I need some help in getting my ayahuasca vine to grow and mature my friends. I bought a b. caapi/ayahuasca red yage Terrence Mckenna strain vine online and it started out as the first picture shows. I had it in about half shade, half light, and in cactus soil as the seller suggested, he said that that provided better drainage and that is what he used (I just used Miracle Grow standard off the shelf stuff).

Within 2-3 weeks it grew a lot, to the size that is shown in the third picture. I want to plant it in my yard so that it can have a permanent home there, so I placed it in my yard where the second picture is (between the 2nd and 3rd tree), and left it there for at least a month to allow the plant to get used to the light, the leaves shriveled a bit, it stayed very much alive though, but it did not grow one more inch it seems. So after that long, I thought that maybe the lighting there was too low for it, so I moved it back to its original spot where it grew exponentially. It has been there for about a month and still has not grown an inch it seems.

I wonder if I should use different soil, if I should plant it in a bigger pot, or if I plant it in the ground will it get bigger on its own?

My ayahuasca plant is doing fine, is very much alive (is a bit shriveled though), but has not grown for a couple of months. It is approaching October where I am at, and so I really need to get this divine creature of healing planted correctly.

Thank You so much Creatures of Light...

If you live in a (semi)tropical location where the temperature doesn't drop too low, I'd go ahead and plant it right in the earth. If you need to keep it potted I would get some better quality soil than miracle grow brand. Something organic with a lot of mycorrhizae in it such as foxfarm soil is what I would recommend.

Being that we are getting toward the end of the growing season in the northern hemisphere, it's quite normal for the plant to slow down and even begin dropping leaves. Even indoors and under artificial lighting these plants seem to be fairly sensitive to the shifting seasons. Just keep it warm over the winter and it should do fine and come back with vigor when the springtime hits.

I do live in a southern humid-subtropical climate, the same as the climate it is native to, but it can get an occasional freeze here in the winter, and leaves are just starting to fall off of the trees here....hmmm, that is an interesting explanation...

I mainly wonder if it is OK for me to plant it in the location of the 2nd picture?, I wonder if that is enough light...it is about 1/4 lighting there instead of 1/2 lighting...

It's a rainforest plant so it likes bright light and will reach for it, but is quite used to being shaded by a thick canopy. The Amazon also has rich topsoil with a very high humus/organic matter content, while it's important that the soil drain well, you also want it be as rich and healthy as you can. Anything you can do to recreate the conditions of it's native environment will go a long way in keeping it healthy.

If you get freezes at all go ahead and keep it potted and bring it in for the winter, a freeze will kill a caapi pretty easily.

Usually we don't but last winter we had about 3 weeks of under freezing temperatures

But I need to plant it sometime, should I just take a chance now, or wait until next winter?...