Tidal Wave mushrooms have made a splash in the psychedelic community since their creation, and for good reason. This hybrid strain, created by Magic Myco and winner of the inaugural Psilocybin Cup, wowed users due to its unprecedented potency.
We’ve put together a guide to tell you all you need to know about growing and dosing them.
How to Recognize Tidal Wave Mushrooms
- Tidal Wave mushrooms have brown, rippled caps and even stems.
- Since they are unstable, they may revert during growth and look like Penis Envy or B+ mushrooms.
Tidal Wave mushrooms, like most strains, change in appearance during their growing cycle.
When they fruit, they start with short, uniform stems that can grow up to an inch and may twist or enlarge at the base. Their light brown caps take on a rounded shape that slowly flattens until they become nearly plane when mature.
These caps have a unique rippled pattern resembling ocean waves, giving them their name. Like most potent psychedelic mushrooms, they turn blue when bruised, making them perfect candidates for creating homemade blue honey.
Tidal Wave mushrooms are unstable, meaning they can revert to one of their parent strains during their vegetative phase. If this were to happen, you’d struggle to find any visible differences from Penis Envy or B+ mushrooms.
What Makes Tidal Wave Mushrooms Special?
- Tidal Wave mushrooms are a cross between two potent strains: Penis Envy and B+.
- Their high potency crowned them as winners of the first Psilocybin Cup with a 2.4% psilocybin by dry weight.
The uniqueness of Tidal Wave mushrooms goes far beyond their peculiar caps. They were carefully developed by crossing two exceptionally potent strains, resulting in a variety with outstanding genetics and unseen potency.
Genetics
Tidal Wave isn’t a naturally occurring strain of mushrooms. Instead, it’s a cross between two of the most prominent varieties: Penis Envy and B+. Doma Nunzio, an influential figure in the magic mushroom community, was in charge of the team that developed this strain.
He’s responsible for creating MagicMyco, a store that sells all sorts of mushroom spores, and MycoCoil, which provides technological solutions for mushroom growers.
His expertise and years of research with the MagicMyco team allowed him to create this celebrated strain, which won the first-ever Psilocybin Cup (now known as the Hyphae Cup). This competition, hosted by Oakland Hyphae, showcases the finest mushrooms for their recreational and therapeutic benefits.
Potency
Tidal Wave mushrooms are highly potent, which makes sense considering they share genetics with Penis Envy mushrooms, one of the most potent strains around.
Read also: The Magic and Mystery of Penis Envy Mushrooms | Psychedelic Spotlight
Tidal Wave mushrooms typically have between 1.4% and 2.3% psilocybin content. This high psilocybin concentration makes taking them in moderation crucial. Otherwise, they could induce a bad trip from a relatively low dose.
An upside to their high potency is that you can get intense effects by doing a lemon tek with a small amount. Even a half gram can trigger faint visuals and bodily sensations.
This comes in handy if you’re trying to make your shroom stash last. On the flip side, this might not be the best strain to microdose with, as finding an amount low enough to avoid tripping might prove difficult.
Keep in mind that the potency of individual mushrooms can vary, even within the same flush. You could eat one and feel nothing, while another could induce a profound experience. Also, the sample that won the psilocybin cup was mutated, and non-mutated versions aren’t as potent.
Tips For an Optimal Tidal Wave Mushrooms Psychedelic Experience
- Due to their potency, Tidal Wave mushrooms should be taken in moderation by novice psychonauts to avoid challenging experiences.
- Unless you’re experienced with psychedelics, beginning with a low dose would prevent potential surprises. You can always increase your dosage on your next trip.
- An adequate set and setting, your personality type, age, and dosage are all variables that can determine the outcome of your psychedelic journey.
The Tidal Wave mushrooms experience will highly vary based on the dose an individual chooses to take. Since this is a particularly potent strain, the intensity of the experience could be surprising to some. Hence, this strain is mainly used by seasoned psychonauts who are well aware of the limits of the psyche and how to manage altered states of consciousness.
Prepare Your Mindset
The key to a successful psychedelic trip lies in how one prepares for the experience. Ensuring a positive mindset though mindfulness practices, such as yoga and meditation, setting clear intentions for your psychedelic journey, and steering away from stressful situations are all factors that will help you prepare your mind before entering a completely new realm of reality.
