PF Tek — The classic DIY method
Grow 'cakes' from jars of brown rice flour and vermiculite, inoculated with a spore syringe. Cheap per grow, teaches you real cultivation skills, and scales up nicely.
About this method
PF Tek, short for Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique, is widely considered the most accessible way into real home cultivation. It's also the method that teaches you the most along the way.
How it works
The growing medium is whole-grain brown rice flour mixed with vermiculite. Brown rice carries no endospores, so mycelium colonises it easily and contamination is less common than with grain. You sterilise the mixture, inoculate it with spores or liquid culture, and wait while the jars turn into solid white 'cakes'. Once they're fully colonised, the cakes come out of their containers and fruit in a humid chamber.
The maths, once
Work from the volume of your container. For a 1000ml jar you need 500ml vermiculite (half the container), 250ml water and 250ml brown rice flour (each half the vermiculite). Three 500ml jars is 1500ml total, so 750ml vermiculite, 375ml water and 375ml flour.
What it costs you
The pressure cooker is the real investment. After that, each batch costs a few euros in flour and vermiculite. A regular pan can substitute in a pinch, but it can't reliably reach 121°C, so expect more contamination if you go that route.
You can start from a spore syringe or liquid culture. Liquid culture colonises noticeably faster if you can get it.
The process at a glance
- Mix vermiculite and waterCombine to the ratios above, then drain any standing water — the mixture should be damp, never wet.
- Add the brown rice flourMix thoroughly once no standing water is left.
- Fill your jars looselyDivide the mixture between jars or filter boxes. Do not pack it down; airy substrate colonises faster.
- Add a dry vermiculite layerOptional but recommended: top the last centimetre with dry vermiculite as a barrier against airborne contaminants.
- Lid, holes, tape and foilPoke four holes near the edge of each lid, cover them with micropore tape (one becomes your injection port), then cover the lids with aluminium foil.
- SterilisePressure cooker: 1–2 cups of water, jars on a rack above the waterline, vent steam for 10 minutes, then 45 minutes at 15 PSI, and let the pressure fall to zero on its own. No pressure cooker: boil gently for at least 2 hours, topping up with hot water, then cool for 10 hours.
- Cool completely, then inoculateNever inoculate while warm — it kills spores and culture. Sanitise the workspace and the injection port with 70% isopropyl, shake the syringe, and inject about 2ml per jar. Re-tape the port afterwards.
- Colonise in the dark22–25°C. Growth usually shows within 1–2 weeks; full colonisation takes 2–4 weeks depending on strain and vigour.
- Birth and dunkRemove the lid and casing layer, take the cake out, and submerge it in clean room-temperature water for 12–24 hours to rehydrate it. Tap water is fine if you would drink it.
- Into the fruiting chamberOptionally roll the cake in dry vermiculite, then set it on foil inside a shotgun fruiting chamber over damp perlite, spaced so air can circulate.
- FruitIndirect light — mushrooms need it to know which way is up. Mist and fan through the holes once or twice a day. Pins appear within a week or two.
- Harvest and re-flushHarvest at veil tear, rest the cakes a day or two, then dunk again for the next flush.
Everything you might need
Affiliate links — the same products the guided flow recommends. Not sure what applies to you? Let the wizard build your exact list.
Not sure which of these you need?
Answer a few questions and get the exact list for your situation, minus the gear you already own.
Build my exact list ✨