Chemical doping - There has been some pioneering work in this area done by Adam Gottlieb.

Increasing the levels of the precursors that lead to mescaline has proven to be a relatively quick and effective way to significantly increase the level of mescaline in a Cactus. There are three major precursors to mescaline, namely dopa, tyramine and dopamine. During mescaline synthesis in the plant, tyrosine is broken down into tyramine and dopa. These then combine to form dopamine, which is later converted to nor-mescaline, and of course mescaline.

It is possible to take advantage of this synthesis route, and use it to vastly increase the mescaline content of the Cactus that will be harvested.

This method can be used successfully on any mescaline bearing Cacti. The steps are as follows:

1. Withhold water from the plant 2 weeks prior to doping. This helps the plant to absorb any injected material more readily.

2. Prepare a saturated solution of free-base dopamine in a .05 N solution of HCL. If dopamine is not available a second best alternative is to use a mixture of tyramine and dopa.

3. Inject approximately 5cc of the solution, half towards the bottom of the plant by the roots. Inject the other half into the green tissue at the base of the plant, and in several other spots up the stem. Do this slowly ,carefully, leaving the needle in place for a few seconds to allow absorption.

4. Wait 4 to 8 weeks before harvest to let the additives metabolize and convert to mescaline. I would not stress the plant during this period, as an actively growing plant is necessary for efficient metabolism.

5. The harvest can be delayed further and a series of booster injections can be given every 6 - 8 weeks to bolster alkaloid levels even more.

Unfortunately many of these precursor compounds are hard to come by or controlled.

piracetam said:
the problem is that plant cells don't take up precursors very well. reports of injecting dopamine into cactus tissue resulted
in necrosis. adding precursors to the soil don't help either, as the roots don't uptake them easily.
DMSO is an option, but data/results are scant or nonexistent. either way, the approach is obviously concentration-dependent.

I'd love to see experiments done with this, particularly the dmso route.
I could possibly try this, as I do have san pedro, tyrosine, and dmso, as well as a spec for testing concentrations.

topic has been kicked around for many years, my opinion is if you want more mescaline, just grow more cacti

Then why has almost no one tried experimenting with it and got any definitive results? *Cough* Dg you have a vast collection of cacti to work with hint hint...

An article on erowid claims to be able to significantly increase mescaline content in cacti able to produce mescaline

There was a guy who tried injecting the cacti and he sort of did it, there is a thread somewhere in the nexus...as predicted, you just cannot inject them as they are rigit and not a sponge. The plunge won't move much and the person who did this ended injurign the cacti resulting in a very bad rotting at and around the injection sites.

This method always reeked of bullshit, not on the biochemical side but the practical one.

Also does stressing them actually increase their potency?

more so than supplementation, the reason being gene upregulation.
but as suggested by Al K. Lloyd, feed the cacti nitrogen, but also deprive it of water, and let it do the rest.

Surely freezing would release all the enzymes that happened to be present at the time? How would you guarantee that Tyr hydroxylase and COMT would get a look in? If, through a stroke of luck, freezing temperatures prove to be a trigger for gene expression of the target enzymes this could then be a winner.

Considering the way the CAM metabolism works - the cacti absorb CO2 at night to form malic acid and, it is claimed, the pH balance is maintained through the formation of alkaloids - it appears that darkness would have a particular set of triggering effects on gene expression. It would be worth checking to see whether any studies exist on the effect of low temperatures on gene expression in mescaline-producing cacti. This could inform any decisions made on the rate and degree of cooling used during a nutritionally supplemented cactus freezing experiment.