So, I'm sort of starting a project of growing plants I can use in an ayahuasca admixture. I have chacruna seeds, but the more I read on the plant, the more likely I think it is that it will probably not germinate in the climate I have. I'm in the Great Lakes region, and although I can keep my plants warm in the winter, and provide them with supplementary light in the form of grow bulbs, there is still very much a winter. I can't match the sunlight that warmer areas would get, even with grow bulbs, since I don't have the setup for it, and I can't keep the humidity as high as I fear the plant needs. I'd get a cutting of chacruna and ayahuasca vine, but I don't know if it would survive.

I don't want to start a complicated extraction/cracking process, since I'm not particularly confident in my ability to hide a long term chemical project like that. So I really need an ayahuasca variant, something I can just boil in a pot and have that be the only step.

I'd really like the opportunity to break through, but the problems with this project seem to be mounting, and I don't want to pay 30-40 dollars for a plant that I can't keep alive in my climate.

What are some good ayahuasca-analog brews that I can make with plants that can handle being this far north? I know Peganum harmala is good for the MAOI component, but what works well this far north for the DMT component?

Chacruna seeds are notoriously hard to sprout, but by making sure they stay warm and moist, they should have as good a chance there as they would anywhere. Don't worry too much about humidity, these plants (caapi and cruna) are good at adapting to local conditions. Cuttings are much easier than starting from seed.

Peganum harmala is also notoriously difficult to grow. There are a few choices for plants that will survive outdoors that far north. Acacia acuminata and Acacia obtusifolia are very frost tolerate, Desmanthus Illinoensis and Desmanthus Leptolobus can handle heavy freezes, and of course the Phalaris grasses. You can also grow mimosa or other acacias indoors.

I'd think with supplemental lighting, nothing fancy a few cfl's or traditional florescent lights, in conjunction with a sunny window should be plenty to keep anything going through the winter there.

Hope that helps

Right now, I just have two standard blue spectrum grow bulbs in my plant room as the ceiling light and a pair of south facing windows. No racks, no light stands, thats all I have. I know I can keep it above freezing, just not super warm. It gets really really dry here in the winter. How hard will the dryness be on rainforest plants?

As for the other plants. I've heard mixed things about them, with some websites saying that they're not good for making Aya out of for various reasons, like they contain gramine, or they haven't been proven to contain DMT at all or things like that. Is there any objective measure of any of them besides the Caapi and the Chacruna on how well they'll work?

I'm also in the GreatLakes area, dry weather and freezing temps already. No expert on these plants, but basic good houseplant management for tropical plants should suffice. If possible, set the pots on a tray with gravel or stones on it, keep moist to improve the humidity right around the plant, mist often, and or take the plants in the shower with you. They like it! If you can make a tent over them and the bulbs with plastic or a white cotton sheet (without it being a hazard) then you can create a mini greenhouse environment just for them. The bulbs will actually help them stay a bit warmer with the tent.

I would also like to grow some traditional aya plants here, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. It almost seems that with all the grow shops popping up all over in my area, that they might have some ideas to help keep plants growing during the winter, rather than just keeping them alive until the next growing season.

Good Luck with your plants, talk to your plants and give them good energy!