fyzygy

I only withhold water from cactus cuttings that are yet to develop roots -- usually for several weeks (or however long it takes for roots to form). I water in repotted seedlings as a means of tidying up the mess I've invariably made. I've never suffered any losses that way, but that's not to say I haven't impeded their growth by doing so. On the other hand, I can better orientate a seedling with respect to gravity with the help of a jet of water from my misting bottle. I'll spare you the details of some of my more brutal repotting techniques. Let's just say I like to push the envelope when testing for plant hardiness. Not all plants, just the tough varieties.

Acacias hybridise readily. That is why Marion Simmons suggested collecting seed from wild stands, rather than suburbia -- or propagating via cuttings for guaranteed true-to-type characteristics. My understanding is that seasonal and other variations will have an effect on alkaloid concentrations. I wonder whether shininess/roughness of bark etc. could be a function of age, as in other tree species (e.g. Catha edulis). In addition to soil quality in built-up areas there are also other environmental influences on plant growth and development: chemical and electromagnetic smog, for example. That said, I have no experience with any of the species you've mentioned. Just a few early-morning impressions.

Soma as in a sacred brew the exact botanical composition of which is lost to history. I think Wasson and others speculate a fungus. Others have nominated various plants.

^ Used as a soma substitute in post-Vedic times (Ratsch, Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants). Buddha's dream of enlightenment is the only cultural reference that comes to mind. A "burning bush" is mentioned in the Old Testament, but as far as I know there's never been a positive botanical ID. Incenses derived from plants could induce altered states via olfaction, but that's still a form of chemical ingestion, and so probably not what you're looking for either. (For example: scopolamine from brugmansia spp., flower scent alone is said to be psychoactive. https://youtu.be/ToQ8PWYnu04 ) Forests are said to be conducive to meditation. But that probably depends wholly on subjective factors. So too are deserts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_Tree

Via takeaway tek?

Everything's growing too slow for my liking at the moment. Probably something to do with my age, or other subjective factors. I've had mixed results with takeaway tek method. If the media is properly wetted (not saturated) to begin with, there's seldom any need to intervene. Occasional ventilation probably doesn't hurt. I've never added anything other than moisture when (seldom) needed. And mine are always grown with natural light, no heat mat. From one container I carefully withdrew about a dozen or so to transplant into small pots. They've hardly grown at all, and the remainder now remind me of bleached coral. Probably should've just let them be, for a little longer. Even opening the lid of some takeaway containers can be a violent upheaval. In future, I wouldn't sow so many seeds at one time. It's tricky juggling hundreds of tiny cactuses. Maybe that's another advantage of the coke bottle tek -- smaller surface area. That said, my attrition rate is pretty high. Occasionally I end up with only 1 or 2 or even 0 from a batch of seed. Or at the other extreme, 50 or more that I have to find homes for. Different varieties do seem to respond differently to environmental conditions. Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to plants. I would say your growth rates are normal. Tricho seeds can germinate quickly, but the first year is pretty slow. Sometimes the first 2 years. But others here have more experience, I'm no expert. I'd be interested to hear what a few of the resident gurus have to say. I've got some that are no bigger than yours, and they're probably 12-18 months' old.

Yes, it levitates.

I think I agree with your point. Except that dreaming is an exceptional state, and I'm not sure it bears direct comparison with ordinary states, or states of intoxication. But maybe it does. You're saying, in addition to dreaming, our brain is (ordinarily) at the same time creating a memory of the dream? Why not just assume that the dreaming function itself has been impaired? I think people are REM-sleep deprived, quite often, and in that case, I doubt any dreams were being experienced in the first place, for the brain to codify into memory. And I think various cannabinoids may have an influence on REM states? At peak levels of alcohol intoxication, the part of the brain responsible for "mapping" reality--the product of which we refer back to as our "memories" of events--has been temporarily disabled. Under the influence at extreme levels, no "memories" were created in the first place, to have been forgotten (although that's our subjective experience: we rack our brains trying to remember what happened. We can't because the brain simply neglected to map that portion of experience. The forgotten experience most certainly happened. I'm not so sure, as regards the "forgotten" dream-experience). This is what I've been led to believe, while informally investigating the issue a few years ago (having stumbled on a crate of vintage Puerto Rican rum while fossicking among the kerbside hard rubbish).

