I am misting my Psychotria quite a lot, as my humidity chambers lead to stagnant air, consistent dampness and mould growth. Does anybody know the pH of the rain (or mist) in the amazon?

I can't seem to find this info anywhere to test this, only figures for the average rainfall pH and variance graphs for other areas (see image)


I don't suppose it matters much for the growing medium because the presence of the water falling on the soil from misting is minimal, but I'd like to experiment to see if pH of misting water makes any difference on the leaves.

Also, does anybody know the makeup of trace minerals in the amazonian rain? I'm misting with tap water and I'm wondering if the leaves take up the trace minerals in tap water as a very mild "foliar feed". Seems like a long shot I know, but I'd like to find out for sure.

I'm exploring weirdly specific things like these to find a potential cause for the slow growth of Psychotria viridis (assuming the problem is exacerbated by propagation outside its natural habitat, and isn't genetically hard-wired - which might be more likely).

Rain water is very slightly acidic and almost devoid of any mineral content, I don't think that varies much due to location. I've always heard that rain also contains traces of H2O2, and I've been using it to mist with for years in a very dilute solution and using heavier concentrations to deal with fungal issues. Foliar feeding is a fickle thing, and very easy to over do, I generally avoid it and it doesn't seem to have much affect on growth rates anyway. There's no rushing Psychotria Viridis that I know of, as with a lot of the tropicals, it takes it's sweet time and is just naturally a slow grower. Heat and humidity... and a lot of patience is the trick, but if you're just impatient or want to experiment, 24 hour lighting might be an option but this can stress some plants and I've no idea what this might do for potency but it can cut the time in half for propagation by leaf cuttings. Propagation rather than growth rate I think is the trick if you're looking for mass.
The fastest grower I know of in terms of tropical entheogens is probably Justica pectoralis, var. stenophylla, if you keep that one well watered and lit properly, it grows incredibly fast, but there's some debate about it's chemical profile. It's a beauty though and has a distinct cinnamon taste and some other pretty amazing medicinal qualities, one of my favs.

Awesome, cheers for the info twitchy. I've recently bought some H2O2 and will add it to my mister. I noticed a very quick response from adding it to my medium, my viridis and carthagenensis leaves became darker. The leaves on my Salvia splendens plant became softer and look more vibrant in general too. Interesting to hear that H2O2 is in rain also.

I might try the 24 hour cycle and see how it goes. I assumed they needed a dark period for some reason so this is good news. Thanks for the recommendation of Justica, I'll be adding that one for sure. I'm intrigued by the confusion surrounding it's chemical profile, might try some TLC on it eventually. I also stumbled across a nice blog when searching for it, and was introducted to the world of Shipibo "master plants". Might get Bobinsana too now haha. Can never have too many seeds on the wishlist

Using the dilute H2O2 gives me another good reason to mist rather than use a humidity dome. I find my psychotria really love the large water droplets and semi-regular water running over their leaves from the mister. Although, the increased airflow could be helping with that too. The new growth on my carthagenensis seedlings is coming out very quickly since switching from the dome to misting and adding H2O2 to the coco/perlite medium. The new growth is also quite bumpy.