spunwhirllin

As i exited the local garden store i noticed that a fruit from a passionflower craeula(sp.)had hopped into my pocket,hitching a ride i guess. Anyway,the fruit is still green and i wonder when the seeds will be ready to sow? thanks much.

heya gusto, the fruit is heavy,and had fallen off on its own accord i believe,though it is green. any extra seed of any species out there? I'm in the u.s. ,if there are any locals that have some to spare,i'll make it worth your while. thanks.

yea,the plant was $20 u.s. for a four footer. but why pay for one when the seeds offer the potential for several plants for free and also the possiblity of sharing with a few others. i'll just give em a go. thanks.

I've not lost any cacti to cold,except for astro asteris and myrtillocactus. All the trichs,arios,obergonias,etc i have have survived several days of 20 degrees F quite nicely.

hi, my tabers all have these little white worm creatures on the bottom sides of the leaves. any ideas as to what this pest is? they only affect the taber's,and nothing else. thanks.

Beautiful hbwr flowers Torsten,I'm jealous. I raised a vine for a few years,but alas,lost it to rot.The original seed was sown about five years ago,to my surprise the same seed germinated this many years later,with a simple 24 hr. soak,could of been a dormancy issue though. Thats now my prefered method,works every time,germs in about 3 days,with this particular seed. However, i've not tried this with other hbwr seed.

Thanks Planthelper, perhaps i'll try something different this fall. The dormancy doesn't really bother me in terms of leaf production. I just dont want the kratom to rot,due to its need for water while not activly growing. I lost a nice rifat to rot this very same way. I understand they are a swamp dwelling species,but they still rot in pot culture. thanks again

The bumble strain is the only one I have,about 4 foot tall now. Bumble said it was grown from seed sourced in vietnam. Is it a common occurence for mitragyna to become dormant? This one does,but I dont know if its due to lower light levels or cooler temps,it seems to be triggered by lower light levels,due to the fact that my greenhouse is heated.

Well,my a.phlebophylla is really starting to take off,finally. It has been overwintered in an unheated gh with very little water and temps into the mid twenties F. Still,it continues to produce leaves at a fairly quick rate,it also seems to be preparing for some serious branch production. The dark spots on the leaves''toxicity'' has seemed to cease all together on the newer growth,I think its due to the fact that I only water it with rain water which contains no chlorine. lately i've noticed that the extrafloral nectaries are producing massive amounts of netar. could this be a possible sign of future flower production? i've read that the EFN are there to lure ants away from the flowers as to not disturb the pollination process. Any insights? I would post a pic or two,but i'm unable to it seems.

I think i'm just a bit south of you Auxin. believe me,i was rather shocked when i saw the bundles of seed. perhaps i started em earlier than that,but I dont think so.

I know that D.illinoisis flowers and produces seed after just one seasons growth. They were started indide under flouros then moved outside about a month later. I graduated them up from seedling pots to a large 15 gal in one transition. they grow like weeds,die back for winter then re-emerge about now,yep,just checked, red growth is evident. hanging baskets,probably a nay on that one. all you can do is experiment and prove otherwise.

I've noticed the exact same thing in regards to MG seed. both pach and peru seeds were sown at the same time,now 3/4 yrs. later they look identical,pach may even display longer spines. they're now fat and about 4 to 8 in. tall.

Thanks alot Darklight. I can actually understand that article. That gives a good jumping point. i was worried about all the dna transfer and such,but it seems that the Agrobacterium bacteria does all this on its own. every time i see ''TDNA'' i become intimidated,but this just means ''transfered dna'' which like i said, the bacteria does. so far i've only been able to source Agrobacterium tumefaciens''royal gall'' strain. much like a plant cancer that only seems to affect broad leaf plants,such as acacia phlebophylla. step one i guess is to aquire the Agrobacterium. thanks. [ 08. March 2005, 22:19: Message edited by: spunwhirllin ]

As far as ethics,these plants alter human chemistry,why not alter the plants. I've been reading up on secondary alkaloid metabolic pathways lately and am totally impressed by what these scientists have been doing lately. since I'm far from being scientificly educated and such,I read these abstracts and its like,alkaloid increase ''blah blah'' hairy root cultures ''blah blah blah''. anyway,lets see if i got the basis right. start plants in tissue culture,as everything remains sterile. take hairy root samples from thriving cultures. bombard hairy root medium with approriate alkaloid precursors. grow out the modified culture to maturity. an incredibly simplified version obviously,but does this capture the essence of the procedure. I cannot find any references on initiating hairy root cultures. Can hairy root cultures be grown out? Please inform me if i'm way off on this one,i want to learn. any input/critisism is much appreciated. thanks.

heres an interesting link, http://uvalde.tamu.edu/pdf/chemtdaf.pdf it seems these acacias do contain phenethylamines.

24''Acacia Berlanderi trees are available at aridzonetrees.com,although i didn't inquire about seeds,but will. this tree seems like the perfect nitrogen fixing companion for those small dumpling type cactus that need subtle shade,i'm sure the nitrogen would help too.

Thanks Torsten. I guess we'll find out this coming summer,fingers crossed.

Torsten, are phlebophylla self-fertile? I've only got one growing now which has already past the four year mark. The prospect of seed is indeed exciting,though again i arrive at the initial question. thanks

hey stoney, yea,i spread a few virola seed around,i'm glad there's some people having luck with them. I on the other hand didn't get squat to germ yet. i've got another 100 or so seed to give a try with,6% germination rates would be nice. I've been mostly focusing on A.phelebophylla and A. simplifolia(simplex)lately,i should really get serious with the virola though,it atleast has cultural attachments and uses,plus its fairly rare,or was. hope the luck continues for you all.

looking good. did you break off the hard shell like membrane before sowing,or plant as it was?

does anyone know where to source panax ginseng seed/rootlets? I can find the american ginseng,but not the korean/chinese varieties. thanks much.

Torsten, do you think a very large pot would suffice,rather than relocating to the ground? i've noticed that the root balls stay rather small,possibly due to pot culture. for trees i generally use oversized pots with excellent drainage,in your opinion will this still possibly hinder root proliferation? thanks.

Thanks for the compliments. the phleb i lost was always a little behind the other,the final re-potting just did it in. it probably would've made it if i franticly tried grafting it to a obtuse or maidenii or something. honestly,i think i was somewhat relieved that it finally passed and that i could let it go with dignity and respect,rather than butchering it with some outrageous experiment. cocao chips are just that,the seed casings from processed cocao. it's a fairly inert additive that sounded good,improves drainage and adds acidity. i always kept the phlep soil on the basic side until seeing the phleb soil analysis. my climate is best descibed as mild. maybe 3 months of 90 degree summer days,and the other 9 months are off and on rain. maybe a cumulative month of freezing temps. i have to keep the phleb in a greenhouse due to the rain,dont want any rot. yep,thats a hostillis,and a few anadenathera's.

Congrats Darklight, All that effort is starting to show some positive results,hope it continues to do so. :D

Hello all, I wonder,does anyone know of any marked differences between the various caapi cultivars out there. There seems to be alot of strains around with no information on morphology. i've heard of white, yellow, red, and black strains,all of which i'm currently cultivating,but other than slight variations in leaf markings and bark color i'm lost in terms of true indentifications. I've found very little info pertaining to this matter. Supposedly there are only three banisteriopsis species that are known to be active, which is really no help in terms of identification,it only makes it more confusing. does anyone have any pics of known cultivars they'ed like to share for comparison? or perhaps some methods of identification? greatly appreciated