I scooped up a few again, coming from the same batch as last years grown Harmala. I picked a pot where I tried to grow Hevea brasiliensis (rubber plant) in (which did not succeed) and sprinkled some seeds on top of the soil, and covered that again with a very fine layer of soil. This year I didn’t have any spare sand laying around, so I just had to try it in the potting soil as it was.

The new sprouted Harmala

The Harmala after one month

The P. Harmala outside, 2 months

I didn’t take care too much of them, just watering them sparely every now and then. This summer wasn’t the best for all of my plants, all the rain taken into account. June was a decent month, pretty dry, and July had it’s fair amount of sun as well. From half July on, especially in August, we had some bad days with heavy rain. August 27 came down hard with 135 mm of rain, just that day. I thought this would kill off the Harmala, but it did pretty well afterwords. The snails seem to love it though, they ate a lot from the young plants, leaving small empty stalks behind. With a bit of attention every day and throwing away a small snail or two every day, things work out pretty well for the plant. This winter it will go inside, and next spring I will take it out again.

The Harmala thinned out by rain and snails, 3 months

When I discovered the rot at first   [link here] I kind of panicked. I knew this would be bad, but having smoked a bit from the premature buds two weeks earlier, the idea of having no harvest at all after three months just didn’t work for me. I figured that if I were to extract the THC in some way I would be rid of the mold, and with that the spores. Even if it’s just a little mold you’ve got growing on your buds, you don’t want to smoke it. Inhaling spores is very dangerous and can result in getting very sick, and in some cases even death.

A small bud infected with Botrytis

As we all like to live long and prosper, or at least the most of us, I started looking for extraction methods. The two easiest and common known methods I came across were the Alcohol extraction (using large amounts of pure 70% and up Ethanol) and BHO, or Butane Honey Oil. The Alcohol method seemed easiest at first glance because you don’t need much supplies and BHO needs some crafting. Alcohol has a very high tax percentage on it, so when I found good usable butane cans which had near zero-impurities and took the financial factor into account, I chose the BHO method.

*****WARNING*****
Butane is a highly flammable gas and very dangerous to work with!!! Be sure to work outside when using butane in high doses like these. Do not smoke and make sure there is no electricity which can cause sparks nearby. As long as you’re outside and use your head you are going to be just fine, if you don’t, you are going to be another person on the BHO’s deathlist! Don’t be!

The main reason why butane is used as a solvent is because of it’s availability, cost and boiling temperature. Butane’s (C₄H10) boiling point lies at -0.5 degrees Celsius, which means it evaporates very quickly at room temperature.

To start extracting, you are going to need some things:

• a holding vessel for you plant material to let the gas spill through (make one yourself or get one at azarius)
• dried and shredded plant material (buds, leafs, stems, anything you can get your hands on and that has reasonable amounts of THC in it)
• a glass bowl to catch the extraction fluid in
• several cans of butane gas (you can get this at your local stores, be sure to find a brands that has near-zero impurities)
• a small closable vial or a small container to store the final product in

Extraction is easy, but be very careful and think of the warning. Put all the dried, shredded material in the tube (the one you bought or made yourself), close it tightly and put a butane can upside down in the hole on top and press it down firmly.
The tube can get really really cold, and if you open it later on you will see that a lot of the material is frozen.
After roughly 15 seconds (this depends on the size of the tube) or more an opaque fluid will start dripping from the holes into the bowl. I used one and a half can per tube, just to be sure I got everything out I could. Wait for the last drop to fall, shake it a bit and get rid of the material in the tube, fill it up again, replace the filter and repeat this process until you’ve worked your way through all your plant material.

Half the amount of the plant material I sued for extracted, all infected with Botrytis

The extraction fluid boiling au-bain-marie

To speed up the evaporation process, place the bowl au-bain-marie in hot water (be careful no water slips into the bowl), and you will see the butane fluid evaporating quickly. What is left behind is a (this varies per plant and/or strain) reddish-brown oily substance. This is what you’ve been working for, the BHO.

The BHO after evaporation

To be sure all the butane is out, pop any bubbles that are left behind in the bowl and leave it for a couple of hours. After that place the bowl in the warm water again so the substance gets a bit less viscous. Get yourself a spoon or another clean, not too big object with a sharp edge to scrape the material out of the bowl and into your storage container. It might take some time to get handy at this, but you’ll figure it out.