How to Prepare Your Setting
Be mindful of the setting you choose for your trip. If you decide to trip in the comfort of your home, make sure your room is tidied up. If you choose a trip in nature, make sure to have electrolytes, water, bug repellent and a sweater ready for your use. Regardless of the location you choose for your trip, it is highly recommended to have a trusted friend who’s experienced with psychedelics to trip sit. If you have no one with whom you feel comfortable being vulnerable, you can always opt to reach out to a psychedelic guide or a facilitator. They will make sure to create space for your journey and guide you in case you experience an anxious ego dissolution. A psilocybin mushroom experience could be overwhelming to the inexperienced user. Mushrooms have the tendency of taking users to unexpected corners of the mind, unraveling repressed thoughts, memories, or feelings. This is why we recommended to never trip alone.
For more information: Why Do Some People Experience Anxiety During a Mushroom Trip? | Psychedelic Spotlight
Psychedelic Spotlight has put together a table describing the various dose ranges, and their expected psychedelic effects. Since Tidal Wave mushrooms are more potent, consider reducing the amount you take by at least 0.5 grams to avoid a potentially challenging trip.
| Dose Name | Dose Range | Psychedelic Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Microdose | 0.1g–0.5g | Subtle psychedelic experience. No visuals, reduced anxiety, increased focus. |
| Low dose | 0.5g–1.5g | Euphoria, light visuals, warm bodily sensations, sharper sight. Still able to perform cognitive tasks. |
| Moderate dose | 2g–3.5g | Pronounced psychedelic experience. More intense visuals, profound introspection, heightened curiosity. Can trigger a bad trip. |
| High dose | 3.5g–5g | Intense psychedelic experience. Can result in mystical experiences. Feelings of wonder and awe towards the universe, time dilation, synesthesia. Bad trips may be more intense. |
| Heroic dose | 5g+ | Possibly life-changing experience. High probability of experiencing negative or positive ego death. Not recommended unless accompanied by an experienced guide. |
Can I Grow Tidal Wave Mushrooms at Home?
Yes, in short, you can grow Tidal Wave shrooms at home. However, this strain might not be the best pick for a first-time grower. Compared to most psilocybin mushroom strains, which take around a month to fruit, Tidal Wave mushrooms can take up to three months.
Moreover, their genetics makeup endows them with resilience against contamination, and due to their high potency, you can extend a single harvest for several months.
The mushroom growing experience is similar across all strains, and achieving success is highly dependent on whether you can follow detailed guides to a tee.
Regardless of the strain you choose to grow, you must follow a few key steps:
- Obtain a prepared spore syringe. Harvest them at the right time and store them properly.
- Prepare an adequate substrate for fungal growth and inoculate it with the spores
- Maintain an optimal environment for the mushrooms.
- Harvest them at the right time and store them properly.
Now that we have a roadmap, let’s touch on each step of the process so you can develop a clearer picture of what the mushroom growing process entails.
Obtaining Spores
Numerous online retailers commercialize psychedelic mushroom spores, such as Sporeworks or Magic Myco. These stores operate legally in almost all American states except for California, Georgia, and Idaho.
Spores come in syringes with clean water, which you’ll use to inject a Tidal Wave colony into your chosen substrate.
Preparing your Substrate
Mushrooms can thrive in different substrates, so you have several options. You can mix brown rice flour and vermiculite, the most popular choice. Other options include grain and birdseed mixtures, manure-based substrates rich in nutrients, or coco coir and vermiculite.
If you can’t decide or want to avoid extra research, some retailers offer prepared substrates that take out the guesswork. Once you have chosen your substrate, inject the Tidal Wave spores slowly, ensuring you’re in a sterilized environment.
Cultivation and Harvest
Now that you have an inoculated substrate, you need to provide it with optimal conditions to speed up the colonization. Mushrooms need a steady temperature of around 75-80°F. Going lower could stall their growth, while higher temperatures pose serious contamination risks.
Once the substrate is 20–30% colonized, break up the mycelium and shake it to disperse the fungal network, increasing yield.
The substrate will need light and humidity to start fruiting when it is fully colonized. When they do, they’ll grow to their maximum size, at which point you must harvest them.
Proper Storage Practices
Harvested mushrooms last a maximum of three days in the fridge, but you should begin dehydrating them as soon as they are removed from the substrate. If you don’t have a dehydrator, place them on a surface that allows airflow and dry them with a fan. Keep them away from light and heat to prevent their psilocin from degrading.
Once your shrooms are cracker dry–meaning they easily snap when bent–store them in an airtight container. If your house is particularly humid, consider adding a desiccant packet to your jar to make sure the mushrooms stay fresh.
For a more detailed guide: Stocked up on Magic Mushrooms? Here’s How to Store Them to Keep Them Fresh and Potent | Psychedelic Spotlight
Your Tidal Wave mushrooms will keep for many months and allow you to explore your mind and gain important insights about yourself and the world around you. If you take them in moderation, you’ll have a wavy time with this remarkable strain.