San Pedro Dosage?

[Rilles]

12 minutes ago, John Iverson said:

How you consume a cactus? Because i can buy here a cactus and i don't know the right way to consume it, and my another question is after you cut a piece of it will the piece that you cut will grow ?

you slice it up and boil it and then make a brew or tea, but apparently it tastes real nasty, i hope it doesnt taste like aloe vera because thats so disgusting haha

[outlandish]

4 hours ago, Rilles said:

you slice it up and boil it and then make a brew or tea, but apparently it tastes real nasty, i hope it doesnt taste like aloe vera because thats so disgusting haha

Haha you're going to wish it tasted like aloe vera ? ? 

This is why I don't worry too much about people over-dosing san pedro - if you're the sort of person who can manage to eat a lot of it, you're also the sort of person who can handle the experience. It has a built in safety valve, and the bitterness is directly proportional to the alkaloid content, you can taste what you're getting yourself into.

4 hours ago, John Iverson said:

How you consume a cactus? Because i can buy here a cactus and i don't know the right way to consume it, and my another question is after you cut a piece of it will the piece that you cut will grow ?

I've always just cut the skin and spines off and eaten the flesh straight up, cutting out the core too if it's too woody. However, it might be more sensible to make a tea and down that. One thing to note is that mescaline is an extremely stable molecule, so you run no risk of degrading it by over-boiling your tea (unlike with mushroom tea, in which psilocybin is very fragile and degrades easily). The risk is more of under-extracting, because the cactus is a very hardy plant, so it keeps itself really locked up in it's own structure. You're going to want to slice the cactus very very thin, and boil it for a long time to make sure you're extracting all of the mescaline.

As for your second question, yes you can propagate a san pedro cactus from a cutting. Ideally you'll end up with a growth tip (the top/end of the cactus) and keep a few inches of cactus below that, say 3-4". Try to prop it pointing up. Keep it dry. After some months, it will usually put out some roots to search for water. Once it has the beginning of some roots, you can pot it in some cactus soil. I usually still keep it dry for a while to let the roots grow a little more. The main risk with propagating these cacti is putting it in soil and giving it moisture too early as they are vulnerable to molds. They can go an extremely long time without water, like over a year easily, so there's no need to rush it.

[Leo Gura]

6 hours ago, John Iverson said:

How you consume a cactus? Because i can buy here a cactus and i don't know the right way to consume it, and my another question is after you cut a piece of it will the piece that you cut will grow ?

It's not just any cactus. It must be San Pedro or Trichocereus "Torch" cactus.

There are instructions available online for how to blend cactus into a smoothie/paste.

[Farnaby]

15 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

*banned link*

@Leo Gura Are these kind of cactus and the ones you can buy from online smartshops ready to be consumed or do they have to grow for a couple of years before having enough mescaline? 

Also, is there some risk of allergy (don't want to go into anaphylaxis lol). 

[cetus]

Spent the last few hours watching Y-T's on propagation and preparation. Plenty of useful info there. "San Pedro Mastery" is a good one for instance.

[remember]

bl you guys really now do it before i order one - it’s on my useful plants list i want to buy... for the plant health and the roots, how i understood it, the cutted cactus must be „dried“ until the bottom is completely sealed and then put into dry soil - it can take until half a year until it will get roots. somehow i didn’t get when it’s possible to start watering it, but could be possible that it might rott if it is watered to early. 

with the drying i have experience with aloe, that should just take some days until it’s fully sealed and i have another cactus one of the nopales kinds i brought from spain which i just ripped from a huge cactus at the side of the street, i just put it in soil and watered it scarcely and it rooted quite well. although from september till march is no watering season for cacti so i don’t know - i‘ll wait probably until spring to buy one. just for my collection of medical, eatable and useful plants of course. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by remember

[cetus]

23 hours ago, remember said:

it can take until half a year until it will get roots. somehow i didn’t get when it’s possible to start watering it, but could be possible that it might rott if it is watered to early. 

@remember From what I've read it will take only a few weeks before roots develop and only then small amounts of water can be added to a well draining soil. Temp is a big factor for encouraging a good root system.. And keep it out of strong sunlight until the roots are starting to established. Indirect sunlight would be fine for the first few months or so.

[remember]

@cetus56 thank you!  

would you look if roots have developed, or set a timeframe and then just start watering? it’s somehow an interesting test of psychic abilities to guess if the cactus might already have made earth contact or not...i wonder if this suggestion means: planting it and then taking it out of the pot again time and time again to have a look if it already rooted. such a disturbing suggestion - they said the same in the video i watched.

[cetus]

@remember After a few weeks you could give it a gentle feel to see if roots have started to take. Even if it comes out of the soil carefully place it back again. From what I've read these cacti are pretty hardy and forgiving for the most part.

[remember]

@cetus56 yes i guess if it’s not chopped down until it’s roots already during its first year, it probably will survive forever.

