When Do Magic Mushrooms Start Growing?

• Seasons when magic mushrooms grow
• Weather for Growing Magic Mushrooms
• When are Magic Mushrooms Ready to Eat?

“When do magic mushrooms start growing?”

This is a question a lot of magic mushroom hunters ask. Like any living creatures, there are times when magic mushrooms grow most sporadically. Some people spend hours combing through deciduous forests which ideally provide the right conditions for magic shrooms to grow but they still go home empty handed.

Understanding when magic mushrooms start growing is crucial to success and pockets full of psilocybin mushrooms.

Before you go out in full mushroom hunting gear, check your calendar and local weather station. If you’re in luck, they could be growing in your background right now.

Seasons when magic mushrooms grow

Some seasons provide the right amount of sunlight, humidity, and temperature to allow magic mushrooms to grow. Not all types of magic mushrooms grow at the same time of the year though. Some species will grow during specific seasons in specific locations only.

Here are some of the most common magic mushrooms and the times of the year when they can be found growing.

• Psilocybe cubensis. The most common magic mushroom can be found year-round in a lot of countries particularly in the tropics and subtropical environments in the Americas and Asia. In the US, these mushrooms can also be found in the river valleys and highlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It’s worth noting that this hallucinogenic mushroom can be seen scattered, grouped, or clustered on cow dung. They tend to pop up 2 or 3 days after heavy rain in pastures.

• Psilocybe mexicana. Growing in small groups among moss and along roadsides, this is one of the magic mushrooms capable of producing truffles or sclerotia. These sclerotia grow underground and have the same hallucinogenic capabilities as the fruiting body that grows above ground. You can hunt for Psilocybe mexicana and dig around for truffles in deciduous forests between May and October in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.

• Psilocybe semilanceata. Psilocybe semilanceata fruits solitarily or in groups in grasslands, meadows, pastures and lawns. Although it doesn’t grow directly on dung, it’s often found in pastures which have been fertilized with sheep or cow dung. This is also another species capable of growing truffles. It’s most common in the Pacific Northwest in the United States and in other countries such as Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Psilocybe semilanceata fruits in these countries abundantly in autumn and early winter. On rare occasions, they also fruit during spring.

• Psilocybe cyanescens. This mushroom fruits between late October and February in the Pacific Northwest south to the San Francisco Bay Area. It can also be found in areas such as Western Europe, Central Europe, New Zealand and parts of west Asia such as Iran. Psilocybe cyanescens grows in clusters, sometimes in great numbers. In one occasion, 100,000 P. cyanescens were found growing in a racetrack south of England!

• Psilocybe azurescens. This magic mushrooms species grows in tight, separated clusters on deciduous wood chips from late September to early January. They are most common in Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States particularly along the West Coast. A larger population has been spotted in Ilwaco, Washington.

• Psilocybe liniformans. From summer to early winter, Psilocybe liniformans grow scattered across rich pastures or grasslands in Washington, Oregon, and Michigan in the United States. They’ve also been reported to grow in Chile where they fruit in the spring.

• Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa. Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa are found growing gregariously from September to December in Northern California, British Columbia, and Canada. They are found in soils enriched with deciduous wood debris, among bush lupines, in Alder and Willow wood chips and bark mulch, Fir sawdust, in coastal regions, and in flood plains.

• Psilocybe stuntzii. This magic mushroom species grows on conifer wood chips and bark mulch across the Pacific Northwest from late July through December. In Santa Cruz, California and Seattle, Washington, they have been reported to grow all year long. There was a time when this fungus grew in 40% of all new lawns in the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest.

• Psilocybe hoogshagenii. The fruiting bodies of the Psilocybe hoogshagenii grow solitarily or in small groups in humus or in muddy clay soils in subtropical coffee plantations in Mexico from June to July. In Argentina, fruiting occurs in February. In Brazil and Colombia, it fruits from June to August.

• Psilocybe weili. Growing gregariously from May to December, Psilocybe weili is found under Loblolly Pine and Sweet Gum or in Bermuda grass or fescue, often in red clay soil enriched with pine needles. In one instance, a ¼ mile clearing in Suwanee, Georgia was found with thousands of fruiting Psilocybe weili which were 5 inches in diameter.

• Psilocybe baeocystis. Ground bark, wood chips, peat moss, decaying conifer mulch, lawns, pastures, and coniferous forests provide the perfect environment for Psilocybe baeocystis to grow. This variety of magic mushrooms grow from late July through December throughout the Pacific Northwest, Maine, and Connecticut in the United States.

Weather for Growing Magic Mushrooms

Magic mushrooms grow on their preferred medium which include decomposing bark, dung, mulch, soil, compost, or decaying matter. Once spores from magic mushrooms find the right medium, it only takes three other factors – light, humidity, and temperature – to grow these hallucinogenic fungi.

• The right light. Since magic mushrooms do not contain chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, they do not require sunlight or photosynthesis to grow. Magic mushrooms need some dim light to form fruit bodies.

• The right humidity and water. Moisture is important for psilocybin mushrooms to bear fruit. However, they have no skin or protection so moisture is easily lost. For this reason, high humidity is needed to avoid water loss.

• The right temperature. Mushrooms prefer a cool environment. Wild magic mushrooms need surroundings with temperatures of 40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit to grow their fruiting bodies.

Because of these growing requirements, magic mushrooms don’t appear during dry weather and only reappear when moisture and humidity improve. High rainfall allows magic mushrooms to rapidly grow. During the rainy season, a sudden change in temperature and moisture trigger the fruiting response, resulting in mushroom production.

According to Japanese folklore, thunderstorms make mushrooms more plentiful. For generations, Japanese farmers have prayed for thunderstorms over their fields to yield more mushrooms which are staples of Japanese cuisines.

Scientists in northern Japan have tested whether bombarding mushrooms with artificial lighting can cause the fungi to multiply. The latest results show that lightning strength jolts can double the yield of mushrooms.

If thunderstorms can double yield for mushrooms, they may also have the same growing effect for magic mushrooms! Watch out for the next thunderstorm.

When are Magic Mushrooms Ready to Eat?

Magic mushrooms are ripe and ready for harvesting and consumption just before the veil breaks. Normally, this breaking time ranges between 5-12 days after the mushrooms start popping up from the ground. This broad range is due the growth rate of magic mushrooms vary because of humidity, temperature, and fresh air.

It’s important to harvest and eat magic mushrooms just before the veil breaks because this is the time for magic mushrooms are most potent. It’s been proven that small, immature specimens are more potent than the larger, mature specimens.

Now that you’re aware when different species of magic mushrooms grow, you can check your calendar and go on your merry way, harvesting psychedelic mushrooms every step of the way.

Fortunately, you don’t need to wait for any specific season or weather conditions to order magic truffles online. With a click of a mouse, you can have magic mushrooms delivered to your door.