Tradd Cotter is a microbiologist, professional mycologist, and retired landscape designing professional, who has been tissue culturing, collecting native fungi in the Southeast, and cultivating both commercially and experimentally for more than thirty years. In 1996 he founded Mushroom Mountain to explore applications for mushrooms in various industries which currently maintains over 300 species of fungi for food production, mycoremediation of environmental pollutants, and natural alternatives to chemical pesticides. Tradd sold Mushroom Mountain in 2022 to pursue his interests in psychedelic assisted therapy an focus on research in the medical field. In 2014, Cotter completed and published the best-selling book Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation (2014), that is still one of the top ten releases with the publisher, Chelsea Green. Tradd has won numerous awards for his work including the prestigious Clemson University Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2013), the EPA GRO-U Fellowship Award (2011), and an expert lecturer on all topics related to fungi in agriculture, medicine and mental health.

His primary interest is in low-tech and no-tech cultivation strategies so that anyone can grow mushrooms on just about anything, anywhere in the world. Mr. Cotter’s ongoing research projects include bacterial interactions with fungi, mycopesticides, novel antibiotic discovery, and isolating native mycorrhizal species for bioregional specific inoculants for plants. Tradd’s current interests revolve around Psilocybin and psychedelic-assisted therapy through his company, The Blue Portal, currently offering therapeutic sessions and investigative lab work in Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Website: blueportalretreat.com