NEW WORLD RECORD: Most Potent Mushrooms Ever Tested (Patreon)

Dec 24, 2022 UPDATE: I have discovered that these test results were unreliable due to reasons described in both an update below as well as in a newer post here (I will never be too proud to issue a correction! There is still relative value in these results, the order of potency in this chart is accurate, and in fact the TTBVI cultivar of pan cyan has since been confirmed to be the most potent cultivar in the known world after winning the December 2022 AND the June 2023 Cultivar Cups! That said, the actual grand totals in the above chart were definitely skewed high and should not be relied upon.  This is how science should work, it is self correcting, and I do not believe any single test or research publication should be relied upon as authoritative, results are established over time and with corroboration)

I don't think I ever shared this publicly, but I have been on a multiyear quest to find the most potent mushroom on Earth.  There isn't really any grand purpose for this quest, I just thought it would be a fun little contribution to the mycology world and it's exciting to me.  I had previously mentioned that the official world record based on all available data I could find (searching published papers and online sources) was set way back in 2009, it was from pan cyans seized by German customs.  I was surprised that in all the years since then, no one has ever formally described  a more potent mushroom.  I even contacted the author of that paper (Dr. Laussmann) and he confirmed that he has never come across mushrooms that potent since that time.

So I scoured the globe sending inquiries to various collectors around the world and I connected with many wonderful mycologists and hobbyists who sent amazing prints from distant lands (France, Switzerland, Japan, USA).  Based on anecdotes alone from those that sent spores, I focused on growing out the 4 cultivars that seemed most promising.  None of these cultivars had ever been HPLC lab tested as far as I know.  For growing I used the same pan cyan TEK previously described  with both coir and straw substrates (to compare differences) but I moved it into a mini greenhouse and decreased humidification time to just 20 minute intervals every 3 hours, a small heater on a thermostatic switch was used to keep it above 70F (21C) at all times, and I used a small computer fan on a timer to blow in fresh air every hour for 30 minutes (12 hours of forced fresh air daily). I also sprayed the casing with water manually as needed each morning and evening to ensure it was always moist.  This setup worked perfectly for me.

The four cultivars I focused on were Panaeolus cyanescens: Tamarind Tree British Virgin Islands (TTBVI):

These came from a land where psychedelic mushrooms are celebrated, legal to possess and consume.  Maybe the destination for our next GordoTEK live trip event?  Credit goes to V.L for the spores (he is a legend and maybe the most prolific spore trader I know of).  These spores originally came to V.L from a Virgin Islands native resident who discovered them in the wild (that person actually still sells spores, for microscopy only, under the name TamarindTreeBVI).  One of the original prints was as large as 4-5cm across but the others were more typical 1-2cm.  V.L has been working these genetics for a couple of years.

Pan Cyan: Purple Haustralia Venom (PHV):

A venom hybrid from Jake Oncid that comes from a cross between the pan cyans of the tropical region of the Gulf of Mexico known as Hausteca with pan cyans from Australia.

Pan tropicalis Australia venom cross with pan cyan Jalisco Mexico: Nec-divino the wizard (Nec'D) developed by Jake Oncid.

Finally, an unnamed cultivar of Panaeolus bisporus provided by V.L who acquired it in a trade, grew it indoors then spread it in his greenhouse where they naturalized and now come back every summer (this has been going for at least 3 years).

I generally like to avoid tainting people's expectations by sharing anecdotes but what I will say about bisporus is that once again the consensus view is that this species is "different" and very positive, that's about all I will say, if you want to dig deeper you can. But worth noting that bisporus tested HIGHEST in norbaeocystin which could be an important factor with regards to user experience, we don't know much about norbaeocystin yet.  I can tell you that bisporus grows very slowly compared to the other 3 cultivars, BVI grew the fastest, matching the speeds and aggressiveness of Estero while bisporus took nearly double the time to go from spores to pins (but once bisporus starts fruiting it just seems to keep producing flush after flush for a very long time).  All four cultivars worked great with my TEK.  They were all very easy to grow and none seemed prone to contamination.  BVI was not only the most aggressive of the 4 but it also produced the biggest yields and carpets of fruit bodies and produced wave after wave of fruits.  It also produced the most delicate fruit bodies, if you blow on them you can knock them over.  In mushroom folklore many believe more delicate smaller mushrooms produce more gentle and positive, euphoric experiences.  When dehydrated BVI became almost "weightless":

