Everything to Know About the New Potent Psilocybin Mushroom

Psilocybe ingeli is a recently discovered species of Psilocybe mushroom, only scientifically described in 2023. It was first observed and collected in the field by citizen mycologist Talan Moult, who noticed two mushrooms growing through the grass while clearing a plot for his beehives. 

It was found in manure-enriched pastureland in late summer after the rainy season in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, in a habitat and location that it shares with P. natalensis. He suspected it to be a Psilocybe of some kind, and noted a strong indigo blueing reaction when it was bruised. He collected samples and submitted them for genetic analysis, with DNA sequencing indicating it to be a new species to science. 

These findings were published in the journal Mycologia, the result of collaboration between citizen mycologists and academics from Stellenbosch University. The species is named after the Ingeli mountain range, where the type specimen was found.

Credit should go to a cultivator with the alias PhenoDreamer for sourcing spores of this species from a collector in South Africa and then disseminating them to the wider community, and another cultivator thebigfungus for generously sharing spores and cultivation information with others.

Psilocybe ingeli is a species that should evoke interest among cultivators, given that it is highly potent, relatively easy to cultivate, and is a faster grower than some other highly revered exotics. Psilocybe ingeli has been described as “basically Zaps that fruit as fast as cubes and under similar low maintenance conditions,” according to chemist and researcher Julian Mattucci of Imperial Labs. Given the combination of its various qualities, P. ingeli could be a species of great importance to the psilonaut (a person who explores altered states of consciousness through the use of mushrooms)  cultivator community, and beyond.

As highly potent mushrooms, little fungal matter needs to be ingested to arrive at a certain dosage level, and this can appeal to some. While very few trip reports currently exist for this species, in those that do, people tend to report an experience that is smooth on the system with minimal body load, while stating them to stand out in comparison to other mushroom species they have sampled.

One of the few trip reports published online attests to:

“What also stood out about this species was that it might be lighter on the system for people who are sensitive to side effects like headaches or nausea. … A large benefit of growing this species is being able to eat a smaller amount of fungal mass to comfortably trip.

They have done cubes and ochras but this one was a unique time for them. They told me that 0.3 grams of ingeli felt like roughly 1 gram of strong cubes (3x potency checks out?). 0.3g was not enough for a full on trip but more of a lighter but no longer sub-perceptional experience.”

Another trip report from another psilonaut taking a deeper dive with the mushroom reported similar sentiments:

“I had 0.76g last year sometime in a tea, think it was the first proper dose taken in modern times…It was WILD. Great fun, filled with wonder, no anxiety and I felt rebooted after, felt on a high for weeks after! Fantastic mushrooms! Of the best and strongest I've eaten. … All together a very unexpected and awesome but completely wild experience! Quite different from a strong cubensis or Ps. cyanescens trip. No hangover felt like some do on a strong pans trip. Very much recommended to eat these!”

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How To Identify P. ingeli

The mushrooms often exhibit an intense indigo or deep blue-black coloring reaction when cut or handled. Mature caps resemble small wavy caps (Psilocybe cyanescens) mushrooms in both shape and coloration.

Identifying Features:

Cap: 1–3 cm wide, caramel brown when moist, fading to light gray when dry, slightly bluing around the cap margin with handling. The cap is convex to hemispheric, umbonate (possessing a raised area in the center of the cap) in profile, with a straight margin, occasionally slightly incurved. It has a smooth surface with visible gill lines beneath running about half of the way up the cap (translucent-striate). It has a translucent jelly skin covering present when the mushrooms are young and moist that can be peeled away with care (a separable gelatinous pellicle).

Stem: 3–7 cm long, 0.2–0.6 cm thick. Caramel-brown with white scales and a fine dusting (pruinose). Base with white mycelium and bruises blue when damaged.

Gills: Light gray when young, dark brown at maturity with whitish edges, and sinuate (smoothly notched before the attachment to the stem).

