help newbie. p.viridis, p.alba etc...

[verbluten]

Hi, I'm a newbie.

Sorry if these questions have been asked before.

I wanted some plants for my living room, or whatever.

I was going to order some p.viridis, but there don't appear to be any for sale.

Are the other psychoticus (sp) species basically the same?

How long would it take for these plants to grow up and be useful ie. look nice and big?

is it worth all of the effort?

ps I live in Melbourne.

I might get some hamala seeds, should I bother?

Would it all look nice together and produce a lovely harmonious

domestic experience?

thanks for any help.

love verbluten...

[transDiMenTional]

Sir verbluten, our search engine here works fine but since im in the process of engaging with you I may as well spend the time to point out that both planthelper and shaman autralis botanicals (sab) have plants for sale (or usually do). Not all species are the same. Some are more hardy and would be a better option. Think psychotria carthagensis ;)

and yes it is worth the effort ;)

[verbluten]

Sir verbluten, our search engine here works fine but since im in the process of engaging with you I may as well spend the time to point out that both planthelper and shaman autralis botanicals (sab) have plants for sale (or usually do). Not all species are the same. Some are more hardy and would be a better option. Think psychotria carthagensis ;)

and yes it is worth the effort ;)

Thankyou very much Jeffery, ok I think I'll give it a go.

I'm very pissdomestic though. It'll all end in disappointment, I'm sure.

[Pala]

Thankyou very much Jeffery, ok I think I'll give it a go.

I'm very pissdomestic though. It'll all end in disappointment, I'm sure.

(I won't explain why I know this, but:) that reminded me of Eeyore, from that Pooh movie.

[Fenris]

You might want to check out Herbalistics as well

[Alice]

hi verbluten,

Are the other psychoticus (sp) species basically the same?

i believe viridis is considered to be more potent than carth; i have noted that viridis leaves pass the burn test whereas carth is a more difficult to detect, to my nose anyway. from memory i think viridis has roughly 4x potency compared to carth (?). have not tested alba or fitz.

How long would it take for these plants to grow up and be useful ie. look nice and big?

psychotrias grow quite slowly, so it will be some years before they get to a decent size. all the more reason to be impulsive and purchase them now, right now!

is it worth all of the effort?

yes. a good source of tryptamines from the leaves so you dont need to kill the plant to harvest, unlike other species which require you to strip the bark or rootbark. regardless of your intentions (ie aesthetic or medicinal) this is a beautiful plant grow.

I might get some hamala seeds, should I bother?

to consume: it makes quite a difference, so be prepared. not something to be rushed into.

to grow: harmala is a tricky one, i have found it most difficult to grow. there has been some discussion of this on a recent thread.

welcome to the forums verbluten

[transDiMenTional]

(I won't explain why I know this, but:) that reminded me of Eeyore, from that Pooh movie.

haha silly Eeyore and his bad attitude sets him self up for dissapointment everytime!

[elzar]

yes but when you succeed it makes it all worthwhile. even better beacause itll be a suprise.. all 3 psychotrias thrived well on my window sill all winter and even kept growing.

[sobriquet]

I've looked into growing P. viridis and I was always discouraged because even when I saw pictures from experienced growers, their plants never looked 100% vibrant.

Common "problems" were browning off of the leaf edges and tips which I've seen on almost all photos of it in cultivation. People have trimmed and cut leaves of this brown stuff only for it to re-appear on the cut ends.

Its requirement for high humidity seems to be an absolute as leaves grown in drier conditions also have many wrinkles or holes.

Is it easier to grow than what I'm imagining?

Is the browning of leaf edges just a part of growing this plant or does it mean disease?

What is people's experience with this plant and can people post pics of their Chacruna (viridis) plants perhaps?

[noun]

I grow my Psychotria viridis south of the border, so it's allways a bit of a struggle. It has doubled in size in last 12 months. Mine had about two thirds of the leaf tips with browning and was dropping a few leaves as well . This was due to wet feet. I increased drainage and now it has about a third of leaves with browning tips. Now Spring is here i'm hoping for more improvement...and a doubling of size again

Edited September 26, 2006 by noun

[-bijanto-]

My Psychotria viridis plant. I received it as a young plant from ferret, back in November 2005, so it's about one year age. There are 3-4 leaves with brown tip so it's not significant. I guess it would grow faster if I planted on the ground.

[sobriquet]

My Psychotria viridis plant. I received it as a young plant from ferret, back in November 2005, so it's about one year age. There are 3-4 leaves with brown tip so it's not significant. I guess it would grow faster if I planted on the ground.

-bijanto- that is absolutely fantastic!

I guess having the right climate does wonders for this plant. I had no idea the leaves became so big. I'm more used to seeing specimens grown in lesser non ideal climates and indoors.

Maybe you should try some leaf cuttings and plant the resulting plants in the garden?

How big was the plant when you first began caring for it?

Again, very nice work.

[-bijanto-]

-bijanto- that is absolutely fantastic!

