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Everytime is a great time to sow A lot of trichs optimally germinate between around 15 and 25 C I had my seedlings on a windowsill the whole winter in cold dark northern europe, apart from beeing a bit etiolated/stretched they are all fine healthy. And ready to pick up speed with warmer weather ahead I've read somewhere you'd need a week of consecutive temps below 15, maybe 10 C before they'd go dormant (untill you warm them up again i assume)

Citizen science at its best, and done without a vested interest. Spent your own coin and risks.... Buy this bloke a drink

A graft I did tonight. Tersch x Peru. Used a little leaf glue and stuck it in my makeshift humidity box. Trying things. Learning the hard way.

Some jams from the plantation Someone decided they wanted to be different! A few self sown jams Took a mistletoe spp berry, squished it and placed it on a A acuminata branch. Don't think it'll grow but worth a try Some fat little terscheckii x terscheckii Grew some Bhut Jolokia plants this year as I gave it a miss the last season. I always top my plants when they have 4-6 nodes. Dehydrated and powdered what was ripe. The trunk on them is a good 3cm diameter

Fresh khat might contain around 1% (wrong - see correction below) cathinone by weight (it's hard to get accurate numbers as many extraction methods hasten the breakdown). If dried poorly, nearly all of that can be converted to other compounds like cathine - stored at room temp one study ( Degradation of cathinone from Catha edulis (khat) leaves ) observed that 50% of the cathinone was lost by the 2nd day, and almost all of it was gone by day 3. But if you can prevent these reactions, then the cathinone stays cathinone (it's stable once extracted, or well-dried), and you don't need to worry about separating out the breakdown products, as they just won't be there! The trick to preserving the cathinone seems to be to dry the leaves as quickly as possible, or freeze them: Using a little heat (sun or oven) to speed up the drying process might not be ideal, but is probably better than leaving half-dried leaves sitting around (eg. in a humid climate where they won't dry in a day) - keeping a third of the cathinone is still better than losing all of it.

I grow seedlings year round in a bog type setting. In the winter if you allow your seedlings to get close to freezing you will experience some die off, purple coloring to your seedlings due to cold and full sun, and some will also likely make it. I've never not had some seeds make it regardless of the Trichocereus species/hybrid I'm working with. Growth of those that do grow are considerably slowed however... again due to the cold. If you get freezing temperatures for too long you may indeed loose all your seedlings.

I know what you're talking about. I gave up alcohol completely, almost 18 months ago, and I consider it the beginning of my spiritual and conscious awakening. I went from being a daily drinker, and an avid home brewer, growing hops, culturing yeast strains, and temperature controlled fermentations - to tipping it down the sink. A change in diet for me was almost unavoidable. I didn't really care what I shoved down my food-hole when I was under the influence. I didn't really care about much at all. Maybe that's one of the reasons alcohol use is so prevalent in our society. And culturally, not drinking is even more unacceptable and suspicious to the average bloke than not being interested in football (which I am also guilty of). These cultural obsessions, or lack of participation in them, tend to put one on the fringe of society anyway. And that's a good thing, for me anyway. So I try to eat what i know is good for me, and try to get my family doing the same.

Compiling some interesting information I found here and on the www. I include several opinions, knowing that not all people grow stuff the same way and not everyone has the same climate and enviroment, Germinating seeds Torsten the germinator problems after germination reply by planthelper planthelper On flowering time - how long does it take to reach maturity Torsten propagation Torsten Various short comments Fresh seed makes things a lot easier and then getting them past their seedling stage is the next hurdle nice link with lots of info on cultivation http://www.ephedra.nu/en/botanical_2.htm EDITED TO ADD MORE STUFF: also on erowid on e. sinica: karode from shroomery: modern shaman: torsten 2006 well that's all for now, please add your own experience and discuss. PS: I will be making my first attempts the following days

Sent some samples away to be tested, below are pics of the samples and the test results. These were tested by - http://alvalab.es who i can recommend as a very good business where you can get samples tested. I encourage people to do this, pay a couple bucks and get your mushrooms tested. Subs from an isolated area, Eucalyptus forest, restricted area, so very little foot traffic etc... Sent these as the 'control' sample so i had results to compare the other two samples to. (lol) Gill freaks, growing in a dark pine forest, pines are probs, 10+ yrs old, pines in this spot previously felled and re planted. White gills, growing in an open pine coup, felled a couple of years ago and replanted with new pines The tef sequences for the three samples, 1, 2 and 3, in that order Knowing nothing about DNA results or how to interpret them i fwd'd the results to a couple people who do, thank you to those people. Conclusion is - sample 1 - 100% P. subaeruginosa sample 2 - 98% P. subaeruginosa sample 3 - 98% P. subaeruginosa Interestingly i found out during this that there has not been enough work done with P. subaeruginosa to reference these results against other P. subaeruginosa results. Results from P. cyanescens which P. subaeruginosa are very closely related are used to asses subaeruginosa DNA results. This is how i understand it, though i may be wrong.