The final product

If you get your hands on a cutting be sure to let it adjust to the new climate by making a humidity tent. This can be as easy as just placing a transparent bag over it to keep the air-humidity high enough. If the humidity is too low you will see that the plant starts to wilt and the sides of its leaves are shriveling and turning brown/black. Keep the soil moist as it is a semi-tropical plant. Overwatering is, in my experince, nearly impossible unless you would create an ocean in a pot. The plastic bag should be air tight so put an elastic band over it and the pot, or just tie a knot in the bag to tighten it. Be sure to water it daily and place it in a spot where it gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day, preferbly not during the time the sun is at it’s strongest point around noon. Gradually make holes in the bag until it is totally adjustet to the new climate and air-humidity.

I made the mistake to not do this, but soon found out what to do. Three days the cutting was in it’s new pot without any protection, and it was certain it would have died if it had two more days of that. Luckily I reacted fast enough but you can still see the scars on the picture below.

The salvia cutting in it's revival - 19.04.2010

The plant doing well in it's humidity tent - 06.05.2010

The plant adjusted to it's new environment - 26.05.2010

Two extra stems 24.06.2010

Be sure to water enough, and the plant will reward you. In my case it already grew two extra stems from the bottom main stem. I started pruning the new stems, and will prune the main stem soon as well. I’m not sure if pruning the main stem from the second node up will work because of the plant’s hollow stem, but i’ll just have to try. The removed part of the plant will then directly be transplanted to a vase full of water where I will try to let it grow new roots so it can go into the soil again. I need more pots. Definately. My girlfriend is not going to like me for this.

I haven’t fertilized the plant once, and it’s soil requests are simple; well-watered, but well-drained, humus rich soil. As with all plants I grow I’ve put small stones in the bottom of the pot to prevent overwatering and rootrot.

The plant can get a size of (in ideal conditions) 2 to 5 meters tall. Since it’s native to South Africa it’s important to place the plant in full sun for optimal growth, and if you expect flowers it’s essential. Both the leaves and flowers can be used to smoke or to make tea out of it. Leonurine, one of the psychoactive alkaloids in Leonotis Leonorus, is easily extracted through a water infusion. Personally I do not have any experience with the use of this plant so far, but when I have it will be shared.

I started two separate pots as an experiment, one inside and one in the garden in the same week. Temperatures outside were pretty cold when I started the seeds in the beginning of May, and sometimes plummeted to a chilly 4 degrees Celsius. Not the most ideal circumstances for this plant you would say, but two seeds sprouted nonetheless. I watered plenty in the seedling stage ,and decreased watering when the plant is established. The seedlings inside seemed to thrive very well compared to the seedlings outside, simply because of the temperature differences. It was too cold outside so the small plants went back to a resting-state when the plants inside started to grow. Every pot held about 20 seeds each, 2 seeds sprouted outside, 3 inside. No massive germination rates here. The seeds I started inside where inside a small mat-heated greenhouse with a pretty high humidity. I lost one plant inside on the way, but I do not have an explanation why this happened. Just chance I guess.

When the sun came back in in the end of May the outside plants started showing some growth again. The ones inside were still growing steadily. I pruned the bigger plant of the two inside, and it stretched out two more arms.

Now in July, the differences between the two are still very noticable.

The in-house grown dagga

Don’t mind the white substance on the leaves, it’s spilled paraffine from the candle that was above it…

The outside-grown Dagga

What do I plan on growing this year? Here’s a small list:

- Lophophora Williamsii
- Lophophora Diffusa
- Lophophora williamsii v Huizache
- Lophophora koehresii

- Argyrea nervosa [Hawaiian Baby Woodrose]
- Papaver somniferum
- Peganum Harmala
- Leonotis leonorus [Wild Dagga]
- Ipomoea Corymbosa
- Salvia Divinorum v Wasson-Hoffmann

And I am probably going to start on two to three Marijuana plants, which I still have to look into because I want to grow them outside. I don’t want them to grow too high and too big, preferably low and dense. Any recommendations are welcome!

I also want to make plant-specific pages on this blog with all useful information I collected and learned from my own experiences. Here as well, recommendations are welcome.

I won’t go much deeper into this matter, since we’re here for the plants. Indonesia’s drug policy is very strict, and getting the dealth penalty for posession isn’t an exception. I knew there was a kratom plantation on Bali, but after looking into various sources to attempt locating it,my search for it seemed fruitless. I had to stick with everything I encountered, which aren’t that many plants with entheogenic or hallucinogenic properties, but everyone of them has some mind altering properties in some way. Before Indonesia became Indonesia, it was a bunch of islands which were eventually colonized by the Dutch, who stayed there until the late 1940′s. The Dutch introduced the plantations, which are still being used today except this time by the Indonesian people themselves. These plantations mostly grow coffee, clove, tea, rubber and cacao.

