. It?s unlikely for this species to have survived in nature as they typically take about 25% longer to colonize and pin. Penis Envy has a pin rate that?s around half of other shroom varieties.
• They also need specialized conditions for the incubation stage. Such examples would be the addition of a casing layer and a substrate with higher moisture content.

Pros

• By taking the time to learn how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms, you?ll gain the benefit of getting the most out of your substrate. PE varieties tend to pull out of the substrate much easier than other strains. This ease prevents you from having to decimate the casing or substrate when pulling out a large flush.
• These variants can be grown on birthing cakes, though not well. You should note that they?re best suited to using a bulk application.
• Growth Parameters are the same as any shrooms, but harvesting can prove to be a little bit different. Unlike other strains, when the Penis Envy mushroom caps break their veil, they’re not yet ready to be harvested.
• After the veil is torn for mature mushrooms, a waiting period of 3 to 5 days is recommended.

Known Penis Envy Mushroom Strains That Can Be Grown

Do you need to know where you came from to know where you’re going?

Not necessarily. Just look at the Penis Envy Mushroom strain!

While their origin is still shrouded in mystery, there are several known variants of Penis Envy mushroom strains that can be grown today. (Again, we are speaking purely from a hypothetical perspective as our spores are for research, not cultivation.)

Starting in the late 1970s with Stephen Pollock, many mycologists and genetics vendors performed culture isolation/crossing on the Penis Envy strain. These tests resulted in several distinguishable sub-variants, like:

• Albino Penis Envy (Albino PF x Penis Envy cross)
• Penis Envy #6 (a mutation)
• Texas Penis Envy (Texas Orange Caps x Penis Envy cross)
• Penis Envy Uncut (a mutation)
• Trans Envy (Transkei x Penis Envy cross)

It?s crucial to remember that potency among all Penis Envy mushroom strains is consistently higher than all other shroom varieties.

Below is a brief description of each:

Albino Penis Envy Mushrooms have the milky white coloration of the Albino PF variety, and their caps are sometimes tinged dark blue. Albino Penis Envy mushrooms are also smaller than average PE shrooms.

Penis Envy Uncut Mushrooms are believed to be the most potent of all of the PE varieties. This strain has a couple of unique characteristics, like caps that don’t open at all and a distinctly darker color.

Trans Envy Mushrooms have been isolated by a vendor named Spores Lab. They have slender yellow-white stems and medium-sized caps. This variety is also slightly less potent than other Penis Envy varieties.

These mutations may differ in physical characteristics and potencies, but the Penis Envy strains are consistently more potent than other shrooms. Like the Golden Teacher mushrooms, PE varieties take longer to reach full maturity.

How Long Does It Take To Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms

As with any growing process, enjoying each step of the process without expecting a perfect timeline is the key to having a good experience.

With sufficient preparation and research, however, you could (hypothetically) grow Penis Envy mushrooms within two months.

Since it all boils down to Mother Nature, no timeline is set in stone, but an approximate timeline for growing Penis Envy mushrooms is as follows:

• Week 1: Spore inoculation to spore germination.
• Week 2: Spore germination or inoculation to complete colonization of the substrate or cake.
• Week 2 to 4: The start of the fruiting cycle, which can then take about two more weeks.
• Week 4 to 6: Once the substrate or cakes turn a blue color, the mushroom fruiting is complete.

All in all, the complete growing cycle for psilocybin mushroom spores takes 4 to 6 weeks from inoculation to fruiting harvest.

Remember that the final mushroom quality and yield depend on how well you?ve monitored and controlled the temperature and humidity in the area. You should also have kept an eye out for pests and other contaminants.

How To Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms Using Their Spores

As you learn how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms, you?ll find that inoculation is possible using high-quality spore prints. This refers to the powdery deposit obtained by allowing spores of the Penis Envy mushroom to fall onto a surface underneath.

The tricky thing with Penis Envy varieties and their spores is that their collection is significantly more challenging. On average, less than five percent of the Penis Envy mushrooms drop spores making their availability limited.

An alternative collection method, however, has cultivators swabbing the gills of the mushrooms with a sterile Q-tip.

