FAQ & Resources
Why GYOT?
Our team is available to answer questions any time. We want this to be a successful and fun process that gives you the Natural Medicine you want for your mental health. You can reach the cultivation team via email at: Sales@GrowYourOwnThoughts.org. Please include a picture of your Thought Box if you would like specific feedback on what is taking place inside the box.
- The Thought Box is a more natural environment allowing for air flow, proper humidity, and space for the mushrooms to ‘breathe’ and thrive.
- The substrate mixture is evenly distributed in the Thought Box ensuring you are able to harvest from the entire contents. The grow bags have a large amount of grain & substrate in the bottom of the bag that will never breathe and therefore never produce a harvest. This is wasted mixture that the customer paid for.
- The Thought Box produces a higher yield.
- The Thought Box is cleaner and far less prone to contamination. The 0.2 micron filter covering the vent keeps harmful particles from entering the box.
- No need for any needles to add spores and wait for multiple colonization phases. The Thought Box is already colonized and ready to go.
- Less waste! The Thought Box propagator is reusable. Simply wash well and the fresh colonized tray of substrate will be included with your refill kit order.
- No breaking up grain bags or combining products in a non-sterile environment. Simply follow the easy steps on the instruction tri-fold and watch nature do its magic in your Thought Box!
- Refill kits offer a reduced cost way to go through the cultivation process again!
- The individual size Thought Box propagator is manufactured in Colorado Springs, CO, supporting American manufacturing.
Cultivation
Your Thought Box will stay in the dark and with the air vent CLOSED until you have a layer of white mycelium AND you have a handful of baby mushrooms coming up. Don’t take it out when you only have 1 or 2 baby mushrooms, let a good little colony develop and then move out of the dark.
Changing light and air too early will slow down the transition to the Fruiting Stage.
Just harvest the mushrooms that are ready. Leave the smaller ones to continue growing. If there are smaller mushrooms attached to the large ones ready to harvest, you can try & harvest just the large ones, but if the small ones come out with it, that’s ok. Dry ALL of the mushrooms you harvest. Make sure you harvest the mushroom all the way down at the substrate, do not leave leftover mushroom base in the substrate. This just takes resources away from the other mushrooms that will be growing.
NO! The Thought Box does NOT go back into the dark at any time during the Fruiting or Harvest stages. Once you have moved the box into indirect light, opened the air vent and are watering each day, it stays out of the dark.
This happens when the mushrooms have opened up more than necessary, the veil has fully separated, and the mushrooms have dropped their spores. The black stuff is the spores. They are NOT harmful. Harvest your mushrooms, dry them and use them. You may find that the growth rate slows down in the substrate area that the spores dropped onto, but other than that there are no negative issues.
The harvest lasts the entirety of the final process. You will likely get 3-4 flushes (each flush is when you gently pull the ready mushrooms from the Box). Once you are no longer pulling mushrooms, your harvest is complete.
Refill kits provide the opportunity to do the process again. A refill kit can stay stored in your personal refrigerator for up to 6 weeks. Once you start harvesting mushrooms, you can order a refill kit to have on hand.
This will not happen until after your first “flush” of the harvest. After you have had at least one full flush, you can spray the substrate directly. Do not pour water over it, just give it about 10 sprays with your spray bottle until water pools on the top of the substrate. This can be done a few days in a row if needed. Mushrooms are 80-90% water so having ample water is important during the fruiting and harvest process.
No worries at all! You can download the Trifold Brochure HERE!
Therapeutic Use
The whole point of growing your own Natural Medicine is to gain the benefits for your life. Make sure you order a personal use Tool Kit so you have the tools you need for storage, measuring, and determining your personal dose. Check our website for updates on current online group meetings that are available to answer questions and provide guidance. All online groups are led by a clinical mental health professional that has expertise in microdosing and using mushrooms for mental health purposes. You have grown the mushrooms, now is your time to Grow Your Own Thoughts!