Spore Print: Dark purple-brown.

Psilocybe ingeli Potency

Initial analyses of dried P. ingeli mushrooms have indicated total alkaloid levels ranging from 2.3% to 3.2% by dry weight. This places it among the most potent magic mushrooms known, in the same potency ballpark as other highly potent species such as Panaeolus cyanescens and P. zapotecorum. 

This makes it generally a far more potent species than P. cubensis, which typically ranges from 0.5-1% alkaloids. While some batches of P. cubensis may attain over 2% potency levels on occasion, this is the result of decades of strain selection work.

To put the potency of P. ingeli into context, most clinical studies involving psilocybin use a (high) dose of 25mg of the pure compound. This means that at its upper potency levels, just 1 gram of dried mushroom material could potentially harbor this dosage of psilocybin (or more), so newcomers to this mushroom should tread lightly when dosing (and perhaps not exceed a dosage of 0.5g of dried mushroom material for a first time experience). 

A dose at or exceeding 1g of dried mushroom material is likely to result in a deep and immersive experience. 50mg (0.05 g) of dried mushroom material should be sufficient for a microdose with this particular species.

Like all psilocybin mushrooms, potency can vary widely, as can individual sensitivities. One way of accounting for potency variation among potent mushrooms like this is to powder the dried mushrooms from a given flush of a grow and encapsulate them, which should provide a more consistent form of dosing. If seeking to prolong their potency, these capsules can be stored under an inert gas like argon or carbon dioxide.

P. ingeli Cultivation

P. ingeli is a member of Section Zapotecorum, which includes related species held in high shamanic esteem by Indigenous groups in Mexico such as P. zapotecorum and P. subtropicalis. However, these species take a while to grow, shifting into slow motion when fruiting (if using P. cubensis as a reference), and they can be more challenging species to cultivate than P. ingeli. P. ingeli is a faster fruiter than these species, fruiting on a similar timeframe to P. cubensis, with the added bonus that it is easier to take spore prints from than these other Section Zapotecorum species can be. P. ingeli appears to be the fastest and easiest to cultivate species of Section Zapotecorum currently known, and appears to be quite easy to cultivate once its optimal fruiting conditions are dialled in.

P. ingeli will grow and fruit readily at normal room temperature, but has also been observed to successfully fruit at much higher and lower temperatures than this outdoors. It appreciates a moist fruiting substrate, high humidity and more fresh air exchange than P. cubensis does during fruiting to grow to its full potential. The mushrooms can still grow with less fresh air exchange but they will take on a more noodly form with underdeveloped caps.

To summarize, the growing process starts with spores or a tissue culture, which is then used to inoculate grains, which, when colonized, are then used to inoculate a bulk substrate, which is then fruited once colonized.

TL;DR: P. ingeli favours high humidity levels and a saturated substrate during fruiting, in addition to higher levels of fresh air exchange than P. cubensis to ensure healthy fruiting. These conditions can easily be dialled in using a diffuser tub or dreamer tub fruiting chamber setup. Coco coir makes a good bulk substrate ingredient. Applying a casing layer is necessary during fruiting, rather than optional (as when fruiting P. cubensis or P. ochraceocentrata). It is crucial that high humidity levels are maintained and that the substrate does not dry out during fruiting; otherwise, mushrooms will abort, even at an advanced stage of fruiting.

Tek

Step 1: Preparing & inoculating the substrate

Spores can be germinated on agar. P. ingeli mycelium will take on a tomentose (cottony) rather than rhizomorphic (root-like) form on agar. This can potentially be used to inoculate grains directly, or to inoculate liquid culture to allow for future inoculations. 

A variety of different grains can be used  (e.g. brown rice, whole oats, non-hulled millet, etc). These grains will require hydration and sterilisation in a pressure cooker prior to inoculation. Once the grain jars are colonised by mycelium, they are ready for spawning to bulk substrate. 

