Liteweight

I have grown my tomatoes next to datura for the last couple of years with no (seeming) effect on the fruit (maybe this explains the aliens landing in my backyard, hmmm?) But seriously, wouldn't the resulting hybridization be evident only with the offspring? I know that corn can get ruined by growing two different hybrids next to each other, but I've never heard of fleshy fruit being affected. Curious. [ 22. March 2005, 12:01: Message edited by: Liteweight ]

Here's some of the art and crafting I do. Someday I want to get the courage to start my own yard and garden art business. My next big project is going to be making decorative birdhouses and gnomehouses out of tree branches. http://community.webshots.com/album/66901466frtVFY

Has anyone tried air-layering the Mitragyna? I think that will be my first attempt at propagation when my plants are large enough.

I had absolutely no success with the 5 lago seeds given to me, either. I tried warm conditions, cool conditions, freeze stratification, whatever. So much for that! The Spilanthes and lotus was easy, my Salvia divinorum is starting to take over my indoor garden, however! The stalks are getting little wavy wings along the corners of the stems. My Mitragynas are doing super, as well. I can't wait to put them outside this spring. :D

Personally, I would remove all of the soil from your cacti, and repot with new sterilized soil. I have had these type of little yellow mushrooms in a number of different plants and terrariums, and it is usually a sign of rotted roots. Since cacti are so much more suceptible to rotting, I would caution you to be better safe than sorry. Just removing the top growth (the fruiting bodies) doesn't get rid of the active growth below the soil line.

I've always had fast growing and slow growing seedlings in any batch of cacti seedlings I've sown. Some are also greener, some more red. Since there is always a chance for cross-pollination amongst many different kinds of cacti living close together, perhaps a rogue pollen grain sneaked in and made a new hybrid. I love growing cacti from seed, and am absolutely delighted when one ends up being a cristate (monstrose) form. One of my Echinopsis seedlings did just that. It should be a real beauty in bloom as it gets older.

A friend gave me a packet of seeds for the 'Toothache Plant' and now I have about 30 plants growing. Other than the fun sensation we've had nibbling on the leaves, and the obvious oral pain-deadening qualities, is this plant used for anything other than a flowering novelty?

And, while we are on this thread, does ANYONE have ANY information on starting the seeds? I was given 5 seeds to try. I had no luck with 70F bottom heat, then 50F conditions, finally I stuck the whole pot in the freezer to see if that breaks the dormancy. Stubborn things. They did look like viable seed, and apparently fresh.

I have found the best odor deterrent for cats is ammonia. I have used it in little cups under our Christmas trees, on the counters in the kitchen to keep them away, and it can be used in the garden, but it evaporates quickly, and will injure plants if the fumes gather to thickly around a plant--but it will send the cats running. I've also used it as a deterrent for my dogs when they've discovered a particularly delightful hole to dig in. Just a couple of tablespoons placed in the hole and pooch suddenly decides it isn't the fun it was before.

I can harvest a small quantity of the local poppy next summer. I have no problem harvesting the seed. The rancher who bulldozed the creek bed and the dirtbikers caused far more damage than I ever will. Whe I first moved here, the poppies filled the gravel beds, now, it has been reduced at least 75%. I have collected a number of species of plants from construction sites over the years. I have some beautiful Asarum lemmonii that was growing in a protected stream drainage area that was rapidly being developed.

I think one reason that they come up 'over there' is that the seed capsule 'explodes' when it is fully ripe. I had lots of fun trying to harvest seed from its diminutive cousin, E. lobbi, (3" tall) trying to harvest the long pods just before they were ready to dry out, but not so soon as to arrest their development. E. californica can definitely become a weed, I regularly have to pull it all out of the main perennial bed (it grows as a short lived perennial here) by late spring. But, this time, I won't just dump them in the compost pile! The ones in the creek bed are the lovely E. c. aurantica, orange hearts/yellow tips.

Has anyone ever tried California poppy? I have read that it is a sedative, among other effects. I have lots and lots of it growing in my garden, and brightening the nearby creek bed, in spring. Lovely flower. I had no idea it had any medicinal value.

I use isopropyl alcohol (the strength you get at the store) to drip onto the mealy bugs. I haven't had a cacti or succulent show any injury from this strength.

In the past I mixed the bark of Arctostaphylos arctostaphylos, which is out native white leaf manzanita, with my MJ in a mix. It was a smooth smoke, but I could not attribute any psychoactive qualities in it.

I was researching natural means to control my frequent headaches and growing arthritis pain, and after researching a number of different herbs, I decided to try the Kratom. I found it to be as effective as the hydrocodone I had been prescribed. I take very nominal doses, though--.5 grams to .75 grams every 5 hours or so. I needed something that would take the edge off of the pain, but allow me to function at work, and Kratom really seems to be the thing I needed. I've outgrown the desire to get 'high' after smoking pot for 20 years (and quitting seven years ago)--so I'm not terribly interested in getting wasted, but I feel that it really does have medicinal value at lower doses. I have been using the commercial leaf powder, and I just ordered some of the 'super' powder and some empty gelatin capsules to make injestion easier. I have been making a thick paste and just swallowing the amount I needed, which takes some getting used to! I have also purchased a kratom plant, since I am a plant collector, so perhaps I can begin raising my own! I think that if more of these herbs could be proven to be of medicinal value, perhaps they would remain legal. I bet the U.S. will ban this substance some day--its just too effective.