I am planning on ordering a substantial amount of peyote. Originally I was planning to perform an extraction that yielded mescaline citrate/acetate/hcl. but ive reconsidered and decided to make a crude extract that contains more of the other active alkaloids. im not really concerned anymore if the end product is just a resin/tar

1) should i do an alcohol extraction (using isopropyl/ethanol/methanol)?
OR should i just make cactus tea with water and slowly boil that down?

2) for alcohol extractions i should be using dried, powdered peyote? and for water
extractions I should be using fresh chunks right?

3) >40% ethanol is hard for me to obtain. if i do an alcohol extraction should I use
methanol?

4) how do i harvest potted peyote plants without killing them?

Thanks for your help <3

Hope you didnt sacrifice a limb to get it.

Anyhow -

I know that youre supposed to cut as flat and evenly when harvesting as you can. at the base. but not digging into the root system.

Good luck !

I think it's a terrible shame to obtain the plants simply in order to cut them. I know that peyote tends to regenerate from the cut stump - but how can you be sure that yours will? The flowers are very beautiful - and flowers make seeds. Seeds then make more cacti. It's well worth giving your plants the chance to flower and set seed. This will take a few months, but I ask you - what's the hurry? You would risking destroying valuable specimens of an endangered species for what, exactly?

Some people say it's helpful to build a relationship with the plant you intend to work with. Experiencing the beauty of the plant for yourself will, I hope, give you pause for thought in this matter. At least check them for seeds before proceeding any further.

My biggest plant flowered at the weekend after an unusually warm and sunny spell. There was no sign of a bud even when I was checking for seed pods from last year a couple of weeks ago, then suddenly four lovely flowers appeared all at once! The charm of these lovely little fluffy things is quite enchanting. I'll post some pictures once I manage to get them off my crappy phone.

Well I'm buying the plants so i can consume them for their mescaline content

The only reason there exists a vendor growing/selling peyote is because his customer base is interested in buying psychoactive cacti. for consumption.

...and my country is too cold for peyote to grow in a garden.

You don't have to put it in your garden! Mine grow happily in pots on the windowsill (but, incidentally, peyote is quite hardy and can survive light frosts if it's dry, as well as being submerged in water during the rainy season in its natural habitat - refer to the works of K. Trout for further details.)

If it's mescaline you're after, why aren't you choosing Trichocereus species? They have the advantage of a much faster growth rate, and there's a well developed body of extraction knowledge surrounding them.

Kash's A/B Mescaline Extraction

CIELO

Are you sure you want the full-spectrum peyote alkaloids? You specifically state "mescaline content" - but that's only 50% of the peyote alkaloids. The rest of them, like pellotine and lophophorine for example, are more like hypnotics and ganglion blockers. And maybe several others have antiseptic properties.

I'd highly recommend you grow your own Trichocereus cacti instead.