Hi everyone

Just a quick post to see if anyone is familiar with using
Branches, leaves debris and anything else of Acuminata or any other
Acacia in an a/b extraction ? I ask because i found a acuminata but
To get enough bark i would most definately kill the acacia in the process by ring barking
The poor thing and i could never live with myself as to me it is the same as killing
a human being.

So i collected a few branches of the acacia, leaves and a tiny bit of bark
I started chopping the branches up last night (not an easy task) but thought to myself
Am i going to be completely waisting my time here or what?
Does anyone know if branches will be worth doing a extraction on?

If not what is the best way to go about this without harming my teacher (Acuminata)


Any help is hugely appreciated
SLiCeR

yes the leaves(phyllodes) of acuminata even are reported up to 1.5% and from what I understand this tree sounds very ideal..I have some growing here because of the high leaf content but just babies so I cant speak from experience with this tree..branch bark is active as well from what I understand..

Wait for nen though..nen is the acacia expert here and I know he works with acuminata and he can prob tell you everything you need to know.

From what I have read though, I would go with phyllodes..they are very active and it is the least harmful way to harvest from the tree. I would avoid ringbarking any acacia trees.

..heres a link to a relevant thread: Using the leaves of Acacia acuminata..an A/B is the best for acacias..i'd nominate Alienteaparty as a real acuminata devotee..i've worked with a few species..

I agree with nen that A/B is the way with acacia. I've had some good luck with acacia's both bark and phylodes. Never with A. acuminata though as it aint to be found in my neck of the woods.
Definitley go the A/B on the phylodes and and any twigs. A friend is going to do an extract on some branch wood from another apecies soon as we were lucky to come accross some downed material. I have not heard too much about branch wood but twigs and phylodes are a definite especially with acuminata i hear.
Taking bark from live trees even if it is a small amount can do harm. Pruning some branch material can usually be done safely with most species and i have successfully done this with A. floribunda.

Ok cool the last thing i want to do is harm any plant (had to watch mold kill my salvia the other day sad day indeed)
I have some branches too which are about as thick as my thumb
should i put those in with the extraction aswell?

..^ yes, waste none of it..the branch bark is a high % too..can discard inner wood core..

What do you exactly mean by inner wood core?? Because i have been stripping the branches apart like fibres and usually there is a thin brown cylinder running through, is this the inner wood core? i strip the bark then there is woody whitish fibres which i peel apart untill i find that brown inner cylinder and Im assuming that is the only part i dont put in with my extraction?

..if it's small enough to pull apart easily then chuck it all in (to much hassle to sort, and nothing to worry about in there)
small twigs should be used whole..it was more larger branch cores (more than 2cm diameter) which i meant could be discarded, as it's a lot of extra weight/mass..

Having a really hard time trying to remove the inner brown wood core, everytime i try it falls apart so i just chuck most of it in.

One other question though, i was going to do the acid cook then leave it over the weekend and finish tek after the weekend and i dont see a problem, in my theory it will just help convert more of the dmt to acetate salt but the only reason i ask is i swear i read someone complaining about leaving it in acid cook for too long and his phylodes burning? I dont know how thats possible but can anyone shed any light on this?

I have included a pic to help understand what you ment by inner woody core,
as far as i know the inner woody core is the brown circle right in the middle there and i have been chopping up everything but those inner brown woody cores, is this what you ment?

..the alkaloids are only (as far as i know) in the darker outer bark (infact in the inner layers where the capillaries are)..in other words the outer 5mm or so..to my knowledge there are no alkaloids in the paler wood core (the central 1-3cm in your picture)..though, there could be flavonoids, and there's one report of trace 5meo in A. maidenii core wood [see acacia thread here]..it's worth someone doing the experiment..

If you let the wood dry you will be able (more easily) be able to peel the bark from the wood, with a twisting motion.
The idea is to get as smaller pieces as you can then zip it up in a coffee grinder to powderise so as much surface area is exposed.

Throwing all the wood into the brew may produce unwanted oils but no problem with a few re-x.
Patience is a virtue....... with Acacia (my only option here), is softly softly chatchie monkey.....

I have some Acuminata phyllodes extract freeze precipitating as we speak. Good luck

Yeah i thought so, i have dried it out but maybe there is still some moisture.
I weighed my material and turns out i only have about 500g not including the phylodes so im thinkimg of just chucking it all in (including phylodes) do a few re-x and report my findings back here. I would just try and use the best parts but i already have taken this material so im not keen on waisting any of it.
One thing thoe, how well do you think my coffee grinder will hold up trying to grind the wood down? I have cut it all into as smaller pieces as i can but i have a funny feeling my grinder isnt going to appreciate it lol.
Will be sure to record and post my findings.
SLiCeR

For anyone interested my results from this extraction can be found in this thread below:
My other thread containing results of extraction