I guess having the right climate does wonders for this plant. I had no idea the leaves became so big. I'm more used to seeing specimens grown in lesser non ideal climates and indoors.

Maybe you should try some leaf cuttings and plant the resulting plants in the garden?

How big was the plant when you first began caring for it?

Thanks, I got it first when it was about 12 cm tall. I feel glad everytime I remember that this plant has taken a long journey across the Indian Ocean from Melbourne to Bandung.

I haven't tried leaf cutting, you remind me of something I've wanted to do...hmmm I guess living in tropics makes me a bit of a procrastinator. I think I've seen a post somewhere describing the chacruna leaf cutting method.

[kakti]

I've looked into growing P. viridis and I was always discouraged because even when I saw pictures from experienced growers, their plants never looked 100% vibrant.

Youre not looking at the right growers then ;)

I have 3 distinct species of Psyhoctria, and all of them are thriving. Not to mention I live in no where near the "perfect" conditions for this plant. Hell I dont even water or mist them, just let rain feed them when they need it. Some people blow the difficulty of growing these plants way out of proportion, it almost makes me think they have a vested interest in other sources of alkaloids..

[M S Smith]

My plants (there are two in this pot) were cut back to nearly 30 cm tall stems over the last winter and this photo was from earlier this summer. The pot is 24cm tall while the plant is 100cm tall right now. It will be up for cutting back again in a couple more weeks as fall comes on in the northern hemisphere.

It bloomed like mad this year but I pinched off most of the flowers so that I could get better leaf growth. I did miss a few flower stems and if they can ripen indoors a bit then I may have some seed.

As I said, there are two plants in this pot, but I suspect they are identical clones. Of course that isn't the case if the plant isn't self-fertile. Can anyone tell me if it is self-fertile?

~Michael~

Edited September 29, 2006 by M S Smith

[sobriquet]

That's some nice plants in those last two posts!

Not being an expert at identifying these I'm assuming the middle (second picture) in kakti's post is the viridis and it doesn't look quite as vigorous as the others and has some leaf brown spots.

Kakti's first picture and MS Smith's photo appear to my untrained eyes to be carthaginensis and I assume that explains the apparent vigour of those plants which are more adaptable to climate conditions of the grower.

I remember reading somewhere that the carthaginensis species was considered poor or even toxic and therefore avoided by Amazon shamans though I can't remember where I got that information from.

But if I'm wrong and they are viridis then it shows me that there may be hope in trying to grow this species at some stage.

[M S Smith]

Alright fellas, you tell me what species. Was passed on to me as P. viridis, but you never know with some sellers.

~Michael~

[planthelper]

i second that michaels plant is not a viridis, but proly carth.

viridis can be grown to perfection in most climates. but yes she is fuzzy.

the viridis i observed in other peoples hothouses allways looked worse than my specimens kept (and overwintered) outdoors, say for example at the northern rivers area.

if you give them less light than they are much easier to care for, however chances are plants grown this way are less potent.

i planted mine out in the garden and they survived a frost without problems, as they are sheltered by big trees. however all the specimens planted close to those eucalypts have died, i guess the eucalyptus sucks all the water up... my feelings are though aswell that maybe eucalypts emit some type of "stuff" which discourages many other plants to grow close to it's trunk.

viridis leaves are fatter and somehow more oily than carth leaves.

Edited September 30, 2006 by planthelper

[M S Smith]

Thanks planthelper! Jeez, but should I change the label yet? Anyone else want to add anything?

~Michael~

[Pisgah]

I have had a vendor sell me viridis as carth. A vendor that sells a good variety of ethnobotanicals...

I knew it was a carth because it didn't look like the alba I got from a trusted and well informed source, and it didn't have the little leaf protrusions on the under veins, and it looked just like the carth that was sold to me openly as a carth that was standing right next to a plant marked viridis.

Not exactly a definitive statement on the matter, but your flowers look like my carth flowers...

And the wavy leaf margins that you have on your plant are one of the things that Murple used to distinguish his carth from viridis.

I think carth gets sold as viridis with some frequency.

[M S Smith]

Here's my plant over at The Nook.

I thought then it might have been P. alba, but what do I know about Psychotria? Pretty much nothing. Anyhow there are some better pictures in that thread, but the pictures are labeled as P. alba. If you wnat to save them then save them under whatever you want...cause I don't know anymore, but I am happy to get some sort of consensus on them being P. carth.

~Michael~

[ferret]

:drool: lovely plants folks. wow bijanto the viridis is powering along! i think his brothers have popped out maybe 4 leaves in the same time period! damn good to see it thriving.

mike that is a monster.

gotta look after my plants better!

[ferret]

oh yeh incidently bijanto your seedlings survived melbournes winter miraculously well!

[M S Smith]

Since we're on the subject. Here are a few more shots of my plant taken today. The photos are named as the plant came to me, as a P. viridis, this even though it seems likely it's not. Time for me to get a real P. viridis.

~Michael~

[kakti]

The look very healthy Michael, Ill try to take some pictures of my viridis/carthaginensis/who the hell knows in a few days