This cultivar seems to produce less mushroom fiber/bulk which may have benefit to those that consume it (such as less nausea).  But it also has the effect of improving the alkaloid to weight ratio.  In other words, a single flush of Estero and BVI in the same size growing tray will likely produce about the same grand total of alkaloids, but the dry Estero will weigh twice as much because its fruit bodies are thicker and meatier, so the potency or % active alkaloids per unit of weight are twice as high in the BVI cultivar.  This resulted in the world record for most potent mushroom with Psilocybin equivalent alkaloids at 7.06% (note that psilocybin equivalent means adding the measured psilocybin to the psilocin*[molecular weight of psilocybin=284.252/molecular weight of psilocin=204.273] this is to account for the fact that psilocin is approximately 39% more potent by weight than psilocybin (actual multiplier is 1.3915299624 * psilocin = psilocybin equivalent).  This is also the procedure that will be used in labeling of psilocybin products sold in Oregon under their legal access plan).  For the sake of documentation the world record flush was grown on the coir/manure based substrate (no straw) described in my TEK and it was dried "to a crisp" for 4 hours at 145F (63C) in a nesco dehydrator then immediately after drying sealed in a glass mason jar purged of oxygen using argon gas.  Full details of the growing environment are here.

You can find the 160 page lab report (or 22 page summary report) here. All four of my samples tested very potent as can be seen in the first picture in this post but BVI was extraordinary.  The HPLC testing for this project was provided by Doma "MagicMyco" Nunzio.

I want to say a few things about MagicMyco... his is the ONLY lab being radically transparent and totally "open sourced".  He has documented his entire testing procedure in minute detail for anyone to scrutinize and/or criticize.  This is how science SHOULD WORK, the other labs mostly want to hide and keep things proprietary and we have no real idea what they are doing or if their methods are even reliable.  Myco has dedicated countless hours to studying/comparing extraction techniques and solvent systems and endless tweaking of his TWO Agilent HPLC machines, he has read books on the art of HPLC and has been personally mentored by Felix Blei of Miraculix.  He uses fresh standards before each batch of testing he conducts.  Myco has an incredible lab and he even invited me over there several times, I think I've spent over 50 hours in his lab at this point!  He is doing important mycology research and we are discovering new things every month (for example how do different substrate ingredients impact alkaloid levels? how do different drying temperatures and techniques impact alkaloids? what ARE all of the alkaloids in each cultivar? does freeze drying help or hurt alkaloid content? how quickly do psilocybin and psilocin degrade over time? what is the best way to store mushrooms? etc).  It is my hope that other labs follow Myco's lead and start publishing useful research and sharing their methods.  Iron sharpens iron.  My point in saying all of this is that I think MagicMyco deserves our support, and the ways you can do that are to follow him on social media, visit his website (https://magicmyco.org/ ) use his testing service, read his monthly research reports, AND PARTICIPATE IN HIS CULTIVAR CUP!  He even created a coupon code "GordoTEK" that gives us a discount on Cultivar Cup entries. This is NOTan affiliate marketing thing, I get NO compensation from Myco whatsoever, I asked HIM to create the coupon for you guys and I am promoting him here because of all the reasons mentioned above.  I want him to survive so he can keep supporting the psychedelic community and for selfish reasons too, so I can keep going back to his lab as needed to get the science I'm interested in done, hahah).  Here is his lab's sample submission form: https://magicmyco.org/submission-form

