Psychotria carthaginensis

[Jack]

My plant looks like it is going to flower and I was wondering if they are self fertile.

Thanks

[Jack]

cool, thanks darcy.

[Torsten]

yes, they are self fertile

[gerbil]

From my limited experience, they are taking a decent while for flowers to bloom/mature.

There's some good (panicle?) bud growth occurring on 3 out of 4 plants. Only one was showing buds for over a month -> 2 months on a single part of the plant, now the same plant plus the others are starting to put them out in most new growth. The original bud growth is still going, getting larger every day but still shy of busting open the buds. Any day now, fingers crossed.

Interesting thing is that 2 of the plants are decent size >60cm, whilst the others are much smaller established cuttings and are doing the same, I expect the 4th small plant will flower this year aswell. I wasn't expecting anything from the smaller plants this season, a nice suprise.

Anyone want to share some photos? I'll try to get some up soon, was waiting for the bloom, but might snap some later today.

Just some brief observations if anyone is interested.

Best vigour and plant health is occuring in mostly shade, yet not dark shade, some soft light.

Can cope with full sun to a degree, but much less stress (personal and plant) keeping them shaded.

Plants don't seem to be very hungry at all, yet respond very well to seaweed and fish emulsion feedings.

They are loving spring in Melb, and cope very well during the winter outside with some protection. Aphids love the new growth, spidermites also a problem.

Leaf cutting has been down since June 2005, still healthy yet no signs of growth as of yet, in a sandy/soil mix.

They don't like to dry out too much, always keep up a decent amount of soil moisture and never let them wilt too much.

EDIT: apologies for the shitty pics, can never get good photos of these plants for some reason.

Smaller plant, flower growth starting

Larger one, buds.

One large, One small.

[Pisgah]

Let the wasps and bees at it. They swarm around the little white flowers. I'm allergic to both, so I put my psychotria off to the side away from the rest of my garden when I have them outdoors. I barely ever see wasps anywhere except on those flowers. The flowers don't stay on terribly long, but it does take quite some time for the berries to ripen to a purply black.

[gerbil]

Great! The larger one opened it's first flower today excuse the dog hair hehe

[Tripitaka]

Nice plants Gerbil, they seem to be truly loved ^_^

Have found Carthegensis to be a truly vigorous plant in the right environment with the possibility of weed potential, seeds have a viability of more than 90% in my experience. With regards to the leaf cuttings I would find it hard to justify the space due to the viability of seed and general growth rate of the plant, would prefer to use the space for the slower growing P. viridis, but certainly worth the experiment to get the tek down!

People ARE using this as an admixture plant at around 200-250 grahams per person at a low dosage, this is in comparison to the minimum 50 g's for the viridis.

Have you considered working with an essence whilst the plants are in flower?

[apothecary]

People ARE using this as an admixture plant at around 200-250 grahams per person at a low dosage, this is in comparison to the minimum 50 g's for the viridis.

Have you considered working with an essence whilst the plants are in flower?

Thankyou. I have been waiting for someone to indicate activity for a long time now.

Can P.v be grafted onto P.c? That's probably been addressed before, I'll hit the search engine.

[Tripitaka]

one of my projects for the break is to attempt to graft onto Coffea Arabica root stock, these are certainly very hardy plants and as members of the rubaecae family sincerely hope that they get along!!

will let you know how I go, have plenty of root stock should you want to try for your self???

[willbe]

Thankyou. I have been waiting for someone to indicate activity for a long time now.

two words......ayahuasca forums........

Theres been reports of activity for a long time.

Some carthaginensis plants I have tasted a little bit of, taste MUCH stronger than my viridis!!!

[gerbil]

One thing to be cautious of, In Schultes healing forest notes, he states the the Makuna indians who live (according to the maps at the time) in Western Colombia, North of the Rio Miritiparana, consider Psychotria carthaginensis to be toxic.

Thanks for the info Triptaka, I look forward to germinating some seed if they do make it to maturity. 90% sounds lovely.