Step 2: Spawning to Bulk

For the bulk substrate, coconut coir alone is suitable for P. ingeli as is a coir / vermiculite mix, with some growers having also added dung to their bulk substrate. Coir and vermiculite are both relatively inert (not tending to attract other bacteria or fungi) and hold both water and air well, which benefits the mycelium. These bulk substrate ingredients can be prepared for use by pasteurising with the bucket tek, with the appropriate quantity of water used relative to the quantity of substrate.

The bulk substrate should be hydrated at field capacity, where it is fully saturated with water, but without excess moisture. To test this, the bulk substrate should feel saturated with water to the touch, but when squeezed it should not produce too much runoff.

The colonised grain spawn can then be mixed with the hydrated and pasteurised bulk substrate and added to fruiting trays, which are then placed in the fruiting chamber.

Step 3: Fruiting

Once the bulk substrate is fully colonised, a casing layer (of a quarter-inch depth) should be applied. Jiffy seed starter mix has been used successfully, when pasteurised and pH buffered with lime. A mix of peat with coco coir and vermiculite and a little lime can also be used. 

This species appreciates a saturated substrate and a highly humid environment during fruiting following casing (coupled with high levels of fresh air exchange), and maintaining this is important to keep pins from aborting, as drying of the substrate may cause this even during an advanced stage of fruiting. The pins seem fine with light misting to supplement moisture levels.

P. ingeli will benefit from being fruited in a diffuser tub fruiting chamber which will help facilitate optimal levels of both fresh air exchange and the higher humidity levels this species needs to thrive during fruiting. A variation on the classic monotub design for fruiting, diffuser tubs make use of the same large clear plastic tubs, but use a different setup configuration to enhance humidity and fresh air exchange. They incorporate an aquarium air pump with twin air hoses and air stones running into water in the base of the tub, or jars of water sitting atop a layer of wet perlite. Diffuser tub setups have been used to successfully fruit a range of species.

A moist environment can also be achieved by spraying with a fine mister or by using a dialled fogger (on a timer) in other fruiting chamber setups.

Growers can expect the first pins to appear in around two weeks once the colonised bulk substrate is placed into fruiting conditions. The mushrooms are quite slow to mature once they appear relative to some other species, a trait of Section Zapotecorum. However, they are worth the wait.

Some growers report great success with fruiting P. ingeli outside. This will depend on your locale, as it needs high humidity levels to thrive, but some cultivators have found the species easy to work with outside, requiring less care while producing bountiful flushes of healthy mushrooms.

The caps develop a wavy upturned profile as they mature if fresh air levels are sufficient as they get ready to drop spores, and this is the time for taking spore prints.

Legality of Psilocybe ingeli

The legality of P. ingeli and other psilocybin fungi is complex, and it is important to be acquainted with the laws in your region. It is also worth noting that the laws are rapidly evolving, so it is important to keep up to date with any changes in legislation. 

In some places, it is illegal to possess either spores or mushrooms, while in other areas, it is legal to possess spores (for “microscopy purposes”) due to them not containing any psilocybin. While psilocybin is illegal in the US and designated a Schedule 1 substance, the DEA has stated that at a federal level, psychedelic mushroom spores are legal to possess prior to germination, although laws may vary by state, with a number of them (or municipalities within them), taking steps to decriminalise or legalise psilocybin.

Elsewhere in the world, growing psilocybin mushrooms is legal in other countries such as the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Nepal, Samoa, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In Brazil, while psilocybin and psilocin are classified as illegal, this only extends to the molecules themselves and not the fungi containing the molecule. Psilocybin mushroom spores and grow kits are legal in Mexico, although psilocin and psilocybin themselves are prohibited.

In Europe, psilocybin mushrooms are decriminalized in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Portugal and partially decriminalized in Spain, while in the Netherlands, these fungi are only legal in sclerotia (truffle) or mycelium-based forms.

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