As soon as you start growing shrooms you can’t wait to harvest them. Harvesting the shrooms is crucial and should be done with care. Harvesting the shrooms the right way is very important and if you’re too late it could lead to losing your (future) crop. In this blog we will learn you how and when you should harvest the shrooms.

When do I harvest magic mushrooms?

It doesn’t matter if you use a growkit, or when you have grown your own mycelium. As soon as the shrooms start to grow, you will notice that every hat of the shroom has a small membrane. This membrane holds the spores of the shroom. As soon as this membrane breaks, the spores will fall on your mycelium substrate. The mycelium has reproduced itself and the current mycelium stops producing shrooms. If you harvest the shrooms too early, then you won’t have fully potent magic mushrooms. But overall is it better to harvest the shrooms too early than too late.

The best signal that it is harvesting time is the following: If you look at the membrane under the shroom, then you will see that they are quite fleshy and lightly colored. If you notice that they start to darken, then they start to sag. Don’t wait any longer and start to harvest immediately. The size of mushrooms don’t matter, some grow very big and others don’t. This doesn’t mean that they are fully grown. And that’s why you only have to check the membrane to see if you have to harvest them.

How to harvest shrooms?

Shrooms should be harvested carefully. One thing is always important: you have to work as sterile as possible. Wear gloves and a facemask to make sure no bacteria will contaminate your precious mycelium. The mycelium in its substrate is called ‘the cake’. The cake is very fragile and you have to make sure that you don’t do any damage to the cake. The less damage you do, the greater the chance you get successful yields later. The most preferred method of harvesting magic mushrooms is to gently twist them off the base of the stem. Sometimes you’ll notice that the stem snaps and other time it doesn’t happen. Overall is it very important to work clean and careful!

When is harvesting the shrooms too late?

You’ll notice that you are too late when the spores have fallen. The shroom has done its purpose and starts to die. The shrooms falls down and starts to turn black. Always do harvest them as soon as possible, but please do note that the spores will reduce future flushes significantly.

How to store magic mushrooms?

After you have harvested your magic mushrooms, then it is time to store the shrooms. The growkit should be stored as stated on the instructions. Storing the shrooms in the fridge for some time. But after a while they do start to decay in the fridge. But you can also dry the shrooms so you can store them even longer!