fyzygy

Somebody sent me an acacia seedling, bare-rooted, in a plastic bag lined with wood shavings. (Acacia wood? I don't know). I was skeptical at first, but that plant travelled well and is now absolutely booming. Has anyone got experience with sending bare-rooted acacia seedlings in the post -- how best to pack them for lightweight and safe transport? I was thinking perlite or sphagnum moss might work as well as wood shavings. I don't know where I would get some (untreated etc.) sawdust or wood shavings. Last lot of potted seedlings I sent were killed by Australia Post.

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.

Good to know, I will report back to UK seller.

Stems still seem very frail, maybe 8 weeks (?) since germination: the slightest drop of water will cause them to fall over sideways. They seem to crave sunlight, rather than the "light shade" specified in description of native habitat -- mine being kept quite sheltered. Germination rate for these imported seeds was less than 25%, seedling attrition due to damping off about 50%.

This lot of seed pods freshly harvested from old mother khat, unknown viability, PM if you'd care to try propagating and I will send you some. Second pic. shows established clone, for reference.

https://panaceachronicles.com/2016/06/08/growing-medical-coca-leaf-in-a-greenhouse/ Anyone have a copy of Bill Drake's Searching for Mama Coca? There is also a relevant chapter in his earlier book: http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=6CEBA45B9CDA1CC01E662474F1E5664C

What is/causes this? Emergent phyllodes were spotless and bright green a week or two ago. Too much water/nutrient? (We've had an unseasonal amount of rain recently.)

Darren at Herbalistics informed me that A. phlebophylla is self-fertile, but may require the services of a native pollinator.

At an independent Melbourne supermarket yesterday, I could choose from Hoyts, Royal Fields, or (Indian) white poppy seeds. This is the same food distributor responsible for the "Royal Fields" brand.

Anyone else tried using negative prompts? Twisted tech, for sure ... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-26/loab-age-of-artificial-intelligence-future/101678206

I've heard that bees use electromagnetic polarity to navigate among flowers. Flowers being positively (or is it negatively?) charged prior to a bee visit, then reverse-polarity for a while thereafter. I don't remember the source: Attenborough on TV? In any case ... Shouldn't DC polarity make a difference, or is it merely the flow of electrons through the plant that does the trick -- in which case, you wouldn't need a connection to "ground" per se, just any two points on the plant? Is the technique said to work for potted cactus, substituting potting media for true ground? Or only for in-ground specimens? Would touching terminals to root and branch (on a bare-rooted plant) yield the same result? Sometimes I use a DC source to heat the wires in my beekeeping frames -- if you left the terminals connected long enough, you'd presumably overheat the plant -- granted, cactus not being as conductive as metal? Who knows? (rhetorical question) There is an interesting chapter on pioneering botanical experiments involving electricity, in The Invisible Rainbow -- http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=93E30FBB4FC43B490B7EB477C0795C37

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-24/accidentally-growing-opium-poppies-for-wedding-bouquet/101692340

Things have slowed to a snail's pace around here, judging by the gallery images ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification Got any more details regarding provenance? Horn of Africa is a bit vague ...

yarrow, garlic, tea, hibiscus, honeysuckle, valerian, ashwagandha -- all may have potential for treating high blood pressure, the latter being indicated for stress-induced hypertension source: Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal (2021)

I've also seen the technique demonstrated using just the upper half of a leaf (bisected perpendicular to stem). A leaf laid flat on surface of growing media will sometimes work. As mentioned above, some species (e.g. S. divinorum) will produce roots from a leaf cutting, but nothing further than that. Plenty other species will readily develop into new plants from a single leaf, given *time* and favourable growing conditions. I would love to get my hands on a M. speciosa clone!

Isn't food-grade poppy seed typically sourced from Hungarian blue poppies, and medicinal-grade from Papaver bracteatum? Maybe a shortage due to supply chain issues forced distributors to repackage industrial-medicinal seeds as food-grade? Are store-bought (food) seeds viable?

Last night's episode of 7:30 presented MDMA and even (Peruvian-shamanic) ayahuasca as prospective treatments for PTSD. No psychedelic sensationalism, accusations of sexual misconduct, or financial misappropriation. I think Rick Doblin even featured for a few seconds. But no mention of MMA or the earlier 7:30 report.

Mesembryanthemum = Aptenia? I've got this growing at random, my plant ID app tells me it's M. cordifolia. Don't know where it came from, but it's always reminded me of Sceletium spp. Both seem to be unstoppable ground covers.

Looking for narrow-leaf khat seeds or plant, please PM if you know of anything for sale/trade.

Eat more plants in general: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466938/

https://psychedelicwater.com False advertising?