McKennaii Growkit – 1200 cc

1. McKennaii Growkit — 1200 cc

A 1200 cc all-in-one kit colonised with McKennaii mycelium on sterilised rye grain, vermiculite and perlite. It is named for Terence McKenna, and it has a reputation to match: fast, striking and unforgiving.

We would rather steer you correctly than sell you this one by accident. McKennaii suits intermediate and advanced growers who are comfortable holding environmental conditions steady. If this is your first kit, the Golden Teacher or Cambodian will treat you better and you will enjoy the process more.

The reason is a real trade-off rather than snobbery. The same rapid growth that gives fast pinning also makes the substrate attractive to competitive moulds, and Trichoderma can establish quickly if temperature or humidity drift.

2. Specifications

3. Hygiene

With most kits, hygiene is one factor among several. With McKennaii it is the factor. Here is the protocol worth following rather than the generic version:

1. Set up in a still room. Windows shut, no fan, no door swinging. Mould spores travel on air currents and a draught is how they arrive.
2. Wipe every surface with isopropyl alcohol and let it dry. Then wash your hands to the wrist and do not touch your face, phone or hair afterwards.
3. Do not touch the substrate. Not once, not to check it. Handle the box by its sides.
4. Use clean water for the soak, and drain the box completely afterwards. Standing water is a bacterial invitation.
5. Open the bag briefly and close it again. Daily air exchange, measured in seconds rather than minutes.
6. Hold the temperature between 20 °C and 25 °C and keep it there. The drift is what opens the door, more than the absolute number.

3.1 Recognising Trichoderma early

• It starts white, which is why people miss it. Early Trichoderma is easily mistaken for healthy mycelium.
• Then it turns green, usually within a day or two, spreading from a defined patch.
• It is faster than the mushroom. Once green appears, the kit is finished — there is no cutting it out.
• Bag it and bin it, sealed. Do not open an infected kit near another one, and do not open it indoors at all if you can avoid it.

Done properly, McKennaii rewards the effort: pins in as little as a week, and 200 to 600 g fresh across two or three flushes. Done casually, it is the kit most likely to go green on you.

4. Setting it up

1. Before anything else: clean hands, clean surface, no draught. This is where a grow is won or lost.
2. Soak the substrate under cold tap water for twelve hours with the lid replaced.
3. Drain to nothing. Tilt and pour with the lid held slightly open until the last of it is gone.
4. Into the micro-filter bag, standing upright, top folded twice, paperclips on both sides.
5. Warm room, indirect daylight, no direct sun.
6. Open the bag once a day to change the air, then seal it back up.

4.1 Harvesting and later flushes

• Pick at veil break, not after. That is the point of peak mass and the point before spore drop.
• Grip at the base and twist. Never pull straight up.
• Take everything at once, including anything that has clearly stalled.
• Then the twelve-hour cold soak again, drained completely before it goes back in the bag.

4.2 If something goes wrong

• Mould shows as coloured patches — green, blue-green or grey. Once it is visible the substrate is lost; seal the bag and dispose of it without opening it near another kit.
• Bacterial contamination announces itself by smell, sour or ammoniac, often before you see anything.
• A soft grey web over the fruits is cobweb mould, and increasing air exchange straight away sometimes saves the flush.
• Blue marks on handled stems are oxidation, not infection, and are entirely normal.

5. Before you use them

5.1 Preparation

• Someone stays sober and stays with you. They need to know what you took and roughly how much.
• Be seated or lying down before the first effects. Postural control is not reliable.
• Make the space safe first. No flames, no sharp or breakable objects, no stairs, no open windows.
• Keep a trip stopper to hand. Most are never opened; having one still helps.
• Nothing combined with it. No alcohol, no cannabis, no other substance, prescribed or otherwise.

5.2 Do not use these if

• You must be over 18.
• Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Do not use if there is psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in your own history or in your close family. Psychedelics are capable of precipitating episodes in people already predisposed to them, and this is the caution we would least like you to skip.
• Do not combine with alcohol, cannabis, antidepressants, MAOIs or any prescription medicine without asking a doctor.
• Do not drive or use machinery for the rest of the day.
• The law varies from country to country and has changed repeatedly. Check yours.

The rapid growth that gives you pins in a week is the same rapid growth that makes the substrate attractive to mould. Hygiene is not a precaution here, it is the method.