phenohuntergarcia
Active Member
From last season. We just need some rainfall this year!!!
Psilocybe cyanescens
- Thread starter phenohuntergarcia
- Start date
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I've picked those but it's been decades. Not since the 80's at various Oregon locations.
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Nice score! I have yet to find any of these. Someday my efforts will be rewarded.
phenohuntergarcia
Active Member
Phytoplankton
Well-Known Member
Yes, they're fairly abundant on the US west Coast. Found in pastures/grasslands.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
We call them Liberty Caps here in the Pacific Northwest and they grow prolifically. Before they criminalized possession you would see people in fields all over picking them back in the day.
Star Dog
Well-Known Member
It used to be a similar scenario here before they were made illegal, in the autumn you would see people wandering the parks picking mushrooms it wasn't unusual.
I 1st taken them about 87/88 there was millions of them growing locally ffwd 3/4 years and they started getting difficult to find, as opposed to just going picking them i spend time and search around for an hour or two to get enough for a trip around 75/100 mushrooms.
I wonder what happened with them?
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I used to pick so many libs at night, that when we came home from rummaging through all the local pastures, I would see mushrooms popping up on the walls. Like.. crawling around looking at them with a dim lit flashlight for so long literally burned the image into my retinas, for hours afterwords. Full paper grocery sacks full 
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I remember one night like 20 years ago, it was like the last night of the season. It froze (usually they all turn to mush afterwords and that's that), and all the liberty caps became hard as ice cubes. I found the biggest patch ever, but wasn't prepared for the cold at all, no gloves or anything.
I kept picking and picking anyway, and must have had to rethaw my hands out in my arm pits like 6 times. The pain was excruciating. Even a cow came over to see why I was crying in agony.
I kept picking and picking anyway, and must have had to rethaw my hands out in my arm pits like 6 times. The pain was excruciating. Even a cow came over to see why I was crying in agony.
Phytoplankton
Well-Known Member
When I lived on the Ca. North coast, where it's almost always wet, the the best picking was always in the fall, about a week or two after the first frost. Damp, but not soaking wet, pastures were best. There was also a spring harvest, but not quite as abundant as the fall. We also had P. cyanescens, they grew on the forest floor or in rotting wood or wood chips.
Cyanescens will normally adopt a certain type of wood in their environment. Take note of the species that it is in symbiosis with for that area and it will make foraging much more efficient . Theres normally a certain amount of degradation that will be uniform enough to provide the nutrition.
I once found a log rotting on the ground with hundreds growing from the splits running up the trunk, One could speculate that it would have taken two trips to collect them all
I once found a log rotting on the ground with hundreds growing from the splits running up the trunk, One could speculate that it would have taken two trips to collect them all
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
In their un-natural man made environments around here, they seem to prefer mulched alder/bark. I've yet to ever find them in the forest growing wild, although many have... That sounds amazing to stumble upon.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Finally the rains are coming.. been the driest summer/fall I can ever remember, up here in the PNW, if not the actual record. I have a feeling this season will be extra wavy because of it, and plan to find me some good specimens 
conor c
Well-Known Member
The council and golf courses spray to prevent them often in recent times mate over here anyway mate think thats why we see them less mind you some places are better than others for liberty caps
GreenestBasterd
Well-Known Member
Here in Australia they grow along the dirt roads on the edge of the forest, you still see plenty of cars pulled up and people everywhere with their heads down and paper bags!
The council do their best to eradicate them to no avail, when they grade the roads and smash big patches up, all they do is spread the spores and increase the yield year after year.
Ours here are “gold tops” and grow from decomposed wood but the closer to the coast you get, you find the “blue meanies” which are found in paddocks and around animal droppings.
The gold tops are a fair bit stronger I’ve found.
In the Paul Staments book I have, it says they are some of the strongest you can find.
The council do their best to eradicate them to no avail, when they grade the roads and smash big patches up, all they do is spread the spores and increase the yield year after year.
Ours here are “gold tops” and grow from decomposed wood but the closer to the coast you get, you find the “blue meanies” which are found in paddocks and around animal droppings.
The gold tops are a fair bit stronger I’ve found.
In the Paul Staments book I have, it says they are some of the strongest you can find.
GreenestBasterd
Well-Known Member
When I was still living in the UK we got some nice ones from the Yorkshire Dales, a mate picked some from a posh park in London and they even grew on the grounds of a local police station where I lived.
Heard rumours of them being found here in Australia on the slopes of Parliament House too hahaha!!!
Heard rumours of them being found here in Australia on the slopes of Parliament House too hahaha!!!
xtsho
Well-Known Member
If I remember correctly the psilocybe baeocystis were the more potent of the native shrooms around here. I had a field that had knee high grass that you'd have to dig through down to the ground and go through carefully to find the mushrooms. When you came across one there would always be more.
I think I had as much fun picking them as I did eating them.
I think I had as much fun picking them as I did eating them.
GreenestBasterd
Well-Known Member
It’s amazing once you spot them, suddenly your eyes re-focus and you see them everywhere.If I remember correctly the psilocybe baeocystis were the more potent of the native shrooms around here. I had a field that had knee high grass that you'd have to dig through down to the ground and go through carefully to find the mushrooms. When you came across one there would always be more.
I think I had as much fun picking them as I did eating them.
View attachment 5219901