Jump to content
The Corroboree

obtuse

Members2
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    1,579

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

Posts posted by obtuse

  4. Posted

    Obtuse has been a slack boy again.... and incredibly pre-occupied.

    Sorry Dr Green, i did have a look and it turns out i must have given all my rooted cuttings away. I was downsizing my garden over summer.

    I will go set some up today, but you may have to wait till spring. But the thing with plants is patience (especially if it involves me it seems).

    Waterboy, i definitely have an interest in some NL.

    Cheers, Ob.

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    hola ;)

    The best success i have had with syrian rue, was with not very good soil from my backyard, but i suspect say from the side of a road would do well too.

    I use takeaway containers intiailly to germinate, in a window sill using the disturbed soil. For me they germinate readily, and pot them up while they have their first few sets lot of trident leaves.

    They really dont like being transplaned so make it a big pot, not like a seedling pot.

    I have never analysed pH, so cannot help you on that, but the takeaway container method works a treat for me. My understanding is that they a weedy along the sides of roads, and love disturbed soil, and where they they get occassional water but not all the time.

    Best of luck.

    Obtuse.

    • Like 2

  8. Posted

    My main interest is to simply learn as much as I can, and I feel like my idea for experimentation would be a great way for me to kickstart that learning process.

    Of course, I have no delusions about the fact that there are more qualified people around (probably with more interesting research to do) than myself.

    Posting my idea just adds the possibility that people might consider helping an eager student become capable of more serious research, rather than relying entirely on existing researchers. I don't know, it makes sense to me.

    Just as a byline scarecrow. Sounds like your really motivated. with regard to your uni course make that motivation known to your lecturers and lab supervisors, that you want to learn, and push them for opportunities to learn more advanced skills if you can. If you have research units as options to your course make sure you do them - you may well learn more from them than most of your course - i know i did. Academic staff love motivated students, and will be willing to help you advance your skills if they see you are pushing yourself.

    I learnt a hell of a lot and was given lots of extra opportunities to learn when i was in your position. There is a hell of a lot they do NOT teach you, and you need to chase up those extra skills.

    Also, and i assume you are already aware, but i cannot help but emphasise doing a small literature review with regard to theory behind your project, and also understanding the methods you are going to use, how they have been used in the past, and why. As an example, understanding why particular reagents are used in an extraction, or what may be an acceptable substitute and why - some compounds occur in minute amounts so you need to use or develop the most efficient technique possible.

    Cheers, Ob.

    • Like 5

  9. Posted

    Wow. first up i have say Kudos to you Anodyne for setting this up. It's incredibly generous, and a great way to raise the bar as far as our own little projects are concerned.

    I wont submit a project due to my own lack of time, and that it would blow that budget by a long shot lol.

    I look forward to seeing what projects people have in mind, and i bet there will be some amazing ideas come out of the woodwork.

    Ideally it would be great to see something like this become a regular mainstay on this site, not from you Anodyne but maybe we could all pitch in, to really encourage and push what personal research people in this community do.

    Reminds me of an awesome talk given by Darklight at EGA, about how to encourage what research we all do in our own time in our gardens/kitchens and how to keep ticking it over to gather valuable information and meaningful results.

    Cheers, Ob.

    • Like 3

  10. Posted

    Coin, i'd say your right on that, but im not sure how else to refer to it.

    But yes the spanish "strain" apparently contains a different consortium than does the one most commonly available in australia.

    but perhaps it is ok to use "strain" as its likely to be a combination of different strains and/or species of the members of the consortia that make up the varity that would exist surely. or am i making stuff up now...

  12. Posted · Edited by obtuse

    I'm a big fan of kefir, and in talking to freind recently mentioned that different strains have different flavours, which i can relate to through experience as the same strain can sometimes change flavours if not looked properly :rolleyes: .

    My freind was referring to strains available in Spain which are meant to be much sweeter and more bubbly, wheras the strains available in Aus are more acidic and result in a texture more like yoghurt.

    I know there are a few others into kefir here on this site, so was curious if others knew what strains were available here. And if anyone has a spanish strain, can i have some? :wub: please :lol:

    Cheers, Ob.

  15. Posted

    I've tried zip lock with very limited success, most times they just rot.

    Best plants always grow with patience, trust me, its been a life lesson for me too and very well worth it. I just need to adapt that philosophy to the rest of my life and it'll be all good.

