Let them dry in open air on some newspaper, they would most certainly rot in a tupperware box.

Do you have a room heater? If so, put tthem there. Cracker dry in 12-24 hours, even the bigger ones.

Sure, just pick them whenever it feels right.My advice is to wait, it dosen't affect the potency in any way if you let them grow after they ripped, just esthetics...

You can set up a dry chamber using desiccant (DryRite), a drying rack of some sort above the desiccant layer, put this all inside a large, air tight garbage bag, and add your fungi as they ready. Air dry them first, before putting them in the dry chamber, so that you get most of the water out of them. A gentle heater is OK, but it cannot get very warm. I wouldn't go over 125 degrees F if you're using heat. SWIM never uses heat, but he's super anal retentive like that.

Peace!
-idt

No offense OwlMan, but this is not correct. As soon as the veil breaks, the mushrooms begin sporulating. Sporulation is the beginning of their death, and at the moment of sporeulation is when mushrooms begin to lose potency. The ideal time to pick them is just before the veil breaks, or as soon as you see the first signs of the veil breaking.

I'll see if I can find a citation to support my comments above about the potency, but it is fact.

BY PSYLOCYBE FANATICUS

Psilocybe Cubensis can produce very weak specimens. This happens with mature specimens that have begun sporulation. They have turned darker colors and the cap margins turn up beyond plain (like an inverted umbrella). These specimens are indeed weakly potent and not worth taking. The mushroom is past its prime for a psychedelic source if the cap has opened, the veil has torn away, the gills are dark brown and purple spore deposits are seen gathering on the stem.

In the literature, the potency of Psilocybe Cubensis is regarded as mediocre. But the secret to potency can be found in an analogy of Hemp. In Hemp, only certain parts of the plant at certain maturities make for potent highs. In other words, the stems and leaves are basically waste and only a certain small percentage of the plant is selected for the potent high. There is a similarity with the mushrooms and this selectivity. P.Cubensis can achieve a base line psilocybin content of 1% (similar to Psilocybe Semilanceata). But this entirely depends on what the mushroom is grown on (brown rice), its age or maturity (young), its sporulation cycle (pre-sporulation), and the way it is harvested and preserved (cool dried - if dried).

So when harvesting, pick all of the tiny primordia that stop growing (abhort) and the small mutant growths (round blobs - no heads ect). Do this as soon as it can be determined that they are not developing into normal specimens. They seem tiny, but several cakes will produce quite a pile of these little ones (several dried grams!). These are the source of the potent magic. The same goes for the young specimens. Pick them (small and large) while their caps are still round and before they begin to open (veil under the cap breaks away and the cap spreads out). The reason for harvesting them when they are young is because as the mushroom cap expands like an umbrella, the mushrooms size will increase, but by weight the potency will decrease.

By harvesting only the young and abhortive specimens, the yield will be lower, but the quality will be excellent and the potency can be similar to P. Semilanceata.

Consuming the magic fungi can be an ordeal, but it needs to be done seriously because the magic is serious. Eating the fungi is best done as a ritual. Be deliberate, controlled and methodical.

Eat the fungi at one sitting. Don't piece meal the dose. The lag time in response can defeat the peak performance of the psychedelic power.

Written into HTML and published to the internet by Psylocybe fanaticus.
May 17 1997. second edit - may 23. third edit - may 26. fourth edit - may 29

The mushroom is past its prime for a psychedelic source if the cap has opened, the veil has torn away, the gills are dark brown and purple spore deposits are seen gathering on the stem.

Congratulations on your yeild!

If you dry them, you can grind them into shroom powder and cap them up in '00 capsules (or as big as you can find) removing the initial shock at the delicious taste can sure sweeten the trip.