Once spores are collected or bought, germinating them is the next step in learning how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms.

Paper Rubbing Penis Envy Mushroom Spores

• Fold and rub together the Penis Envy spore printed paper. This step releases the spores to drop onto nutrified agar media.

(This method is not the best as concentrated populations of mushroom spores are usually grouped together, giving less than desired results.)

Germinating the Penis Envy Mushrooms spores from a print is best done on nutrified agar plates in a glove box setup, as with tissue/agar cloning.

Scalpel And Streaking Penis Envy Mushroom Spores

• Sterilize a scalpel by passing it through a burning flame, then cooling it in the nutrified agar. This way, the scalpel gets covered with a moist and adhesive layer for better Penis Envy spores attachment.
• Touch the spore print with the scalpel tip to collect the plentiful mushroom spores.
• Streak the tip into an ?S? pattern across the surface of the petri dish.
• 5 to 15 days later, your spores (should) germinate according to the streaking pattern.
• Colonies of germinating spores can then be subcultured into more petri dishes.

Penis Envy Mushrooms Spores Syringe

You could also use Penis Envy spores stored in solutions suspended in syringes and vials. These are where the spores are re-hydrated using sterile water and then used to inoculate the growing medium.

• Start out by sterilizing your water and glass beaker, and cover with foil.
• Place the bottle in your pressure cooker and heat it until it reaches 15psi. Once it reaches the desired pressure, lower the temperature and maintain it for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, turn off the heat completely and allow the water to cool to room temperature. If the water is still hot, there is a huge risk of killing the spores. It?s easiest to let the water sit overnight.
• Once the water is cool (usually a few hours if not left overnight), sterilize the tweezers and scalpel in a flame.
• Remove the foil, and with your tweezers, take the spore print from its storage and hold it over the opening of the beaker.
• With the scalpel in hand, carefully scrape some of the spores into the water.
• Fill the syringes instantly by placing the tip of the syringe in the water and pulling it to fill it up. It?s best to empty the syringe back into the beaker and repeat this process a couple of times. (This ensures a good spread of spores throughout the water.)
• Now that you have a filled syringe, leave it at room temperature for 2 to 3 days to fully hydrate the Penis Envy mushroom spores.

The advantage of a Penis Envy syringe is a higher chance of the spores germinating by using the water to inoculate your chosen substrate.

Inoculation Is A Key Step In Learning How To Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms

Once you learn how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms using collected or purchased spores, the next step is inoculation. Here, you?ll introduce the Penis Envy spores to your chosen substrate in hopes of producing thriving mycelium.

Penis Envy spores don?t contain chlorophyll and thus don?t need light for photosynthesis. They consume dead organic matter like leaves and animals for the nutrients they need to germinate.

The variety of mushrooms dictates the most suited material as each variant grows in different substrates. Suitable materials for a substrate include sawdust, straw, wooden plugs, or whole grains.

Although Penis Envy mushrooms can be grown on birthing cakes (not well though), they’re best suited using a bulk application.

Blending together the Penis Envy mushroom spores and the nutrients provided by the suited substance is known as the spawn?the key to allowing the mycelium to develop. The mycelium is the fungus from which mushrooms emerge during fruiting.

When the spawn is mixed with a substrate, fruiting can be more vigorous, and mushrooms are more plentiful.

Growth parameters are the same for Penis Envy mushrooms as any other shroom strain, but harvesting can prove to be a little bit different.

How To Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms From A Grow Kit

By using a psilocybin grow kit for cultivation, you could essentially eliminate all the options and steps listed above. When learning how to grow Penis Envy mushrooms, you only need a mycelium substrate and a hospitable environment to watch your fungi thrive!

The mycelium is simply the underlying fungus that grows into your edible fruiting body mushrooms.

Since growing kits include mycelium and a grow box, it simplifies the growing process, making it more straightforward. Everything you need is there, and you can grow without spores.

Using a grow kit has benefits because the development of the mushroom spores into the mycelium has already been done in a sterile laboratory. The mushrooms have not yet grown inside the kit because the mycelium is in a hibernation stage due to the cold environment.

When using growing kits, however, there’s still a potential risk of contamination, lack of consistency, and even fake products.