Exposing the cakes or casings to cold temperatures for around 24 hours is supposed to trigger pinning.
Exposing the cakes or casings to cold temperatures for around 24 hours is supposed to trigger pinning. The opinions whether it is needed with Psilocybe cubensis or not vary, but so far it's not known that it would do any harm doing so. It seems to be beneficial with some strains which don't form pins easily. Make sure that you wrap the cakes or casings well before putting them into the fridge, since the fridge is often not the cleanest place in terms of mushroom cultivation.
cubensis eats substrate best at 86 F. The further you drop the temperature from that temp, without passing a critical temp that kills, the faster you stop it from EATING. When the mycelium stops eating and is exposed to light, oxygen it begins to pin.
Going from 86 to 75 may not be significant enough to immediately trigger fruiting. The mycelium may continue to feed until the OTHER stimuli trigger fruiting. So cold shocking may speed up fruiting, as several members here have stated.
My concern with it would be an extension of the lag time between frutings due to the GREATLY decreased temperature exposure initially, and then the maintainance at lower temps then optimum for growth rate. It seems to me it would be better to only slightly lower temps, and combine it with the OTHER stimuli to get fruits. It may take longer to get the first flush, but it MAY ALSO take less time to get the second, third, fourth, etc....
I never cold shock cubensis, NEVER needed to. Just trying to see the benefits and ways them against any pitfalls.
I don't grow cakes either.
Definetly can see it being beneficial for STUBBORN CAKES or CASINGS that refuse to Stop vegetating regardless of exposure to the other STIMULI. The Mycelium has to STOP growing to fruit.
Dropping temps 10 degrees is not the same as dropping it 40 degrees. The former just slows down the growth. The latter can STOP IT. Once the mycelium stops growing it starts the pinning process, after a short lag to GET READY. COLD SHOCK could make this happen faster. If it does, like wise it can make the in between flush period, LONGER. Temps beneficial to fruiting are Lower then temps beneficial to growing(eating). The mycelium gathers nutrients in FEEDING mode, stores them, and uses them to develope the first and second flush. Then it has to feed some more to make more pins and develope them. This is why I think Cold shocking might speed up pin sety, but slow down the time in between flushes.
