Penis Envy #6: A Potent Variant of Original Penis Envy
The jury is out on this one. Most people who have tried Penis Envy #6 will agree this strain is very potent — but so far testing has been… disappointing…
Penis Envy #6, not to be confused with the original Penis Envy strain, is a cross between Penis Envy and the Texas strain.
Penis Envy #6 is faster to colonize and easier to grow than the original, and retains a potency level well above average — but it’s not quite as strong as the original PE or some of the other PE offshoots such as Penis Envy Uncut or Tidal Wave.
The main difference between Penis Envy #6 and the original strain is its appearance. They don’t look as “penis-like” and more closely resemble the Texas strain. The mushrooms have rounded brown caps that widen and flatten out through maturity. They’re medium-sized and have thick wavy stems.
This strain is favored by new cultivators who desire to grow a potent strain that’s still easy to grow and provides decent yields.
Penis Envy #6 Specs
| Potency | Above Average 💪 |
| Cultivation | Easy |
| Species | Psilocybe cubensis |
| Substrate Recommendation | Rye Grain |
| Sold By | Spores 101 (🇺🇸/🇨🇦), Miracle Farms (🇺🇸/🇨🇦), Sporeslab (🇨🇦), The Magic Mushrooms Shop (🇪🇺) |
History of the Penis Envy #6 Strain
The Penis Envy #6 strain was supposedly created by a mycologist who goes by the anonymous online handle “Roger Rabbit.” However, exactly how this strain came to be isn’t known for certain.
The history of the Penis Envy #6 strain is relatively blurry. However, one of its mother strains, Penis Envy, has more of a back story.
Supposedly, the original Penis Envy strain (at least where it started) was a part of McKenna’s stock. It’s believed to have been discovered by Terrance and Dennis McKenna in the early 70s in Colombia.
Although it’s believed to be part of the McKenna brother’s stock from their trip to the Amazon searching for psychoactive fungi, the story doesn’t end here.
The Penis Envy strain we know and love today is widely believed to be a result of Steven Pollock’s work. He supposedly received a sample of the spores from the McKenna stock and isolated the strain. He was then mysteriously murdered, and supposedly, his body was found clutching a Penis Envy mushroom.
Penis Envy became popular thanks to Hamilton Morris of Vice. The famous psychedelic journalist wrote an article that introduced the strain to the public eye. This strengthened the strain’s foundations and may have been part of the reason it has reached such a legendary status today.
In a 2009 article by Morris, he explains the history of the Penis Envy mushroom, at least from the information he’d been able to get on the shroom at the time. However, over ten years later, Hamilton revised his article with a podcast interview with Richard Gutierrez.
Reportedly (and mentioned in Hamilton’s 2009 article), Richard Gutierrez was mysteriously sent a spore print of the Penis Envy strain after Steven Pollock’s murder. However, in the interview, Rich said that this was complete nonsense and that Pollock didn’t even know where he lived.
Richard Gutierrez was the creator of the original Penis Envy strain. It did originate from McKenna’s Amazonian stock, but the shroom as we know it was created “unnaturally” through genetic manipulation.
Rich Gee wrote a book in 1976 that Hamilton was lucky enough to read. Although unnamed at the time, he saw the first pictures of what was clearly the Penis Envy strain. These photos were taken long before Pollock’s death. This backs up Rich’s claims and more-or-less proves that he created this strain that now has legendary status.
After the dramatic creation of Penis Envy, the strain became available to the broader market. From here, genetic off-shoots and hybrids began to appear after various cultivators started experimenting with the strain. It’s now one of the most popular and potent cubes on the planet.
Penis Envy #6 Potency & Psilocybin Content
Penis Envy #6 is one of the least potent members of the Penis Envy lineage — but even though that’s the case, this strain sits well above what we consider “average” for a Psilocybe cubensis strain.
Most of the available trip reports for Penis Envy #6 suggest a potency within the same ballpark as original Penis Envy mushrooms. The 2 grams or higher dose range can be pretty intense for those new to magic mushrooms.
