Amanita Cultivation and Growing

Amanita Cultivation and Growing

This is perhaps one of the most-asked questions we get here at the Amanita Shop.  People far and wide want to grow this amazing mushroom in their homes or their shamanic gardens, but the answer is always the same; it’s just not very possible.  Mind you, we aren’t saying IMPOSSIBLE, because if you happen to have Birch tree in your home, or at least in your garden, you have a chance at creating an Amanita Garden that you can grow and cultivate.

Amanita cultivation in a lab environment has always been a frustrating prospect due to the symbiotic relationship of this mushroom to its host trees, most of which are Birch trees that occur naturally in the wild. But if one has the right host trees in their area, and resides in the proper temperate zone or elevation, one can try and simply take a few dried or fresh caps that are in sporination (fully flattened or upturning with longitudinal tears along the striations), crush them up thoroughly, and mix the crushed pieces into the top soil. See if it will take. If one doesn’t want to make the initial investment of the caps simply chop up the stems from sporinating specimens, which will naturally have collected some of the falling spores, and mix with the soil.

Clark Heinrich states that he simply buries the stems under the proper host tree for cultivation, but then again he probably lives the the perfect environment. The best time to try to start your Amanita Garden would be done in the fall, during the time when they are in their fruiting season.  This would coincide with the natural rhythms of this mushroom, giving you the best hope for success. If you can’t get them planted in the Fall, there’s always early Spring, which would still allow the spores to receive their proper life cycle. My own observations (I’ve yet to actually learn this) of Amanita growth suggest that mycelia growth takes place primarily throughout the Spring and Summer months and is highly dependent on rain and soil moisture preceding the Fall fruiting. If the season is dry just water your mushroom garden every few days. A host tree in a large container that can be left outdoors year round may be a candidate for cultivation if one is in the right zone.

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