[outlandish]

2 hours ago, remember said:

@cetus56 thank you!  

would you look if roots have developed, or set a timeframe and then just start watering? it’s somehow an interesting test of psychic abilities to guess if the cactus might already have made earth contact or not...i wonder if this suggestion means: planting it and then taking it out of the pot again time and time again to have a look if it already rooted. such a disturbing suggestion - they said the same in the video i watched.

Dont put it in soil until it develops roots!

Theres no need to have it in soil at all until it grows roots, that's just asking for mold problems. Trust me these plants are amazingly hardy and can survive cut and out of soil for years. I've had one I forgot about on my shelf for 2 years, and it was all covered in roots at the end of that. Popped it in some special blended cactus soil and it grew nice and strong. 

You can prop it up vertically or prop it in some gravel in a pot so it knows which way is down and puts out roots on the right end, but keep it out of soil.

[remember]

@outlandish put out roots at the right end... interesting.

gracias! 

[electroBeam]

On 15/01/2020 at 4:41 PM, cetus56 said:

I'm interested in the propagation of san pedro for ornamental purposes. Any growing hints for starting rooted top cuts of the cacti besides a well draining soil and plenty of light and warmth?

This is how the pros do it(for peyote):https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?Number=1932570

In my experience trying this though, the mescaline potency decreases. But that shouldn't be a problem for you as you're looking for ornamental purposes.

EDIT: oh you can do this for San Pedro too https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DGHrXQ3cYMGo&ved=2ahUKEwib1tDNiojnAhUIzTgGHT3NDOoQwqsBMAB6BAgKEAQ&usg=AOvVaw2BfVfH3oWCIij5w_KDx5r9

This method is great for propagation, I got a peyote(super slow cactus) from seed to first sprouts in 2 months.

Edited January 16, 2020 by electroBeam

[cetus]

@electroBeam Thanks man. I'm going to check all that info. out. BTW-I was kind of kidding about the ornamental purposes only.

@outlandish @remember I watched a vid. yesterday that was a little different from what I've seen so far. The person wrapped some dry paper towel around the cactus and suspended it about an inch above the bottom of an empty glass jar while it developed a root system. I don't know if that's a good idea but they could watch the roots growing and knew when it was time to transplant to potting medium. It seemed to be working for her.

@outlandish This is what I have. How would you proceed from here? The roots are just starting.

 

 

 

 

[outlandish]

5 hours ago, electroBeam said:

This method is great for propagation, I got a peyote(super slow cactus) from seed to first sprouts in 2 months.

Awesome, I always wanted to try grafting onto pereskiopsis! Cool to hear it worked out for you. There are some amazing photos of this on the web. I'd love to run a peyote farm.

2 hours ago, cetus56 said:

 

@outlandish @remember I watched a vid. yesterday that was a little different from what I've seen so far. The person wrapped some dry paper towel around the cactus and suspended it about an inch above the bottom of an empty glass jar while it developed a root system. I don't know if that's a good idea but they could watch the roots growing and knew when it was time to transplant to potting medium. It seemed to be working for her.

That seems like a really good method

2 hours ago, cetus56 said:

 

@outlandish This is what I have. How would you proceed from here? The roots are just starting.

I'd let the roots develop further, wait till they get longer and thicker. There's really no rush with these guys to get them in soil, it's shocking how hardy they are out of soil. I didn't believe it when I heard about it, until I saw it for myself.

Depending on your latitude you might not want to be giving it water for a while anyways. You really don't want to water these cacti in the winter months when the light is lower, because they will grow tall and skinny (etiolation). Where I live, my san pedro/peruvian torch get no water between the months of September and March or April (-ish, depending on the season)

[Rilles]

hey guys, my cactus is really thin, maybe 1.5 inches in diameter, do you think its too young to eat...? 

[cetus]

13 minutes ago, outlandish said:

2 hours ago, cetus56 said:

I watched a vid. yesterday that was a little different from what I've seen so far. The person wrapped some dry paper towel around the cactus and suspended it about an inch above the bottom of an empty glass jar while it developed a root system. I don't know if that's a good idea but they could watch the roots growing and knew when it was time to transplant to potting medium. It seemed to be working for her.

@outlandish That seems like a really good method

@outlandish Thanx- Then that's the way I'll go. I'm at 39 deg.N. latitude so I have approx. 3 months till the spring temps start rising. 

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

This thread makes me want to simultaneously torture myself with the most horrid taste ever while knowing I will dissolve in an ocean of love. 

[cetus]

22 minutes ago, TrynaBeTurquoise said:

This thread makes me want to simultaneously torture myself with the most horrid taste ever while knowing I will dissolve in an ocean of love. 

@TrynaBeTurquoise This guy explains the trip nicely at the beginning...........

 

[outlandish]

@cetus56 thumbs up

..and holy smokes that's a fat cactus in that video I wish I could grow them like that.