[fixed]

Closer to home, in the Victorian parliament: https://theconversation.com/eugenics-in-australia-the-secret-of-melbournes-elite-3350 Important legislation, in the form of three Mental Deficiency Bills, was presented to the parliament in 1926, 1929 and 1939 by the Premier Stanley Argyle ... The bill aimed to institutionalise and potentially sterilise a significant proportion of the population - those seen as inefficient. Included in the group were slum dwellers, homosexuals, prostitutes, alcoholics, as well as those with small heads and with low IQs. The Aboriginal population was also seen to fall within this group. The first two attempts to enact the bills failed not due to any significant opposition but rather because of the unstable political climate and the fall of governments. The third in 1939 was passed unanimously, but not enacted in the first instance because of the outbreak of war and, later, due to the embarrassment of the Holocaust. Other state parliaments were inspired to also institute such legislation by Berry’s many town hall lectures across the nation. Important national Royal Commissions in the 1920s also recommended a range of eugenic reforms including measures relating to child endowment, marriage laws and pensions.

20cm pup. Shade-grown, nice and blue. A few small blemishes. This variety I sourced from eBay seller "bush medicine" -- one of their favourites too, with fully recessed aureoles on mature growth that are smooth to the touch. I'm thinking it's worth $2/cm, including postage. Or make me an offer if interested.

I think it's rather that people themselves would prefer not to know.

In a nutshell:

It's shocking stuff WC, and so recent. Is the full video of A Dangerous Idea available somewhere? Tuskegee is another reference point that comes to mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study

I think psychiatrists are medically qualified, for what it's worth (not much to me -- doctors do more harm than good, in my experience). Possibly the substances would have to be taken in a clinical setting? Degrading conditions, from what I've seen. I think Andrew Robb can afford this. And anyone in the upper echelons of MMA. I can't even afford the GP visit, to get the mental health plan, to qualify for my 10 free counselling sessions. I last paid $140 for a GP (Telehealth) appointment, got a referral to some top psychiatrist ... who never called me back. And that was the end of my association with mainstream medicine. Let me guess ... it'll still be criminal to go mushroom-picking, worse than dealing heroin.

Found a mid-section approx. 30cm underneath the house, where it has been sitting in the dark for several months. You know, ripening? I'm no longer even sure which way is up, although it's probably not too hard to determine. I'd probably just lay it down in some dirt and wait for a clutch of new pups to emerge. I've always found roseii (1 or 2) to be a bit of a slow grower. Nice and blue, this will make for a stunning plant. A few minor scars at one end, otherwise pretty clean. PM if interested. I'm thinking $2/cm including delivery. Or nearest offer.

Gone to a good home.

To be fair, SBS On Demand hosts a 3-part documentary The US and the Holocaust. Episode 1 outlines the home-grown American eugenics movement, as a prelude to the atrocities of WWII. I mentioned Shoah above, and this work looks to be just as powerful and confronting (albeit in a different style). Not very chill, but I thought it might temper some of the original poster's outrage.

I've got a Langstroth hive in my back yard, but haven't been interested in robbing it for several years now. I wish someone would take it over from me.

I've had around 50% germination rate for some seed I bought from UK supplier. But it seems the young seedlings are very prone to damping off -- at some point they typically just wilt and fall over. I'm wondering has anyone had success raising S. recognita from seed? Please share any growing tips, experience you might have.

Unlikely. Nothing too rich, or wet. I doubt they need to be in a humidified enclosure at any stage. As seedlings they don't really need much organic material, so I'd stick with coir or peat, mixed with plenty of perlite or other drainage/aeration material. I've had them in straight peat (Jiffy pellets) and they worked too. Cactus mix (with terracotta chips), same. Jiffy pellets are hard to extricate roots from, when it comes to transplanting. Probably any seed-raising mix would be adequate. They like sunlight, for at least part of the day. There's a small moth or butterfly that lays little black eggs a bit larger than poppy seeds, you may need to watch out for (when the plants have grown a bit). I removed them manually, and seem now to be okay. I haven't noticed my snails or slugs going for them, as yet.

What not to do: sterilise your bottle in the microwave. Mine had been perfect, already packed with the moistened media, but then I thought to sterilise the lot (minus the upper plastic section) in the microwave. 90 seconds and things were looking just right. But then I gave it another 30 seconds for good measure, and the whole thing basically melted out of shape. I did manage to cram something together, in the end, just not as roomy or elegant or stable as it was before. That had easily been my most perfect coke-bottle terrarium to date. It definitely takes a bit of practice, cutting those bottles to fit.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/cathine ^ Ephedra sinica shows up on this document, alongside Catha edulis as natural sources of cathine. I'm guessing cathine is what explains the effects of dried khat leaf, which may be a half-decent substitute for E. sinica?