I'd worry about the plant surviving the rest period if cut lengthwise.

If there is only one pup available, one thought is to cut it into 3 parts, like this,

XXX | XXXXXX | XXX

The middle part (XXXXXX) should have the same mescaline content to first order as the top and bottom parts combined (XXX + XXX) IF the top/bottom mescaline effect is roughly linear or symmetric across the plant length.

The paper with the mescaline top/bottom signal is in this original discussion thread

Very interesting information. Love the graph.

So the way that the potency fluctuates throughout the plant is determined by it's maturity? Meaning that as the cactus grows taller, it pulls the potency concentration towards the middle/top?

It would make sense then, that the middle section as you suggested, would have the same as the bottom and top combined. That's really fascinating.

Quite interesting.

After buying cuts for a decade at this point I've grown to only eye and buy fat mid cuts if given the choice. The fat beefy woody old mid cuts are cheaper and minimal buying competition for usually. When they root and pup they usually throw massive pupperonis too. Tips for me usually etoilate, if not just barely, while they are rooting. I'll keep this information in mind depending on the intention behind the purchase.

In theory leaving a cutting in very hot temps in full sun should increase alkaloids better than cold dark as many enzymes are down regulated with cold and dark. Those are stressors but drought is the main stress that contributes to the increase in alkaloids... hot temps and excess light both activate the same enzymes and a few others.

Can we have some more detail information (link, study, or yourself explaining it =) ) about this ?
It does seems that drought is a factor, but as far as i know, in live plants; the curing is commonly in indirect light / darkness ... but i'm not sure we have many side to side studies....

About studying this, i would just slice in many pieces of like 5cm to get homogenous concentrations ;
and maybe extract directly, extract after letting in full sun; extract after letting in the dark....
sounds like some work for the nexus community !

Sure does sound like some work Quetzal7

Honestly, the variables just multiply exponentially if different parts of the plant have different alkaloid content. Is it at all possible to get comparable cuttings to compare? Lovell's xxx/xxxxxx/xxx split seems like the closest. Myself I would be happy knowing if 3 months was same and/or better than 6 and same for 12. Its quite a long wait after harvest so least possible time resting is ideal.

CIELO's great benefit is that it removes a huge number of individual extractor variables compared to tradition HCl A/Bteks. I have found it quite consistent in yield between different cuttings of the same plant and I am by no means a skilled or or practiced chemist. Compared to the gazillion questions after an HCl extract - acid titration, sanchez purity etc CIELO is all but 'foolproof'. Its a much better home-chem standard than HCl is for sure.

So a simple answer of how long to rest (ie level of patience required) would be awesome for me. I have been leaving as long as possible, even over 12. No idea of the real world effect though! Would be nice if there was a 1 - 3 - 6 - 12mo type comparison. If the delta was quite clear (like the ~2x claimed above) then that would be as deep as I would personally need this to go.

And, they do spoil while resting sometimes too, so if 3 months, say, was max benefit that would help a lot.

Some very interesting ideas from everone. What about taking 2 cacti that popped at the same time on one cut peice of cactus? Like twins more or less. Would they differ?


Here is abother extract i did from 86g dry. Got around 1.26g from this one.

The enzymes that are activated with drought are the same with excess light and heat. Darkness and cold tend to down-regulate the enzymes needed for mescaline biosynthesis.

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...spx?g=posts&t=100359 The same thread on the shroomery I posted some papers.

Dark and cold are stressors however they down-regulate these enzymes. I'm sure there are multiple pathways to mescaline. Drought and salt stress are the most studied stressors across plants due to agricultural significance. Both increase alkaloids almost universally but with limits. Dark stress does increase alkaloids short to for some plants peaking within a few days.

Don't want to steal this thread but if someone could test banana/apple for faster or stronger 'aging' of cuttings as well as the heat/sunlight vs cold/dark theories that would be awesome. I'm still building my collection from seed so am a year or two away from even the first test. Microextractions might be possible for me in the future.

I think small cuts simulating bug bites would also be interesting to test.

Hey guys, so i am midway through doing another extraction. I thought id post some interesting results.

I previously did a extraction with some of my Peruvian Torch and the crystal formation was quite different from my other extractions. The crystal formation was more similar to sugar and glasslike chunks instead of fluffy hairlike crystals. So i was curious if it was just that one batch and so i did another one now and the crystal formation is indeed different than my other strains.

The first batch i used fresh EA and this time reused(reused EA first time)

Just thought id post for interest sake as i found it interesting. 🙂

Real excited about this one, lots of different crystal formations going on in one jar. Thought id take some cool pics because this one is real beautiful 🙂

So here is a picture of my best extraction yet! This was from 100g dry. It came to 3.86g but i rate probably around 4g if i include the xtals that are evaporating from the side of the jar. This was from my Peruvian Torch and had no resting period. Cant imagine the yield if i did rest it a while 🙂 super stoked with this one.

Wow so crazy pictures ... cant wait to try it on my own.

So if you all are giving yields, is 3,8 % now the whole crystals or the mescaline only?

I thought 1-1,2 % is what to expect from a cactus regarding mescaline on average. So now you really had nearly 4x or is this when calculating back to only-mescaline more like a 2 % yield? (but then still way more than the 'average'.




(Currently poking my poor cactus time to time to simulate insects raiding on him, hope it will also make a good effect)

Beautiful crystals and great yields

It seems that you have a lot of quite pure material from these extractions, it would be great if you could test the solubility of CIELO citrate in various solvents (ethanol, IPA, acetone).

From my understanding you can get cacti that can produce up to 5% mescaline although these are very rare specimens but have been reported. I am quite happy with this yield from my Peruvian torch, with the evaporated Xtals added it comes to around 4grams.

If the 4 grams citrate were converted to HCl it would be 2.44G equivalent. This was from a super healthy and happy cactus with not even a scratch on it.

I will definitely cut some of it again and give it a dark rest to see how the yields turn out. Will be worth it if I could get double those yields for 100g dry cactus.

So far I think that the cacti species in South Africa are generally quite good on average that I have tested. The least I have gotten was 1 gram per 100gram dry and this was from very young small cacti.

This is the highest yield I'm aware of for Peruvian torch, congrats ☺️

Wow really? Thats interesting. My last extraction i yielded 2grams on my other peruvian. I was shocked to see the yield in this when i decanted, dried and weighed.

Will make sure to mark this one to propagate.🙂

Sounds like an awesome plant! Do you have a photo of it?

Also, keen for a cutting when one is available

Here is a picture of the one i cut and then the other one is of the same cuts i made a few years ago.

I think its PT or maybe SSP?

Really amped to germinate these babies this weekend. Got a whole variety 😃

I got:

Short Spine Peru x bridgesii x 2 packs
Short spine peru x blue peru x 2 packs
Blue pach x brigessi
Pacharu x brigessi