Hi everyone,

Is there information available indicating any appreciable difference in the mescaline content of new growth versus old growth and also full sun versus partial shade grown plants?

Thanks!

any info is subjective at best!

alot of actual scientific study has not been done

i'd suggest growing them so they are happy, mainly because they look better and are more enjoyable to be around. (and the mescaline gods will smile upon you)

in some climates that means full sun, in other partial to full shade

Thanks for the input.

Yep, I totally try to grow them to make them happy.

I plan to harvest a little bit off of each of a couple TBMs over the weekend to add to a brew for a for a special occasion, and was asking mainly because when I got them the old growth looked very hard grown, while the new stuff is a pretty blue-green, and wanted to decide what to cut.

Here's a couple pics of my cacti, because, well, they make me happy!

I once heard that mescaline is produced as a response to stress, similar to how mammals produce cortisol when stressed.

I have also heard that if you place your plants in the dark for three days before you harvest it will increase the mescaline content.

Does anybody know if any of this has been confirmed? Is there any truth to any of this?

-EG

thanks for sharing those pictures Continuum. really beautiful space and cacti you have there!

I've heard the "Stress produces mescaline" theory too. Might be true, but I'm still in the "Keep your Cacti Happy" Camp. I'll trust the genetics for the mescaline, for Karma's sake.

dg, would it be feasible to keep your cacti happy to encourage vigorous growth. Once they are large and healthy, neglect them for a season or two and stress? Large root balls should encourage more rapid alkaloid concentration, lack of water may ramp up alkaloid production as a defense mechanism?

just wondering what your thoughts are on this theory

I have heard people say that they will occasionally cut down on water or light to produce enough stress for increased alkaloid production, but not enough stress to harm the cacti in any real way, just light stress from time to time.

I have several T. Pachanoi cacti, in theory I could keep 3 cacti in prime conditions, and 3 cacti in stressed conditions and run tests on alkaloid content before and after, run these tests a few times to weed out anomalous recordings, this could help provide an answer on the "mescaline as a stress response" theory, no?



-EG

According to K.Trout (quoting research), mescaline is produced locally and not transported throughout the cactus.

Lack of water will increase alkaloid concentration by there being less water to dilute it

Quite a few other (non-cactus) plants increase alkaloid concentration in response to drought.


These guys can go without water for years... although I feel they might prefer not to?

Some say it's age that contributes to alkaloid concentration; I don't know how this would apply to cuttings, though. European specimens grown from seed were found to be low in alkaloids/mescaline. There are refs for this stuff around here somewhere.



It would be great if you were to carry out that experiment! Moar data...

I have been considering performing the experiment, though I'm still working out some of the details, particularly in the area of alkaloid testing...

I'm also interested in learning if the "3 days in the dark" prior to harvest and consumption actually produces an increase in alkaloids.

-EG