Ishmael Fleishman

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Growing tobacco and mapacho is highly illegal in Australia and is the same as growing cannabis. However people do grow it. Importing tobacco is fine you will just have to pay a tax. See https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/tobacco-and-excise/excise-duty-rates-for-tobacco

@Halcyon Daze thank you

I have a friend seeking large fat Tricho for his collection. Does anyone have something unusual thick and fat you are willing to sell? Happy to pay a good price.

@Alchemica I had a feeling you would have had some experience with Berberine. How where you consuming Berberine with lecithin? I found this https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3634921/ The same idea of increasing bio-availability of curcumin via black pepper. Any thoughts or suggestions? Have you done any extraction using methanol? As far as I understand it would mean grinding up the plant material socking in methanol for X days and then filtering and then a low temp evaporation of the methanol. However I am not to keen or set up to becoming a drug lab. I had the thought of administration via a nasal route? Worth trying maybe?

Due to my love of cooking I am always exploring ethnic markets recently I came across a small bag of dried yellow vine in my local Indian grocer. It turned out be Coscinium fenestratum - my internet search said that it was used for the treatment of inflammation and for diabetes. Condition that I both suffer from. So I bought a 150g bag of Coscinium fenestratum for $3.5. I am uncomfortable about buying Coscinium fenestratum because it is endangered due to over harvesting. However my need and curiosity won out. I made a herbal decoction from the Coscinium fenestratum vine using 5 litres of distilled water, lemon juice (ERROR - next time I need to increase alkalinity) for acidification and cooked it down to 750ml. Ended up with a deep yellow almost brown and extremely bitter decoction. My reason has been to see if it would help with the joint inflammation I experience due to an auto immune disease. I have been prescribed prednisolone however it is only partially effective and the insatiably binge eating is unpleasant side effect. For the last 5 days I have been drinking 40ml of the Coscinium fenestratum decoction in the morning on an empty stomach. Their is been a reduction in joint pain and stiffness and increase range of movement without discomfort. Their has also been a strange shift in sensations in my joints. Tingling sensations and even a fullness/discomfort odd sensations. After 5 days the Coscinium fenestratum decoction works better then the prescribed prednisolone and I am observing how much better it becomes over the next few weeks. Now the major active ingredient is Berberine. Berberine is an interesting alkaloid and I am only starting to delve into the research however most is only preliminary animal and in-vitro studies. However there seems to be a bunch of BS being promoted by the supplements industry. With Berberine low bio-availability in-vivo, poor solubility in water. I would the any claims with a pinch of salt. However its tradional use is believed to be well established. This is proving to be an interesting experience. Has anyone used Berberine and to what effect?

I have this small piece of Tricho that is left over from a surgery procedure. I do not have any grafting stock that I could use at this time. If I first allowed it to callus over would it root and eventually pup if I put it into some substrate at a later date?

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@Alchemica thank you. for "ethanol formation (pyruvate/acetaldehyde) to condense with the phenethylamine and under acidic conditions, undergoing a Pictet-Spengler reaction to form THIQs" This means that Anean cultures would have fermented Chicha with San Pedro to allow for this reaction to occur.

@Alchemica Most of the chemistry is way over my head. How to one practically derive a tetrahydroisoquinoline is the question. Acetaldehyde is a defect in beer tastes like green apple - caused by The beer is not fully fermented; Yeast strains are unhealthy and have poor performance; Excessive oxidation reaction occurs, allowing ethanol to be oxidized to acetaldehyde. This usually happens during the bottling process; I think adding a small amount of fruit juice or malt extract syrup as source of sugar to San Pedro brew allowing it to partially ferment then aerating the partial fermented San Pedro brew might possible be one way of allowing ethanol to be oxidised to acetaldehyde? Or would addiing a shot of Vodka then aerating skipping the fermentation of the alcohol step work? Would that get us to tetrahydroisoquinoline? Sorry for the stupid questions. Wiki says that tetrahydroisoquinoline is neurotoxic and so is Acetaldehyde that why it is limited in commercial beer. That is concerning to me.

In the interest of sharing. I was watching ESPD55 - Colin Domnauer - Expanding evidence of Anadenanthera in the pre-Columbian Andes as part of Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs - ESPD55. In the Q and A - Laurel Sugden and Josep Orlovac Del Rio mention that San Pedro cactus juice can be fermented and that it has a positive effect on its actions. The possibility of fermentation raised a question that fermentation of San Pedro might produce beta-carbolines. The production of beta-carbolines might increase the function of MAOI in the San Pedro brew. There is also a possibility that Anadenanthera was in history fermented with San Pedro based on iconography found on drinking vessels. The same way that Anadenanthera was fermented as part of chicha. This seems to be an interesting avenue for exploration. The fermentation could be undertaken pre-cooking or post cooking of the cactus juice. Similar to a raw ale pre-cook ferments would result in the presence of lactobacillus bacteria and some saccharomyces being the primary drivers of fermentation resulting in a sour ferment with a lower PH. Post-cook ferments would reduce the diversity of micro-organism from the raw plant and would rather be inoculated by air born yeasts. A quick search show that their is a long history of fermenting a variety of cactus juices to make drinks. These are often fruit however the cactus flesh is also fermented. The flesh would have limited sugars or carbs and that restrict ethanol production. However certain bacteria and yeast can breakdown cellulose into sugar raising the possibility of more ethanol production. However the introduction of a secondary source of sugar as an adjunct in the fermentation is conceivable. However the production of ethanol is secondary with the formation of enzymatic by-products would be of greater interest. This is definitely an area for possible exploration.

