❄️ Winter (Dec - Feb)
The dormant season outdoors, but the busiest season indoors.
- Indoor Spawn Prep Start creating your grain spawn and sawdust blocks indoors. You need fully colonized blocks ready for Spring.
- Site Selection Scout your garden for shady, moist spots. Clear debris.
🌱 Spring (Mar - May)
The planting season. As soon as the frost is gone.
- Inoculate Beds Break up your colonized indoor blocks and mix them into wood chip beds outdoors.
- Mulching Cover the fresh spawn with a layer of cardboard and fresh chips to protect it from drying out.
☀️ Summer (Jun - Aug)
The survival season. Heat is the enemy.
- Watering Water your beds deeply once a week during droughts. Keep the mycelium alive.
- Inspection Check for pests (slugs) or competing molds.
🍂 Autumn (Sep - Nov)
The harvest season! Temps drop, rains come, mushrooms pop.
- Harvesting Check beds daily. Wood lovers (Cyanescens) fruit when temps hit 50°F (10°C).
- Spore Printing Take prints from your best outdoor fruits to save genetics for next year.
- Feeding Add a fresh layer of wood chips before winter to give the colony food for next year.
🏠 Indoor Growing: Seasonal Adjustments
Indoor cultivation is season-independent for light and humidity, but your ambient room temperature changes across the year, requiring seasonal tuning:
- Winter (Dec-Feb) Rooms may drop below 18°C overnight. Add a thermostatically controlled heat mat under substrate or a space heater on a temperature controller. Cold drafts near windows can crack substrate surface.
- Spring (Mar-May) Ideal natural temperatures in many homes — often the easiest time for indoor grows. Watch for increased airborne mould spore counts (windows opened more often).
- Summer (Jun-Aug) The most challenging indoor season. Ambient temperatures above 27°C cause heat stress and dramatically increase contamination. Use a clip fan to circulate air, avoid south-facing rooms, or consider a small air conditioner or grow in an air-conditioned room.
- Autumn (Sep-Nov) Second-best season for indoor growing as temperatures stabilise. An excellent time to start a new grain-to-bulk project.
📊 Species Fruiting Season Reference
Different psilocybin species have dramatically different seasonal windows. Use this table to plan your outdoor bed inoculations:
| Species | Inoculate Beds | Fruiting Season | Temperature Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| P. cyanescens | March-April | October-December | Below 10°C nights |
| P. azurescens | March-April | October-January | Below 7°C nights |
| P. ovoideocystidiata | Feb-March or August | April-May and Sep-Nov | Seasonal temperature shift |
| P. semilanceata | Foraging only (UK grassland) | September-November | First frosts, wet conditions |
| P. cubensis (indoor) | Year-round | Year-round | Controlled environment |
📋 Full Year Task Planner
A practical month-by-month checklist for growers who cultivate both indoors and outdoors simultaneously:
- January: Order spore prints/syringes for the new season. Inoculate grain jars for indoor spring grows. Scout outdoor bed locations while ground is clear.
- February-March: Begin colonising sawdust blocks for spring outdoor inoculation. Prepare outdoor bed sites — dig, add fresh hardwood chips, allow to settle.
- April-May: Transfer colonised spawn to outdoor beds before temperatures rise. Begin fruiting indoor cubensis grows. P. ovoideocystidiata spring flush begins.
- June-August: Focus on indoor grows with climate control. Water outdoor beds weekly. Spore-print outdoor fruits if any appear.
- September: Begin daily temperature monitoring of outdoor beds. Reduce indoor fruiting temperatures to mimic autumn drop.
- October-November: Peak outdoor fruiting season. Check beds every 1-2 days. Harvest before veil breaks. Add a fresh layer of chips after each flush.
- December: Take spore prints from best autumn specimens. Plan next season's genetics. Begin planning indoor winter grow cycle.