Keen to hear a few words from people who have adopted a new diet and found benefit, particularly for managing mental health. What was the change and how was it beneficial? Dietary patterns, body mass index and inflammation: Pathways to depression and mental health problems in adolescents. Habitual intake of a Western dietary pattern may exacerbate low-grade systemic inflammation, not solely attributable to BMI A 'Western' dietary pattern (characterised most strongly by processed foods, red and processed meats, dairy, potatoes, refined grains, soft drink, sauces and dressings and take away) associates with an increased risk of mental health problems including depressive symptoms in adolescents, through biologically plausible pathways inflammation and adiposity, whereas a 'Healthy' dietary pattern (he ‘Healthy’ pattern was characterised by higher loadings on whole grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish) appears protective in these pathways. Longitudinal modelling into adulthood is indicated to confirm the complex associations of dietary patterns, adiposity, inflammation and mental health problems, including depressive symptoms [1] http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.bbi.2018.01.002 Other research has found a study a strong relationship between higher scores for a ‘Western’ dietary pattern and increased BMI, cardiometabolic risk, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and higher withdrawal, depression, delinquency and aggressive behaviours. A significant proportion of depressed persons show up-regulation of inflammatory markers. It has been suggested that chronic inflammation may underlie the association between diet and depression, since negative health behaviors, such as a poor diet, may lead to both inflammation and depression in susceptible individuals Nutrients such as magnesium, fibre, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids, flavonoids, and carotenoids from food associate with a Healthy diet and decreased levels of inflammatory markers Dietary influences on cognition. Full text: http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.02.052 The fact "dietary changes can also affect the biological functioning of the brain and seriously impact cognitive function has yet to fully penetrate our social consciousness, with possibly disastrous consequences as the obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm healthcare services." Epidemiological studies suggest that introduction of a more healthy diet positively impacts cognitive domains, strongly. "From a neurobiological perspective, both addictive drugs and highly palatable foods increase dopamine release in the reward centers of the brain, and maladaptive changes in dopamine signaling have long been implicated in the etiology of addiction. In particular, a reduction in striatal D2/3 receptor density ... has also been documented in overweight subjects, coupled with impulsivity. Recent data from the Winstanley lab using one such behavioral assay of impulsivity, the five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRT), suggest that macronutrients themselves may be able to alter this form of cognition, the ability of certain hypercaloric macronutrients to increase impulsivity is noted. Consumption of diets high in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates are associated with neurocognitive dysfunction, including increased risk for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. they are associated with impairments in decision-making, planning and problem solving (all of which are features of executive function) with less evidence for associations with other cognitive domains, such as verbal fluency and learning and memory, along with with alterations in appetitive functions, such as, reinforcement learning and effort, reward cue reactivity and incentive motivation, all of which are regulated by neural systems that support executive functions. From a mechanistic perspective, these cognitive deficits may result from decreases in neurotrophic factor expression, increases in oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, as well as structural and functional deficits in brain regions like the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex" It's been shown three weeks on a super healthy diet starts to crank up regions of the brain like the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and causes modulation of regions like the nucleus accumbens, orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. This area appears to be critical for working memory, planning, selective attention, temporal integration and volition. Damage in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in humans leads to a lack of spontaneous activity, distractibility by environmental cues, and the repetitive, stereotypic use of inappropriate behavioral responses (perseveration). I've mentioned the polyphenols lots, in short they seem very helpful Reduced mortality risk by a polyphenol-rich diet: An analysis from the Moli-sani study. High polyphenol and healing phytochemical intake is for me not just the best way to manage my mental health. The polyphenol content of the diet was, in a recent analysis, associated with reduced mortality risk: "Participants included in the highest quintile of intake of various polyphenol classes and subclasses presented a significant lower all-cause mortality risk compared with those in the lowest group of consumption ...the present results together with the recent literature, extend the role of dietary polyphenols from natural compounds potentially active on disease prevention to important nutrients for the reduction of mortality risk in a general population." In depression, there is an inverse relationship between consumption of fruits and/or vegetables and depressive symptoms. Less than 5% of depressed subjects reported consuming the amount of fruits and vegetables recommended by the WHO. I'm finding mixing up the diet to be more important - just a one-unit increase in the dietary diversity scale was associated with a 39% reduction in the risk of severe depression. Adherence to a high-quality diet, regardless of type (i.e., healthy/prudent or Mediterranean), was associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms over time (odds ratios ranged 0.64-0.78 in a linear dose-response fashion [P < 0.01]). A relatively low dietary inflammatory index was also associated with a somewhat lower incidence of depressive symptom (odds ratio = 0.81), although not in a dose-response fashion. Similar associations were found for the consumption of fish and vegetables (odds ratios 0.86 and 0.82 respectively) but not for other high quality food groups (e.g., fruit). I've touched on this here

Hello everybody, I'm absolutely hooked on planting trich seeds, and am getting ready to sow my next round of seeds. However, winter's only a couple of months away - is it a bad time to sow? I'm in Sydney, and I'll have them in closed 1L takeaway containers next to a brick wall outside getting some morning sun. Would they just stop growing over winter, or is there a chance that seedlings so young wouldn't survive? Or might they even put on some growth? Cheers

Did one a few weeks ago, seedling was "I" size approx according to this photo. Seems to have taken as it's quite firm but stalled? Been told it's quite common for it to stall. My 2 lophs on the other hand already have 10 pups between them in the same time period!

