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.