From a first flush of a Mazapatec grow: I was away from home and dried the mushrooms in a pan in the oven at approximately 125f, instead of in my food desiccator. I have dried others before in the same oven, with the same pan and at the same temp. This time, however, they dried BLACK... Fresh, they seemed to be very potent (bruising indigo at the slightest touch), so I figured maybe this accounted for the change in colour when dried - but the next flush, dried the same way and the ones after that, dried in my desiccator, all dried normally...

Has anyone ever had this happen? I am wondering if the thermostat on the stove is inaccurate and maybe they were dried at too high a temperature; does anyone have any experience with drying Cubensis too hot?

Thanks,

JBArk

Thats normal. My P. Cyans are completely that dark color and they rock. This just means they're potent, or they have just been bruised while handling. It isn't mold or anything detrimental or unhealthy.

They were dried right after picking (the pics are before and after), so I know it's not mold - it's the fact that they dried black, when subsequent flushes with the same amount of fresh bruising didn't, that has me curious. I have grown quite a lot of cubes of various strains and dried them in very different ways, and have never seen them dry black - the pics don't do the colour justice unfortunately. I have separated them from the others to test them for potency. Just wondering if anyone else has come across this - fresh ones with slight bruising that dry black...

I feel like it MUST be the temperature, but the only way to have that drastic a fluctuation a few days apart drying separate flushes would be if the thermostat were faulty...

Why are you worried? They are just as good. Yes like I said I have come across this as have other members here.

Don't get yer knickers in a knot, housey!

I'm not worried, just noting an anomoly that is unique to me after drying probably close to 80 flushes fron 6-7 strains of cubies. Just curious as to why one flush out of 5 reacted this way and if anyone can shed any light on this darkness - don't worry, they will get nom nomed!

send them to me, i will test them for you

its 7 months till the little beauties come out on my isle, seems like an age

I tried running a search and found no info.

It's going to take an esteemed mycologist to crack this case. 8]

To test your faulty thermometer theory get an oven thermometer and test it. Perhaps it is faulty and you cooked them a little. Or some unforeseen and probably forever unknown variable that caused these to go black. As others said I would not be concerned.

Only ones I have turned black is when they were covered with spores or were a little/lot bruised to begin with. I have never had perfect unbruised un-spore covered ones do this when dried. Although I use damp rid to dry mine. I do notice a little more gastrointestinal problems, and small loss of potency with the ones that have excessive bruising and spore coverage. Although the ones with excessive spores are obviously from a batch I left too long and so that would explain the potency issues with these.

As most people dont understand, or isnt said enough, that although bruising blue is an indication of psilocbyn present(other mushrooms with none present will also bruise blue, although this should only be a real concern when picking from the wild.), it in no way has anything to due with the amount in it.

And actually it is a bad thing since this is the oxidation of the psilocybin, and so the more bruising the less potent they will be. I have found eating this to be the case as well, although they do not lose a lot.

I once brang of freshly picked cubies camping with me in algonquin park. They still looked fine after being sealed in a ziplock bag for about 7 hours. I set them out to sundry on a campin chair and after only 20 minutes they had all turned dark black. Then I ate them.

Thats indeed not normal for cubes to dry black like that, Ps Ccyans do get a dark to almost black color, I have never seen cubes do that naturally air dying them. I have air dried hundreds of thousands of them. Normally when I see color change like that its because of humidity and poor air flow around the flesh. I'm wondering if the temps were allowed to spike to 125 without adequate airflow/ventilation?

IME/IMO

Humidity combined with warm temp is the culprit.

Interesting.

Regards,

IH

My cubes did get black because of spores I think, late harvest.

[quote=Ice House]Thats indeed not normal for cubes to dry black like that, Ps Ccyans do get a dark to almost black color, I have never seen cubes do that naturally air dying them. I have air dried hundreds of thousands of them. Normally when I see color change like that its because of humidity and poor air flow around the flesh. I'm wondering if the temps were allowed to spike to 125 without adequate airflow/ventilation?

Yep your right about the humidity/air flow. Being sealed in a bag created a greenhouse effect with all the moisture and it was also very very hot that day

Hmmm... well it wasn't spore deposits - the fresh ones were bruised but clean of spores. And maybe ventilation, but I always crack the oven door open a little when I am forced to dry in an oven. But the humidity thing has me wondering - they were picked not too long after a heavy misting and travelled (in their jars) in my car for a few hours. I bet that is the culprit variable...

Cheers,

JBArk

I gather that's just a sign they've been handled a fair bit a stressed before or during the drying process. If I dry mushrooms right from the pick, they dry white and clean. If I touch them too much they turn a very dark blue.

I reckon even a bumpy car journey could blue them up a little.

My guess is they'll munch right up all nice with the best of them.

The pics are before and after - while there was some minor bruising, it doesn't account for the overall blackness after drying. And subsequent flushes were just as bruised before, but dried grey white.

Must have been the misting and the container they travelled in that allowed them to accumulate humidity before drying (?)

JBArk

Good assumption.IMO, Humidity is the culprit.