poisonshroom

Hey everyone I ordered some Opuntia macrocentra (purple prickly pear) seeds yesterday, and I was just wondering if anyone has any experience growing this species from seed or in general? Iv heard that Opuntia sp. can be a bit difficult to germinate and Iv read a few methods that supposedly have fairly mixed results, so does anyone have a good technique that they have used on this or other opuntia sp?

Oh ok... sounds interesting, might try it some time. Making it myself sounds a little dangerous (I know a decent amount about chemistry, but not enough to attempt something like that ). I think id stick to buying it.

Potassium nitrate hey? where would one acquire some of that?

I think im only going to have 10, so im going to save half in the fridge or freezer (cold stratification), and use a few techniques on the other half. Iv been meaning to get some GA-3 to use for some duboisia hopwoodii seeds, but thatll have to wait (gotta wait a few weeks for the seeds to get here from the US), so in the mean time i hope i can get a variety of opinions so i can figure out the best few different methods to try

Hmm thanks for the replies If only i had a machine i could put the seeds into to simulate a bird eating them then shitting them out again lol Iv heard of seeds taking as much as 9 years to germinate :S

If theres still some left id be happy to take a packet off your hands pm'ed

It should at least have a sort of papery feel over where it was cut. Rooting hormone may help it root faster, but if it isnt calloused properly then its likely to rot (even with the hormones) or at least take longer to root.

Iv used gotu kola on and off for a while and i noticed it was a decent pick me up when i was a cleaner (when i needed it). Not as noticeable as somethings, but it seemed to help Also it grows like a weed, so you would always have a supply

Sceletium might be a good one (im a big fan of this herb by the way - i reccommend it regularly), its stimulating then relaxing and with more regular use the effects are more pronounced Also you can order it from australian vendors

Ha yea - if only we were in columbia or you order the decocanised tea

I agree with what the others said - pilocereus. as well as the ribs the very intense blue colouration is a good indication (even though certain trichs can be quite bluish) They are nice looking and fast growing though, so no loss. You definitely can find trichs at bunnings, so dont stop looking =]

The home made compost may be the culprit - do you use the same mix for anything else? If it isnt prepared right it may be burning the roots of your plant. For one of mine I use just seasol and powerfeed, and my bigger one (see my gallery) I use both (less concentrated powerfeed though) and a hydroponic fert called I think Green dream or something, and use the lowest concentration specified for use in soil/non-hydroponic mediums and it seems to grow several new sets of leaves every couple of days and is branching like crazy. Good idea taking it inside for winter too - Id say if the temps get too close to around 15*c then its time for it to come inside, or get one of those little portable greenhouses from bunnings and maybe consider where it will stay a bit warmer (high ground in a dense area of the garden or close to the house/a solid wall). Having said all that Im far from an expert - mine arent all that much bigger than yours and probably arent much older, and the climate here is pretty ideal, but this has happened to both of mine and Id say even if yours loses most or even all of its leaves, as long as it doesnt get attacked by fungus and you keep it warm it will bounce back

For informational purposes of course, right?

As EG said id change the soil first and also test the ph of the water you give it. My iboga's both did this (they were a fair bit smaller though) and they have both recovered fully and are stronger than they were before. Mine both lost all of their leaves and looke dead and all i did was repot then cut off the top (which appeared to be rotting) and they quickly put out new shoots and are growing vigorously now. Where do you live? I cant see your location because im on my iphone, but if the nights are starting to cool down that may have something to do with it. My first one didnt even like the temps in spring (and im i townsville, where the usual lowest temps in winter are about 11-15*c)

Kanna is legal to grow and use in australia and its pretty easy to get from members here - it grows really fast and its super easy to strike from cuttings. Its definitely worth looking for, and the flowers are nice too Despite what yaguarete says I would still say definitely still get an iboga plant, but as i said before, I wouldnt exactly recommend trying to use it, but your right it will take around 10 years before you can get it big enough and old enough to use

Also forgot to mention, for anti-depressant effects id suggest sceletium - easy to grow and propagate, drought tolerant, fast growing and very effective