Yeah i've heard that P. carthaginensis aren't too good for leaf cuttings, but as you said it's just nice to be able to get the experience, aswell as I like to experiment.

Working with an essence? If we are thinking the same thing, then the answer would be no. These plants are purely for seed and plant stock for the next few years. I haven't formed the understanding and knowledge to the extent that I would like to with these plants yet.

My propagation area keeps failing time and time again, so i've also got alot to work on in that regard in order to be able to raise my desired amounts of plants for any given time. It's a slow process but I feel that i'm getting a much better understanding and refining my skills as the years go on, 'tis a long road ahead.

[elzar]

Tripitaka how did you go with this grafting process?

Is it possible to get cross pollination between carthaginensis viridis or alba? thought id stick this here as its coming up to flowering time again and i am hoping to collect seeds this year. seems like a good thread to revive.

[Tomer Corymbosa]

what are the main visual difference between p.viridis to p.carthaginensis? how can i tell the difference?

i know p.carthaginensis only grow faster ...

many thanks.

[gerbil]

This is just vague work and very brief...

One aspect is foliage - P. viridis has more lanceolate foliage whilst P. carthaginensis is a little more obovate/elliptical with undulating margins.

No experience in the wild, but in cultivation it's very easy to tell the difference.

Edited September 4, 2006 by gerbil

[Tomer Corymbosa]

oh so i guess i have Psychotria carthaginensis...

thank you.

now i have both psychotria (viridis and carthaginensis).

[gerbil]

Feel like posting a picture Tomer...?

[elzar]

here are the three. (low res)

p.alba

p.viridis

p. carthaginensis

unfortunately the leaves grow a little misformed (from winter indoors im assuming). they will pick up this spring though then i will get some fresh photos.

[Pisgah]

For me, the cold hardiness issue has been the species determining factor. Not exactly the best way to tell, since in the end all you wind up with is Carth, but here it is; Viridis dies first, Alba dies second, Carth pulls through until the end of winter. Wavy margins on the leaf is a good indicator for carth, but in dry climates I've seen wavy leaves on all three.

I've only seen the tiny leaf vein protrusions on viridis. That seems to be a solid indicator.

Here's my carth...

[gerbil]

F@#$ing sexy Pisgah!! :drool: :drool:

You are right about the progression of death...I've had a viridis for 2+years, made it through the majority of this winter then keeled over, very frustrating to lose her shit.

Edited September 4, 2006 by gerbil

[Tripitaka]

elzar >>Tripitaka how did you go with this grafting process?

No luck last season! The environmet that I had for such grafts was fairly basic. This season I have a kickass setup and hope to try again. Out of the few grafts that I trialed I believe that I applied to much pressure and as a result cut off the stocks ability to do its work.

Glad too see so much interest of late with carthaginensis.

Would anyone have an alba they would like to trade??

[elzar]

Tripitaka, good luck and keep us posted!

[Hagakure]

thats a bloody ripper you got there Pisgah. how old is it?

[Pisgah]

It is probably six or seven years old from a rooted leaf cutting. I got it five or six years ago, and it was about a year old when I got it, I think...

I don't really remember much from the time period I got it.

But I'm feeling much better now.

The past couple of years it has reached a size where It produces harvestable quantities of leaf. The key is to move it up to a larger pot size before it gets root bound. When it starts to throw sucker shoots, you can start pruning into a tight shrub form. I want to try to keep mine between five and seven feet tall, and just let it bush out like crazy.

[Hagakure]

pisgah you seem to be filled with good info.

im trying to get the psychotria wiki entry under control and am building it up with info from the forums

you might want to take a look through it and see if there are any changes you would make.

phychotria wiki

also were you the one that posted those pics of the differences between the psychotria leaves? that might be handy for the wiki so peopel can identify what they have been sold.

Edited October 4, 2006 by Hagakure

[Pisgah]

I'll take a look at the wiki, but I am by no means a definitive source.

Kakti was the one with the leaf differentiation photos, I believe.

When I had a real viridis it looked just like bijanto's. I miss it...