• Members of the previous forum can retrieve their temporary password here, (login and check your PM).

Psilocybe Cyanescens in the UK

Migrated topic.
M

molcadot

Rising Star
Thought it would be interesting to hear of other UK cyanescens finds, which county, what growing conditions, time of harvest and quantity. They're supposeably spreading quite rapidly and may, owing to increased fertiliser use in pastures coupled with ever increasing use of wood chips as mulch, eventually be our dominant psychoactive species.
 
interesting news! - I have not heard of this. Where did you hear about this and are they hard to find? Have you found any yourself?
 
SWIM has hard time believing that p.cyanescens will even be the dominant psychoactive species. There will always be far more sheep and cow grazing fields than hardwood mulch patches or hardwood forests.

SWIM has read here and there that p.cyanescens can be (have been?) found in UK but he has never really met them. Plus, there are quite a few mushroom foraging societies in the UK that catalogue and document the fungal flora and they will be quite surprised to find hidden man-made patches of p.cyanescens. SWIM has friends in mushroom foraging societies and they walk high and low all around for their mushroomy cataloguin hobbies.
 
I've had a couple of failed attempts with mushrooms, either them not doing anything or not taking enough to produce much lasting effect. I figured the only way to experience them properly is to find them myself and prepare them accordingly and so is an idea I've been toying with the past couple of months. From what I'm told the best time of year is August-September, and I should be looking in places such as fields where cows or sheep are in the vicinty, but other than that my knowledge is pretty weak and I'll need to do some more research before I even think about going out to search for them - the cyanescens are supposed to be quite potent compared to more general species correct?

Any seek and locate tips for a complete novice, or at least good places to read around the subject?

Methtical
 
I'd say that august-september thing is a very loose guide.

It's best to just pay attention to the weather. I'm sure I'm not the only person who realised how long it took the autumn mushrooms to come out last year. They didn't seem to pop up in full force until late october and were found all the way into early december.
 
Not from personal experience, but with Cyancens, spot on id is essential; to the untrained eye they look a lot like deadly Galerina sp. which like the same habitats. I have heard rumours that they may hang out in the rose gardens at Kew but that, again, isn't from personal experience.
 
I was in contact with someone on another board recently and he passed me the location of cyans in my town. The habitat is a new apartment complex’s recreation area in the woodchip flower beds. I had a couple of looks but was unable to find any myself, but the patch location has been shared with others so I may have been a bit too late.
 
So any woodchip is a like contendor for housing these u could possbily say, just look for all woodchipped green areas!!! loads in the local recreational parks :) hurry up seasons.

R*R
L
 
I've found them in hampshire, I came across them by chance, 200 in a 1mx1m area! I think that they will The increase in chemical fertiiser in pastures has likely reduced liberty cap numbers, as well as the occasional application of fungicides by irate land owners. Also not every pasture one encounters will have the mirth fruits. P. cyanescens does seem to be quite dense in it's fruiting in mulch. Kew gardens does support a healthy number, as does RHS Wisley in surrey. spreading them by collecting some woodchips with mycelium does have some success. Also, the fact that they mostly grow in public areas does have its merits. Being chased by angry farmers does wear a bit thin after a while. Identification is easy, there aren't any other fungi with such wavy caps that bruise as blue as these.
 
Sorry to bump an old thread but,
Around Blackburn (nr. Manc.) there are loads of semi's growing at the moment,
I've seen quite a lot of P.Cyanescens lookalikes, but not checked them.
The weather is getting pretty favourable up here so if I find some when I go hunting I'll take some prints and report back.
 
Have been keeping my eye on a thread over at the shroomery regarding this years season, some people are having luck but I think the general feeling is that the next week or two could be the time to harvest, weather dependant of course. I know where I shall be looking in my area I'm just waiting for the weather to deliver some good rainfall, which going by several websites doesn't look great for next weekend - typically when you want rain in the UK, it isn't forthcoming... bah!

Methtical
 
Methtical said:
typically when you want rain in the UK, it isn't forthcoming... bah!

Methtical
Click to expand...

Hahahahaha, too true man!

Could post a link to the thread? Would be much appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: Never mind, just found the thread.
 
While SWIM can't attest to the conditions in the UK, SWIM can with the PNW. Here is a graph attached that SWIM has gone by which shows when roughly Cyanescens appear in the PNW.... which should be roughly the same for the UK. The graph depicts when cyanescens start to appear in relation to temperature. SWIM doesn't claim ownership of the graph and was found a while back at the Shroomery :p Happy Hunting 😉

EDIT: If you notice that with the 2007 year, the mushrooms appear earlier.... that is because that year the rain came earlier..... sorta like this year 😉
 

Attachments

  • 231320057-cyanseasons.jpg
    231320057-cyanseasons.jpg
    159.7 KB · Views: 0
Back
Top Bottom