Re iboga: its a hallucinogen and can apparently potentiate opiates (making it very unsafe to combine the two). It works because it acts on the opioid receptors (among many many others) making it partially satisfy the cravings (the other part of it is the semi-conscious state it puts the user in). Definately not the best solution (needs more research and developement), but supposedly has a very high success rate. Iv heard the fruit is slimy and tasteless and devoid of alkaloids. A plant worth growing but i would do a LOT of research before attempting to use it - can be dangerous (severe cardiac effects and adverse reactions with lots of other substances from lots of different classes) Im also not sure that poppy tea is a safe idea for getting off codeine, but i think everyone has covered that pretty well

Most plants that are considered annual are actually perennial, but only in warm climates, but as alice said they (not just basils) tend to lose vigor and concentrate most of their energy on flowering and producing seed I believe herabalistics has seeds for Tulsi as well

The other responses sound right, and the second picture is a Cereus of some kind - it will grow large very fast as will the Myrtillocactus

Hey all Lately Iv been interested in coral trees as a sedative/muscle relaxant. I dont have any medical conditions that would make me want to use these regularly or anything, its more just curiosity. Iv read a bit here and there and in particular some posts from TsT come to mind. Im interested in people's experiences with any of the erythrina species for any purpose and also a little more detail on the supposed slight toxicity of most species. I tried smoking a small amount of bark and leaf (a few hundred mg perhaps) from the native E. Vespertilio that I found on a particularly long (~30km maybe) walk I went on the other day (not exactly by choice mind you lol) tonight, and noticed after the first minute or so a slight raise in body temperature and it seems to have taken a bit of the tension out of my aching muscles (im not used to walking that far, so Iv been a bit achy for the last few days). Pretty convenient find considering i knew i was going to be sore after that mission. Does this match up with other people's experiences? Also has anyone tried a tea (if I had collected more I would have tried this too, but I only managed to collect about 3g)? Im also growing some E. Vespertilio at the moment, but they are still very small, so they will be for observation only for several years I think. Nice looking trees though. thanks

Hey everyone Im a bit broke at the moment, so Im looking to trade (not buy) for some Trich seeds (before the government takes them away from us ) also just my usual thing - any interesting plants or cacti. Im mainly after interesting hybrid trichs or maybe even some loph seeds but id also trade for some plants too. I have a few things I can trade (mostly plants or cacti cuttings), but all i can really think of off the top of my head is some advanced psychotria leaf cuttings (viridis and nexus) - they are about 5cm tall at the moment. I have plenty of other things id be willing to trade too (its just dark, so I cant really be bothered to go outside and make a list of everything right now). Just pm if you are interested and I'll make an offer.

Hoodia and Stapelia arent cacti at all (as i discovered thismorning when i bought what looks like a hoodia sp from the local markets and decided to read up on them a bit more), they are actually succulents in the apocyanacea family. Thats the same family as frangipani, oleander, Iboga and other similar plants with generally white milky (sometimes a bit caustic) sap. Your hoodia looks really nice, and hopefully in a few years ill have a picture like that to show off too =] I think the most interesting thing about this plant is that it was actually patented! How can a company claim to OWN a PLANT SPECIES!?!? Especially seeing as it has a long history of use in its native habitat and is now seriously endangered by overharvesting. Thanks for sharing

EDIT: Double post :S sorry guys

I dont think even damp rid will completely dry an alcohol extract anyway (it extracts plant fats and oils, which at room temp are usually liquid). As for the lotus i hear wine is the way to go, although i dont have any experience with it personally. Alcohol extract will also work for that too. If you are worried about metho, you can get 95% alcohol from dan murphey's - its called Spirytus (rectified sprit), but its about $60 for a 500ml bottle. I used it for a certain extract and it worked really well, but still tasted absolutely horrible and smelled really bad too - I think almost any concentrated extract of a plant will taste bad (think of peppermint oil - smells nice, but try tasting some ) EDIT: forgot to mention, if you put an alcohol extract thats as dry as you can get it (no alcohol smell) in the freezer it should solidify to a putty which you can break into pieces and swallow like big pills

Almost any time you use ethanol (metho or straight alcohol ie spirytus, grain alcohol, everclear etc) for an extract its likely to leave you with a gunky sludge - id say that would be the plant fats and oils that get pulled out along with alkaloids. never tried acetone, but id imagine itd be similar (including the product being a sludge). although i have heard somewhere that it can react with some alkaloids, which is undesirable, but im not too sure about that one. metho will work the same as any other alcohol except it will taste really bad and probably smell quite bad too (but so do extractions with plain alcohol)