Tea

Above is a tea plantation and a close-up of fresh tea leaves. The leaves and buds from the tea plant, also known as Camellia Sinensis, have to be dried before one can make tea out of it. In Indonesia most tea that is being produced is black tea. Black tea lacks antoxidants because of it’s production techniques, and the only substance which might be seen as a psychological stimulant is the caffeine.

Coffee

Then there’s coffee, with the same main stimulant as tea; caffeine. Where for tea the leaf itself is used, for coffee is it the seed from the fruit. The fruit is like a small red berry which taste is quite bitter. There are two types of coffee plants, the Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (also known as Coffea Robusta). The Canephora species is widely spread across the Indonesian islands. Every year there are two periods in which the harvesting is being done. While harvesting the fruits, one should always leave a few berries on a branch, otherwise that branch won’t develop anymore new berries in the future.

Cacao

Theobroma Cacao, a plant everyone knows. Theobroma actually means ‘Food of the Gods’. It’s praised by many for its fruit and the chocolate that is being made out of the dried and cleaned seeds. Indonesia is currently the third country from the top which has the largest cacao cultivation. The unprocessed cacao beans that I tasted while I was on the plantation tasted horribly. No doubt about that. The taste is so bitter that the taste won’t go away for at least an hour. The fruit itself , the seed pod, on the other hand tastes really nice. It has a somewhat sweet-sour taste like that of the kiwifruit. The structure inside the fruit is a bit slimey, but now that I’m thinking of it, I’d love to have one again. The color of the fruit varies from red to yellow, and they all start out as green pods. The red ones are supposed to be the better quality cacao beans.

Clove

The clove-tree, also know as Syzygium aromaticum, is a very popular tree in Indonesia. In Indonesia many people smoke kretek-cigarettes instead of the plain tabacco sigarettes we know.  The addition of dried clove to the tabacco gives the smoke a somewhat sweeter taste, and a more pleasant smell. In my personal experience, smoking it gives a light buzzed feeling, but nothing more than that :)
Clove grows on trees as a flower which is dried later and then sorted. There are two types of quality, the red ones, which are B-quality, and the green ones, which are (surprisingly) A-quality. The flower buds have to be dried before they can be used in cigarettes or for other uses, such as spicing up food or tea. Originally clove was only found on the Malukas. When colonization started out in Indonesia and the Dutch acknowledged the worth of clove the tree was spread throughout the other islands and the world.

Pineapple

Ok, there’s nothing much to tell about this fruit that everybody knows, but I thought it was just fun to post a picture of one growing and tell something about it, since I was kind of surprised to see the way it grows. The top crown of the pineapple can be planted into the ground, and when the crown roots a full plant (1.0 – 1.5 metres in length) will develop. One plant will grow only one pineapple in it’s life, but when flowering is induced artificially, the main fruit can encourage the development of a second crop of smaller fruits.

Datura (Brugmansia)

I was thrilled to see this variation of Datura grow in it’s natural environment. Actually, this no longer is a real Datura, but it is still called the Datura Tree. Around 1970 the Datura species got split up in Datura and Brigmansia because of the large number of species sharing the same name.  The Solanaceae family holds a number of  different plants, varying from potatoes,and peppers to Datura Inoxia and Datura Stramonium, the more common known Datura strains. The two latter types are plants that grow near the ground and are herbaceous, while Solanaceae Brugmansia is a woody perennial with characteristic trumpet-shaped flowers hanging downwards. This (in)famous tree is known because of the stories of terror told by some people who used this plant in a very irresponsible way and turned delerious or even were deadly poisoned. The history of use for this plant goes back centuries or maybe even millennia. The main active alkaloids are atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. All parts of the plant can be used for psychonatic uses, including the flowers, stem, leaves and roots. The levels of the alkaloids may vary per plant or even per plant-part.

Every time I went to a volcano (two really; Bromo and Kendang) or waterfall I encountered these trees. The seem to love the height and colder climate in the mountainous areas. Because Indonesia has a high humidity these trees seem to thrive; wherever one tree grows there are more, it’s near impossible to spot a lone tree.

