Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on the differences between mushrooms harvested from the wild and ones grown at home? I've only ever had cultivated cubensis and found them to be very effective but somehow lacking a certain depth and intimacy in comparison to wild P.semilanceata. Why?

P.semilanceata (aka liberty caps)have a much higher baeocystin content than p.cubensis. while there have been no in-depth studies of Baeocystin it is commonly believed that it gives the shrooms a different effect profile by potentiating and complementing the psilocybin/psilocin. Other species with high baeocystin content are in ascending order:

Azurescens
cyanescens
bohemica
semilanceata
baeocystis

I have not had the pleasure to sample any of these personally, but have been trying (and failing ) to grow azures for a couple of years (they are considerably more difficult than cubies)

I can't wait to sample one of these baeocystin beauties!

hope that clears it up,
JBArk

ps - for more info see Psilocybin mushrooms of the world by Paul Stamets

Cheers for the info. I hadn't thought of it in that way. I hoped that there maybe something more mystical to it. Would the age of the mycelial network and environmental conditions make any difference? I've always thought that the mood of the mushrooms seem to fit the environment they grew in. Welsh liberty caps from the black mountains were consistently 'darker' and mysterious, whilst cornish liberty caps from lowland pastures were much more jovial and sunny. I know the book, it's a very good read.

I don't know if this is the place to ask the question but I'll push on regardless..

My parents keep horses and I'm sure if there were some mushrooms growing on a heap of horse manure behind a shed somewhere, no one would notice. So what would be the best/most potent strain of mushrooms that I could introduce to an Irish dung heap and that would thrive in this climate?

Thanks