Hi Guys, so I had several good experiences with random pachanoi I have found growing. I didn't know much about them at the time but knowing what I know now, they where all more than likely PC variety. However, Ive had some unusually strong experience with some of them...like a ++ spilling over into +++ from 6-8 inches of cacti. My question now is if you had to pick, based on PERSONAL experience, which of the three known varieties would you grow based on the following criteria. The choices are T.Bridgesii, T.Pachanoi, T.Peruvianus:

-ease of growth/resistance to elements (considering you live in fairly mild climate you would on occasion deal with frost, rain, etc)
-rate of growth/yield
-consistency for sacred use

Thanks!

So much has been written about this and there is so much confusion and contradictory statements out there. All three species are easy to grow from cuttings or seeds but the seeds will take many years to reach a mature plant size. They are often frost tolerant down to about 26 degrees F but in colder climates must be brought inside during winter.

The majority of the pachanoi found for sale is the PC variety which is quite low. If you had an unusually strong experience then it probably was not PC (and you were lucky!), however home grown ones in a flower pot are usually less potent than older mature plants growing in nature.

T. bridgesii is interesting in that it has several additional alkaloids that act as mild MAOIs and potentiate the mesc, making it stonger, but also alter the experience, making it darker.

T. peruvianus may not be as potent as the strongest pachanoi, but is a good bet to be stronger that any PC you might find, is a robust grower and quite beautiful. If you are only going to grow one type my top choice would be peruvianus for growth rate and consistency.

Best wishes to you on your journey with these plants!

Be careful as this hobby of growing cacti has become an obsession in a short period of time


Have fun and let us know what you choose.

In my experience...
- Pachanoi, peruvianus, and bridgesii are all pretty similar as far as ease of growth.
- Rate of growth and yield will vary between different varieties, cultivars, and clones to some extent; but not drastically.
- And T. bridgesii is by far the most consistent in regards to potency.

Also, this:

I have a wide variety of different cacti growing but I almost exclusively use T. bridgesii for ingestion and extraction, save for a couple of particularly potent (non-PC) pachanoi specimens.

Thanks guys, Im very pleased with these responses. Im looking for anecdotal/subjective experience with these plants as Ive found this to be the most reliable source of info on them.

Drnight. Yes I know that theres far too much contradictory "scientific" studies. It seems the best people to ask is aficionados like yourselves here on the nexus. Its funny that lay people(im assuming) like ourselves seem to have better knowledge than the "scientific" community. I understand that many of the studies on alkaloids are often based on misidentified cacti! I was thinking bridgessi as well, but Im a bit concerned about the maoi presence as I don't want to have to be worried about diet and fasting, not to mention that I am using kratom currently for unrelated reasons and kratom is also very understudied and may contain maois as well at varying degrees depending on strain and growing conditions. Also Im not looking for a darker experience as I can get that fairly consistently from psilocybin

Any chance you can elaborate on how you find it darker than san pedro or torch? Thanks.

The MAOI content of bridgesii is unconfirmed, and if it is present at all it is not potent enough/ present in large enough amounts to cause dietary interactions. I can't think of any single person who followed the "MAOI diet" before consuming T. bridgesii, and they all seem to be fine...

In my experience all mescaline containing cacti possess the same potential to produce a "darker" experience, which is very little compared to other psychedelics.

Thanks for the feedback entheogenerator, and to all that are interested I went with one bridgesii and one "true" peruvian!