Yeah. Sorry, should have been more specific.

I'm also planning to be there. I'm looking to make the massive mission from Melbz. So hey, Obtuse & others, I'm keen for a road trip. I've offered my carspace to Francois le Danque. At the moment he's keen but unsure if he'll be able to make it. I should know in a couple of weeks if he's in or out in which case I might well be up for a driving buddy. So feel free to PM me (or if you have his phone number from the meetups in Melbz then give him a call and he can pass it on to me). Otherwise if ya just looking to convoy and have your own wheelz, I'm down with that too. I'm planning to arrive to Nimbin/Byron/Mully by Thursday night so I can spend the daytime on Friday checking out whatever interesting things will be on as seeing as it's 20-Apr (AKA 420) and probably some events worth checking out. I'll hope to arrive at the camp Friday arvo.

Mate it sucks, but I'm with Zedo . It's definitely illegal, but the cunts are just going to deny it. Put some cameras up so your ready next time.

My guess would be unless you have any ‘proof’ and would be going through the legal system, there’s little to nothing that could be or would be done. And in that case depending on the true nature of the call out, could prompt further unnessary harassment.

No idea if what they did was legal... But i would ring the department for sure! What they did was wrong. Without any good reason they shouldn't even knock on someones door at 3am. I suspect they need a warrant to turn your power off but i really have no idea

How do you find your food brings you together with others? That's been an interesting thing I've kind of noted as diet shifts Because my food choices are quite non-Western at the moment (breakfast was seaweed salad, turmeric kimchi and saffron), I feel the pull away from much of our society. I feel food and social cohesion runs a very deep connective thread. How much social cohesion is promoted by food and drink? It seems to be beyond simple 'bringing people together via food'. While some of these foods I'm using may be healthier options, there's a social dimension that gets altered by using such. From restoring vitamin and mineral status, to wildly altering mood/emotional/cognitive parameters eg carotenoids and polyphenols, to their epigenetic consequences of different phytochemicals, to inflammatory changes which seem to tightly regulate social behaviours to the microbiome, so much seems to shift. Like I found as soon as I gave up alcohol, tolerating the inebriation and consciousness devolution that alcohol promotes to be undesirable, being around drinking culture was totally undesirable. As my food shifts, tolerating the insanity of the "world out there" shifts too. While I noted social mild shifts in things with plain planty diets, stronger with polyphenol enrichment which I attribute to some epigenetic activity, changes to inflammation, I feel like as soon as I started using more fermented food, there was a large shift. Higher dose carotenoids, too. Like a distaste for the insanity of the Western world started to wildly strengthen... does playing with the microbiome have the ability to shift group social dynamics that quickly?

This is my first flower of the new year starting to poke its head out. Hoping to use this pollen on one of my many other special Trichocereus cacti in the not to distant future.

Lower Hunter I have a caapi indoors that is going well. the leaves are a long way apart though so I'm not sure of it will be too sparse for using as a blockout. Also this side of the house gets blinding full afternoon sun all year. caapi edit: wow just looked up passiflora that's amazing flower

I never got any messages ! Still happy to honour offer Cheers

are they sent coded?

i was just being lazy that's all.

A few cubes and pans around this morning, but still a bit too wet I'm afraid...

boy what a spot... there's not one but tens of individuals, some of which quite big and impressive. today was my second visit to the spot.. a small lane of unharmed 'forest' that was left -who knows- from pity, for shade or for the beauty of it, and has seemingly invaded the other side of the road, its actually a case fucken study of the plant, with so many individuals around, leaning and climbing on different trees. the greek foeminea species seems to be different from other ephedra species I seen in pictures, which are erect, in that its a leaner, and resembles much the behaviour of either climber or crawler, judging from the result... I read somewhere this is a short living genus, but I am not really sure, these bushes seem pretty old and I will need several visits to get the whole picture. F.e. to try and find the trunks of the bigger ones to observe and shoot. I am also happy to share these first habitat pics with this particular board, a very special place in the world for me and world ethnobotany at large image host image host image host one reel cool pic of foeminea in all its mediterranean glory, groing on an olive image host PS: tasted a fruit.. its indeed sweetish ...