However, the skant analytical data available for this strain has been surprisingly disappointing.
Only one entry involving Penis Envy #6 has ever been entered into competitions like the Psilocybin Cup. This entry, submitted by “HSSS Cultivation Coalition” only displayed a psilocybin concentration of 0.63% and a psilocin level of 0.08% (of the dried weight). The total tryptamine concentration for this sample was 0.71% — which would place it about average with most other Psilocybe cubensis strains.
This is pretty disappointing, but this is just one sample and one test — it’s hardly enough to make any concrete statements about the actual potency of this mushroom. So much of a magic mushroom’s potency comes down to how the mushroom is grown, which means there’s a lot of variability from one harvest to the other.
We strongly believe this strain is capable of much higher potencies than the 2021 Psilocybin Cup submission from HSSS Cultivation Coalition.
In terms of effects, Penis Envy #6 produces an intense body high with waves of energy and euphoria and strong closed and open-eye visuals. Although this strain can be grown by the beginner, it is a real trippy shroom for the experienced psychonaut.
Penis Envy #6 Variations & Genetic Relatives
Penis Envy #6 is a cross between Penis Envy and the Texas strain. The original Penis Envy strain has been cross-cultivated several times to create new variants of the strain.
Here are some of the close relatives and genetic variants of Penis Envy #6:
Penis Envy (PE)
Of course, Penis Envy is a close relative of the Penis Envy #6 strain. Alongside the Texas strain, Penis Envy is the “mother strain” of Penis Envy #6.
Penis Envy is renowned for its potency, and it gets its name from the phallic shape of the fruiting bodies it produces. It’s one of the most popular strains of Psilocybin cubensis currently available and surprisingly easy to grow.
PE was possibly discovered in the early 1970s by Terrance and Dennis Mckenna in Columbia and, decades later still has quite the reputation.
Albino Penis Envy (APE)
The team at Sporeworks developed Albino Penis Envy, a non-pigmented version of the original Penis Envy strain. It carries the same exceptional potency as the original strain and has the potential to produce several prolific flushes. However, its ghostly-white appearance makes it stand out from the rest of the “PE series.”
Albino Penis Envy is much more prone to aborts than the other genetic variants of the Penis Envy strain. It’s not a particularly easy strain to grow and shouldn’t be approached by beginner cultivators with limited experience.
Penis Envy Uncut (PEU)
Penis Envy Uncut is an off-shoot of the original Penis Envy strain. It’s characterized by the veils under the cap that rarely open even once mature — this is where it gets the name “Penis Envy Uncut” from.
Many mycologists claim that this variant of Penis Envy is actually stronger than the original and the most potent within the “Penis Envy series.” It may be highly potent, but the mushrooms are much smaller than other varieties in the series. Therefore, large yields should not be expected.
Where to Buy Penis Envy #6 Spores
Penis Envy #6 is not a hugely popular strain. However, spores aren’t impossible to find. Penis Envy #6 genetics are available from a few different vendors in the United States and Canada. Unfortunately, we haven’t found any vendor that stocks this strain in Europe, but there is an option for those living there.
Here are some of our favorite vendors that offer Penis Envy #6 genetics:
- If you live in the United States — Spores 101, Miracle Farms
- If you live in Canada — Spores 101, Sporeslab, Planet Spores
- If you live in Europe — The Magic Mushrooms Shop (🇪🇺), Shiny Spores (🇬🇧)
→ View all spore vendors & grow kit suppliers
How to Grow Penis Envy #6 Mushrooms
Penis Envy #6 shrooms are surprisingly easy to grow for a super potent Psilocybe cubensis strain.
This strain can be grown using the simple PF-Tek method. This method is best for beginners because it requires a few pieces of simple equipment and some basic knowledge, like what’s in our guide on how to cultivate magic mushrooms.
PF-Tek involves injecting sterile glass jars with your chosen spores. These jars are filled with a substrate of your choice — Penis Envy #6 does well on rye grain, wild bird seed, or high mountain compost mixed with vermiculite.