I was a bit scared when I saw this, but I’d figured the monkey would’ve known what it was doing.  Maybe that’s why they keep running around and screaming ? :)

Let me start with a quote from the book ‘Growing The Hallucinogens‘ by Hudson Grubber

Peganum harmala L.;
Caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae)

A bright green, succulent, perennial herb, becoming woody with age, growing 1 to 2 feet tall. The leaves are 2 inches long and finely divided. The flowers are white, five-petaled, followed by a two- to four-cavitied capsuleabout 3/8 inch in diameter. Native to the deserts of southern Asia and Africa. Also found wild in some parts of Texas.

Cultivation and Propagation: Syrian rue may be grown outdoors in the South and West. It does well in dry sandy soils, but will benefit from somewhat richer soils. Will stand considerable drought. Viable seeds are rare but are the best means of propagation. These should be sown in flats of half sand, half soil, in April and May. Water sparingly, letting the surface dry. The seedlings are very susceptible to overwatering. They should be grown as pot plants the first year, and brought indoors in the winter. In the following spring they may be planted outdoors. In cold-winter areas the roots should be lifted and stored in damp sawdust in a cool place until early spring. Be sure to plant out before new growth starts.

Harvesting: The seeds should be gathered as the capsules ripen and should be dried in the sun. The roots may be harvested in autumn, in the same manner as kava roots, after the tops die from frost. These should be split and dried in the sun. The stems and foliage are inactive.

The wikipedia entry on Peganum Harmala:

Harmal (Peganum harmala) is a plant of the family Nitrariaceae, native from the eastern Mediterranean region east to India. It is also known as Syrian Rue, an inaccurate name, since it is not in the rue (Ruta, Rutaceae) family.

It is a perennial plant which can grow to about 0.8 m tall, but normally it is about 0.3 m tall. The roots of the plant can reach a depth of up to 6.1 m, if the soil it is growing in is very dry. It blossoms between June and August in the Northern Hemisphere. The flowers are white and are about 2.5–3.8 cm in diameter. The round seed capsules measure about 1–1.5 cm in diameter, have three chambers and carry more than 50 seeds.

The common use for this plant’s seeds are to act as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, or MAOI. P. Harmala seeds can be used on their own as an entheogen, but acts stronger in combination with other plants. It is used for example in combination with Banisteriopsis Caapi to create an analogue Ayahuasca. The dosage to take for the Harmala seeds to function is between 3 and 5 grams, depending on the persons who ingests the seeds his weight. MAOIs inhibit naturally occurring enzymes in the human body. This inhibition leads to increased levels of chemicals such as the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. By slowing their metabolism, MAOIs also allow chemicals such as N,N-DMT, to become active when taken orally.

I had a bag of somewhat old (2 years maybe) P. Harmala seeds laying around so I thought to give it a try. I prepared two pots with the soil descriped as in the article above, which basically is the sand in my backyard. I live near the coast of the Netherlands, and since most of the soil here is sand mixed with potting soil that we added over the years, the soil seemed ideal to me. I placed a bunch of seeds in each pot (I didn’t mind counting them ), watered them, and placed one pot in the windowsill of my room, and the other one in my backyard. The second one placed in the backyard seemed to be sprouting seedlings very soon, but after a few days we had a rainstorm, and P. Harmala, being a desert plant, didn’t quite like that.

The container in the windowsill is growing slowly but steadily. I already had 5 seeds sprouting, of which three survived so far. Watering is being done from below once a week, and sprayed on top every other day, in very small amounts. The pot is partly shaded, because I thought that if I would put it in full sun it would dry out completely too fast.

After another week of hot and sunny weather and a good watering, eight other seeds sprouted, and the two largest seedlings have developed even further.I noticed that the plant prefers water from below so it can suck it up through it’s roots. I still spray water on top as well in small amounts just to be sure everything goes well. The smaller seedlings with their small roots can’t reach the bottom layer yet, so they need the water from the top to grow. More updates to come.

As this was all an experiment to me, I found very soon that the last step would be better if we’d reverse them. So, first place all the seeds on the top layer of the soil, and after that place the fine grit on top of it. And I have to underline this, don’t use more than 1 millimeter of grit. I did so in most of the containers I found out today. The seeds won’t get any light because of all the grit on top, and won’t germinate.

After three weeks I found that only a few seeds have germinated, mostly the Lophophora Williamsii v. Caespitosa. Germination ratio until now for that species is 20%. Also, I figured I used too much water in my second watering. The soil in the containers was way too wet, so I had to let them damp off.