Final thoughts: I realize that the BVI potency HPLC test numbers are so high they will undoubtedly be questioned.  They were questioned by me, only to find out that Doma himself did not believe the results at first and he delayed publishing the report for several days as a result while he tested the sample over and over again to make sure it was accurate.  Since these results are extraordinary (the potency is 49% higher than the previous world record) they really do need confirmation from other labs.  I am sure that will happen in coming months.   I should also point out that I actually harvested and dried the samples ON THE SAME DAY that I brought it to the lab for testing, it doesn't get any fresher than that! Also note that the fruit bodies were harvested in a slightly immature stage of development as can be seen in the pictures and this boosts alkaloid to dry weight % as well (I'm giving away all of my secrets).  Psilocin deteriorates pretty quickly, so I think these results could be difficult to reproduce unless the samples were just as fresh and harvested/handled the same way.  Even if the same sample were to be tested a few weeks later it could be substantially lower in potency.  The same can be said for anyone growing this cultivar, if you store it for months before consuming it, the potency will undoubtedly be significantly lower.  I will post about alkaloid deterioration, best storage practices, and other subjects in future posts but for right now I just want to say that oxidation is the biggest problem, eliminate the oxygen and you will have the best results.  Vacuum sealing is one option but I prefer to store in glass jars and vacuum sealing jars is unreliable, the very simple solution is to fill the jar with a heavier than air inert gas.  I used to use CO2 for this, but now they sell inexpensive small bottles of Argon on Amazon that work beautifully to completely protect your mushrooms from all oxidation and a single small bottle is enough for 75 mushroom jars! (Here's a reference for using inert gas for optimal storage).

p.s. I know you guys will want spores, and YOU SHALL HAVE THEM, but give me some time, I need a month at least.  Demand will probably be very high, so I'm only giving these to patrons for now.  If you can't wait for the free prints from me, you can always track down vendors selling these spores or go directly to the original source in the British Virgin Islands (TamarindTreeBVI@protonmail.com) although I cannot guarantee the prints he is selling today are the same genetics that set the world record.  There is also a US vendor (SonoranSpores) selling both BVI syringes and BVI swab packs I hope to get some feedback soon on those.

UPDATES:

ERG is ergosterol, it's not psychoactive.  For what its worth, I didn't even think a "grand total" adding everything up number should be in the report, and certainly not in the biggest font, that confused some people.  But from the lab perspective, they are trying to identify EVERYTHING in the mushroom so the goal is to get to 100%.  The only number that matters as far as potency goes is the psilocybin equivalent.  There is some question about the minor alkaloids like norbaeocystin (bisporus was relatively high in that), we don't even know if those are psychoactive yet but they could be, there is active ongoing research for these compounds.

In further testing by Doma on BVI using his second HPLC machine and fresh standards, the grand total was lower than the original test.  This is how science should work, it is self correcting and we will continue to do more work to ensure the numbers are accurate.  No single test can be relied upon as absolute truth.  Neither Doma or myself are too proud to post a correction if we have to, its important to be honest and accurate when it comes to all things science.  The sample though had already aged more than a month for this second round of testing and Doma also used a shortened extraction procedure both of which could have lowered the result, and even then it was still more potent than any other mushroom Doma has tested (including Estero) so I can't make a conclusion yet.  I plan to do a new round of testing soon, will send fresh samples simultaneously to multiple labs for analysis.   I will post a follow up with the results of that.  A possible reason for the higher readings in the original test could be due to using older standards, this is always a challenge with any lab honestly, because the standards are relatively expensive  most labs are only going to buy them a few times a year, psilocybin is very stable but psilocin is less stable.  Doma buys new standards before his Cultivar Cup but I caught him at an "in-between" time well after the last Cup but also a couple months before the new Cup.  He has since purchased new standards in preparation for the December Cup.  I hope to be able to submit a fresh sample for the December Cup and that should give us the most precise test results so far, and when combined with a second independent lab test we will have full assurances of the results if confirmed.

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Links to all of my TEKs, Videos, Trip music, and frequently asked questions with answers can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/22774475 (everything is made available for FREE, I do not use pay walls, support the work only if you feel like you've benefited from it and you are able to do so).