Once the jars have been inoculated with the Penis Envy #6 spores, leave them in darkness to colonize. After two or three weeks, the jars should be full of mycelium. At this point, the resulting mycelium cakes are transferred to a fruiting chamber — a box with a substrate layer on the bottom.
The temperature inside the fruiting chamber should be monitored and controlled using a heat mat and thermometer. Keep the humidity high by spraying the inside walls using a mister. After a while, the cakes should begin to fruit.
Now the fun begins. Harvest the shrooms as they mature until the cakes eventually succumb to mold growth and stop producing caps. You should be able to get multiple flushes of healthy shrooms before this happens.
PF-Tek should work for Penis Envy #6, provided you use a grain-based substrate. This strain does not do well on BRF (brown rice flour) cakes, and some report issues with the inoculation process when using the PF-Tek.
Some prefer to grow this shroom on trays or monotubs but follow the steps in the guide linked above, and you shouldn’t have issues with PF-Tek.
Similar Strains (High-Potency Strains)
Penis Envy #6 is an extremely potent strain of Psilocybe cubensis — but it’s not the only ridiculously trippy strain out there. There are many other options to look at, some of which may be even more potent than this strain.
If you’re interested in other highly potent albino magic mushrooms, definitely take a look at these:
Tidal Wave (TW)
Tidal Wave is a hybridization of Penis Envy and the B+ strain. It’s renowned for the unbelievable potency that sets it worlds apart from other Psilocybe cubensis shrooms. Tidal Wave won the 2021 Oakland Hyphae Psilocybin Cup with a whopping psilocybin level of 2.26 and a total tryptamine level of 3.82%.
Tidal Wave is quite short and fat. It has thick stems like Penis Envy and a wide golden cap like B+. It’s not a great shroom for beginners, but if you’re up for a challenge, this one is very rewarding.
White Rabbit (WR)
White Rabbit is an albino strain of Psilocybe cubensis that’s a result of the hybridization of Moby Dick and Penis Envy. It has a ghostly-white appearance and is surprisingly easy to cultivate thanks to its impressive contamination resistance.
It was developed by a group of mushroom cultivators in Holland who clearly knew their stuff. White Rabbit is highly-potent and could take on the likes of Tidal Wave as the new “strongest cubensis shroom.”
Treasure Coast (TC)
Treasure Coast is a highly-potent strain. However, the potency of the shroom ultimately depends on how it’s cultivated. There’s not much room for error with this one — it’s prone to aborts and isn’t particularly resistant to contamination. However, if you can make it through the first flush, a good yield of potent shrooms is possible.
These shrooms have thick, long, white stems and round tanned caps that lighten and open up during maturity.
Strains vs. Species: What’s the Difference?
A strain is not the same thing as a species.
There are hundreds of different species of psychedelic mushrooms — Psilocybe cubensis is one of them. Within each species exists several different strains.
There are hundreds of different strains in the Psilocybin cubensis species alone. Penis Envy #6 is just one of these strains, but there are many more, such as Lipa Yai, Koh Samui, Golden Teachers, White Rabbit, and Tidal Wave.
Although all of the strains I mentioned above are from the same species, they are vastly different from one another. Some, such as Golden Teacher, colonize quickly and produce fruits fast. Others, such as Koh Samui and Lipa Yai, are extremely contamination-resistant. Some are albino, such as White Rabbit, and others, such as Tidal Wave, have phenomenal psilocybin levels.
The fungi kingdom isn’t the only place to find species with several different genetic variants (strains). Strains can also be found in animal and plant kingdoms, especially with human interference.
We love cross-breeding genetic variants within a species to create new strains. We’ve done this for centuries to domesticate animals, create more potent medicines, tastier vegetables, and faster-growing crops.
Just look at the cannabis species in the plant kingdom, for example. We’ve created thousands of strains that look, taste, and feel dramatically different. Some are incredibly potent, some are bred for CBD production, some for high yields, and some for their flavor.