Today I checked up on everything and removed the top layer of grit. I ordered another batch of seeds (again, Williamsii and Diffusa) and added them to the containers. after that I looked through the grit and got out all the seeds I could find and placed them back in the original container. All the labels are updated with the number of seeds added, and I think I found most of the seeds in the grit, so roughly my germination ratio’s will be realistic. After all seeds were placed I added a fine layer of grit, and watched carefully not to overdo it so that the seeds would still be able to get some light. Light is very imortant for the seedlings because this gives them a direction t grow to. I found a few seedlings in the grit I removed which were growing in random directions due to the lack of sunlight.  I placed them back and hopefully they will find their way.

Today I sowed the latest batch of peyote seeds I got. Though it is a  bit late in the season I wanted to try a new method anyway, and could not wait until March.

In this article I will describe the method I used to prepare the containers; the soil mix I used and everything  else that is important when sowing your seeds.

In my previous peyote sowing-and-growing endeavors I used a very simple method which I found a bit disappointing. I used a small plastic greenhouse with a transparent top which I diffused using white spraypaint to protect the seedlings from being sunburnt. I filled the bottom with the soil mix, watered it a bit, placed the seeds on top and then placed a very fine top layer of soil over it and then sprayed it with water. The greenhouse was heated from below with a heatmat used in terrariums. The germination ratio was about 30 percent using this method for all Lophophora species grown. About 70 percent of the seedlings survived after only three months.

This number was too low, plus I didn’t really count all the seeds before sowing so my figures were not trustable enough. I’m planning on moving in a month or three, so when I started a new batch of seeds I wanted to use a method which would make transport later  easier.

So, taking all these reasons in account, I tried a new method (at least, it is a new method to me). This method is a combination of the sowing method found of Lophophora’s blog and the one published by Allard Bax from Cactusplaza. Following is a description of all the steps I took including a visual walkthrough. I did this to illustrate the method to others who are interested and to document it for myself for future reference.

Step 1: Preparing your setup

I divided the seeds over the containers. I’m placing the containers in the small plastic greenhouse again (37,5x24x18 cm), so first I checked how many containers would fit. It fits 16, but I made it 15 so I’d be able to water the containers more easily from below. Today I’m sowing 100 Lophophora Diffusa seeds, 100 Lophophora Williamsii seeds and 20 Lophophora Williamsii v. Caespitosa seeds.

What you need:

Seeds
Containers
Soil
A sheet of white paper
Grit (1-2 mm)
Toothpicks
Labels
Waterproof marker
Small greenhouse or a tray with a transparent plastic bag
And, of course, a place to work

I then filled the containers (7x7x11 cm square) for 50 percent with the seedling soil mix. This soilmix consits of 1/3 regular potting soil, 1/3 sand and 1/3 of fine grit.

Then I pressed down the soil. We want the bottom layer to be sturdy, and the next layer more loose so when the seedling pop up they can root more easily.

I filled the remaining part of the container with soil, 1 centimeter from the top. On top of that very thin layer of peyote soil (1/3 sand, 1/3 peat, 1/3 grit). I removed the bigger parts of peat and stones in the soil so the roots of the seedlings won’t get stuck on it and develop stunned growth.

And now, the top layer. This is fine (1-2mm) aquarium grit. I added this so that the soil wouldn’t dry out so fast when the sun shines or when it gets warm. It gives a bit of shade to the young seedlings and protects the top layer from mould.
I then filled the bottom of the greenhouse with  water so the soil in the containers would soak it up. 2 hours later I let the containers drip out the excess water for a few minutes and placed them back in the greenhouse.

Step 2: Placing the seeds

I emptied the seeds on a sheet of white paper so I’d see them all and none of them would be lost. I divided the seeds over the amount of containers I had (100/6). After some genius mathwork I found out there’d be about 17 per container. After dividing I had some seeds left and it turned out the 100 seeds were 108 so a few containers had some more seeds in them.
Write your labels with the name of the species, the date and the amount of seeds placed in the container so you can check up on the germination rates later.

Use a wet tootpick dipped in water to pick up every seed individually and place it in the container you placed the label in.

2 hours later all the seeds have been placed in their corresponding container and a small amount of water was sprayed on them to push them down in case the seeds were stuck in the grit.

And we’re done! I placed the greenhouse on a heatmat in a light spot of the room. Now all there is left to do is wait for nature to do it’s job.

I will check back on this project every now and then when there is some news. I made some prints of the greenhouse layout so I can draw where and what seed germinates on which day. If this turns out interested I will share this.