    Better not try Psychotria then lol, takes six months for them to germinate.

    Cheers, Ob.

  16. Posted

    In my experience can take a few months.

    some people say cut of the woody bits, but has only ever ended in rotting seeds for me.

    I plant my seeds and then leave them. i assume fungi and microbes break down the coat and remove any germination inhibitors present. and then 'bang' you'll have so many you wont know what to do :wink: - i give them away, then it turns to begging - 'please take some'

    lol

    Cheers, Ob.

  18. Posted

    Oh if your doing biochemistry,

    these are excellent:

    Chemical aspects of Biosynthesis, by John Mann

    The Psychopharmacology of Herbal Medicine, by Marcello Spinella

    and also particulary helpful is:

    Food, The chemistry of its components, by Tom Coultate

    Very good reading.

    Cheers, Ob.

  19. Posted · Edited by obtuse

    I've been after some recommendations too - I was re-reading the XiHKAL's recently and it occurred to me that there are probably other books out there in the same vein that I could be reading instead. I'm mainly interested in the historical/chemistry side of things, or writings that are just cool in their own right like Burroughs or Huxley. The "Alice's voice"/"Journeys into the Bright World" style of new-agey psychiatry writings doesn't really appeal. Any suggestions?

    Yeah the "chemistry of mind altering drugs" is a ripper. Excellent books along the line the same line as the xIHKAL's are the books by Otto Snow, and Uncle Fester. although of a clandestine nature they are very interesting. There are a few old books around of similar nature but becomming harder to find.

    There are lots of interesting historical texts. classics include:

    Storming Heaven, by jay stevens

    Acid Dreams, by Lee and Shlain

    oh and a nice read is:

    Orange Sunshine, by Nicholas Shou

    There is a incredible amount of new-agey stuff coming out now, i assume because of the revival in the states, and its of great concern as im sure the really good stuff is going to be harder to find within the contemporary works, and means a harder job for those in the future trying to tease of the true details of current happenings.

    Cheers, Ob.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by obtuse

    There are lots of these threads. A good idea would be have a good go at the search engine.

    All the raetsch books are brilliant. apparently the translations are not fantastic, but in terms of combinations of visual and text, as ethnobotany porn i dont think you can really do better.

    This thread is an interesting idea and others have attempted it, and at AE we even have a whole section dedicated to books.

    The bigger problem though is how to classify the texts, as the overall spread is huge, and while there are a bunch of brilliant general books, they never go to the depth that many of us want.

    A worth addition, especially as it has a very strong australian association is:

    Garden of Eden, by Snu Voogelbreinder, but only 300 were printed and i wonder how many he has left. (time for a colour edition perhaps <- me being incredibly cheeky Snu :wink: )

    otherwise, i think personally think in terms of authors rather than individual books, so all books by Raetsch, Ott, Shulgin, Trout, Schultes, Voogelbreinder, Stamets, and Stafford, are probably must have for any serious entheobotanist. but perhaps you also need to include the mckennas, leary, hofmann, etc

    There are so many seriously amazing books.

    Cheers, Ob.

  22. Posted · Edited by obtuse

    PM me Drgreen, i may be able to give you cuttings. need to check my plant. I gave away a whole heap over the summer, but i recall keeping one of the more sickly ones. They are damn easy to make cuttings of, but i may need to make some more, depending.

    White wind, i have red, and a few crosses, and they seems fine. we have real temperature extremes here, although not the real mountainous cold where i am. would like to get narrow leaf, i had some seeds but they didnt germinate and i suspect they were all immature.

    Ephedra, would survive fine i would think [beat me to it planthelper], but i keep killing mine through neglect before they get established.

    Cheers.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by obtuse

    Absolutely definitely YES :wink:

    Khat will grow very happily here in tas. In fact now that the weather is coming good they are gonna go crazzzy

    :devil:

    In a pot, or in the ground, no problem. They withstand frost, but new leaves get burned easily by both sun and cold.

    • Like 2

  25. Posted

    Artemisia are very strong and vigorous plants given the right condtions. they will die off in the winter, so best to get them in a large pot or the ground now, so they have a chance to aclimatise. but once their happy they are near impossible to kill.

    I love them and have lots, and they smell beautiful.

    :D

    • Like 1
×