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@Alchemica Sorry that are feeling lost. Ceremonial Cacao bars jump out to me. I think it is the best idea because people love chocolate, however getting something that tastes good would be a challenge. Because people will compare into to a sugary inferior chocolate bar taste. Rose and saffron are not the usual flavors Australian consumers. Very Arabic/Indian. I am not sure if Kanna can be hidden, that green vegetable taste would a challenge. I am a foody and avid home cook. So flavor is something that is important to me. Maybe selling it also as a block to melt down into a drink. The same way Mexican drinking chocolate is sold. I would be interested in a legal harmine addition to Ceremonial Cacao. ++++++++ As for money - I hate it but if you cannot cover costs with a small profit to expand your service and product - the products will not be sustainable. ++++++++ Tea is always popular but it is also a saturated market.

Came across this regarding DMT and on how DMT relates to inflammation. A few interesting things is that are covered in this research - most of it is beyond my understanding - one is that serotonin receptors are not they key to understanding DMT psychedelic activity and more.

I am actually thinking to integrate ceremonial Cacao as part of a San Pedro ceremony.

The damage is not rot. Its damage from when it was harvested and dropped. Going by what you have said. I will just leave it standing up until it has roots.

I was just thinking - could I just lay the tip cuttings log style on their sides putting the damaged parts face down and out of sight and that way it might pup and put roots out at the same time? Thoughts?

I will leave it for a year to let it recover and root then next pupping season off will comes its head.

At the moment these two cuttings do not have roots, if I cut of the top would that be a concern? Happy to trim off the tops and try to graft the remnants and get some pups from this beauty. Considering I will be getting another more cosmetic sample shortly.

I meet my source today to pick up the first lot of the aforementioned cactus. These two samples are the less cosmetically perfect versions I hope to get the nicer example in two weeks. According to my source this was liberated from a large stand from a garden in my local area by some less then reputable people before passing through multiples hands to arrive at me - it should be called "half-inched". However nothing beyond that is know about it. My source tells me that it lacks a white flesh being green all the way through, will need to confirm and I am told that it is very strong medicine. The spines are massive certainly longer then anything in my collection and it is by far the most Glaucous of any of my cactus. I think this is certainly one of my favorites. Wondering about the damage on the top, I could cut it off however I feel given time it will grow into a fine example. I was also gifted with a 5 rib Echinopsis scopulicola I think.

I noticed yesterday that all the pups are on the side of the cactus that gets the most sun. Then my friend said I should rotate the pot to stimulate more pups. Then I thought that the cactus should be put on a slowly rotating turn table. :-) The best solution for maximum sun exposure. At this point I think I have an eight ribbed Trichocereus Matucana peruvianoid synonymous with Rosei

I have made deal for the above cactus an exchange of plants and cash. Pick up this Thursday. I have a been looking online and the above example looks very much like a Trichocereus ROSEI 2. My questions is would a Trichocereus ROSEI 2 come in 8 ribs or can it develop 8 ribs. If not this must be a Matucana peruvanoids going by what has been said above and what I have read again online. UNRELATED QUESTION 01 I have two thick Trichocereus growing in massive pots - they were 1 meter long cuttings about 1.5 years ago and have grown over 600mm in the the mean time. This year they are throwing their first pups, one has 4 pups, and one has 5 pups. My question is how many pups can a single plant put out in one season? UNRELATED QUESTION 02 On one of the Trichocereus has a pup growing from an areole, the a second pup has also come out directly above the first one on the next row of areole. I can see that they will both be competing for the same grow space. What should I do? Should I try to grow them both and let them fight it out OR try to graft one once it gets big enough to liberate? Or kill one now?

I am interested in growing edible wood loving mushrooms on logs in the garden when things settle in my living situation. I will then look into putting my mycelium into a purpose built bed. If I have a variety of mycelium then that it is what I have. Less efficient but it is simpler in my situation.

I can see a similarities in the Areoles with the Roseii 2 that I. A friend of mine is selling it for $150 - yes she is beautiful - and I do not have a an 8 rib example. so I am looking to purchase it. I have asked him about its pedigree but I am waiting to hear back. As for identification someone should make up a flowchart for Trichocereus - like how many ribs does it have? More then 6 More then 8 More then 12? etc etc...

How do I tell a peruvianus from a birdgesii?