PF Tek

PF Tek is the method of mushroom cultivation pioneered by Robert McPherson, aka Psylocybe Fanaticus. This technique (tek) utilizes brown rice flour and vermiculite, sterilized in half pint wide mouthed canning jars by boiling or pressure cooking, with a layer of dry vermiculite as a filter agent to keep out competing bacteria and fungus. The "PF jar", after sterilizing, is then injected with spores from a syringe, creating a one step procedure for reliably growing mushrooms indoors.

Psylocybe Fanaticus was the business name of Robert McPherson, the creator of the PF Tek. The PF TEK is an easy, simple, inexpensive and reliable mushroom growing technique, which can be used to grow a wide variety of mushrooms including Shaggy Mane, Lion's Mane, and various species of Psilocybin mushrooms.

A semi colonised PF Tek jar

External links

* [http://www.fanaticus.com The Original PF TEK website]
* [http://forums.mycotopia.net/cakes-brf-aka-pf-tek/ PF TEK in action]

What you will need:1/2 pint wide mouth mason jarsbrown rice flour (BRFvermiculiteWaterperlitemycropore tape (found in any drug store)spore syringespressure cooker and a large plastic container

First you use a ratio of 2:1 vermiculite to brown rice flour.Mix vermiculite with 1 cup water (same amount of water as amount of BRF) and mix thouroughly. You want a light airy mixture, not a compacted one. Stir in BRF.

Spoon the mixture into your mason jars, being sure not to pack it down at all. Fill up to where the threads are on the jar (about the top 1/2 inch of the jar). Now, wipe down the sides of the jar where we left it empty, because if you dont it will cause bacteria and will ruin all your hard work.

Now, after wiping down thouroughly, add dry vermiculite all the way to the top of the jar.

Puncture 4 holes in the lid of the jar and screw it on tight. Put the micropore tape over top of the holes to allow gas exchange but prevent bacteria from getting in.

Take your newly filled jars and put aluminium foil over them so water doesnt get into the hole during sterilization. Now put them into your pessure cooker at 15 psi for 1 hour. If you dont have a pressure cooker you can just use a regular pot with water in it. Be sure to not let the jars touch the water, use aluminium foil to hold them out of the water. If you use a pot with water its a safe bet to sterilize for an hour and a half.

After your jars are done sterilizing, take the pot/pressure cooker off the stove and store it in a room temperature place for about 4-5 hours (to allow the jars to cool).

In the mean time, find a nice place in your house with no drafts blowing, and clean it THOUROUGHLY. Wipe the entire place down with lysol wipes, clean the walls, everything. then lysol the air to kill any airborne bacteria.

After letting you jars cool you can inoculate. Clean your hands really good. Take out your spore syringe and wipe it down also with lysol wipes. Heat the tip of your syringe with a lighter or butane torch until it is red hot. Allow it to cool for a few seconds and then inoculate (You want to make sure to shake the syringe really well to allow spores to be distributed evenly). Youll want to add about 1/4 - 1/2 a cc of spore solution per inoculation hole.

Now find a nice, cool place (around 70-80 degrees). You should start to see mycelium colonization on the jars within 4-5 days. After about 20-30 days your jar will be 100% colonized. Wait a week after 100% colonization to allow the mycelium to get a hold on the substrate (BRF and vermiculite). Now take your clear plastic container (a good size is 16x10x10... just make sure its big enough to fit at least 6 BRF cakes) and drill holes in it...

This will be your fruiting chamber where the growing will take place. Fill container with 5 to 7 inches of rinsed and drained perlite. This will maintain humidity.

After allowing the excess water to drain off take your cakes out of the jar. Take off the extra vermiculite on top, rinse, then dunk the cakes under water for 12-24 hours, being careful not to bruise the cakes.

After your dunk time is up, pull the cakes out and roll them in dry vermiculite which has been sterilized at 355 degrees for 30 minutes. This is what people call "the dunk and roll". Put an aluminum foil square down (about an inch bigger then your BRF cakes all the way around) and put your cakes on top. Keep the fruiting chamber in a warm place, anywhere from 70-80 degrees.

Make sure to mist the perlite 3 to 4 times daily to keep it moist. This keeps humidity in the fruiting chamber. The humidity is what allows the mushrooms to grow.

After a few days there will be some white growth on your cakes. this is good. After a few more days, you'll see pinning, and then a few days after that you'll have your mushrooms.

For more in depth information on the subject refer to www.shroomery.org