16 replies to this topic

[rocketman]

caapi left viridis right

[MurCurY]

I am getting a cutting of B.Cappi in the coming months.
I am also getting P.Viridis seeds. Was wondering if anyone grew this from seed and how they got them to germinate. Also...if you would be so kind as to give me some personal experience in growing these 2 plants.

[rocketman]

b. cappi is very easy to grow. it doesnt like cold temps, and will lose its leaves when it gets too cold. A good well draining soil mix is all i use for both types of plants. I use composted manure mixed with potting soil and alot of perlite. p. viridis on the other hand is tough to grow in non tropical climates. I found daily misting is a necessity while the viridis is indoors. I could use a tent for humidity but I prefer to harden the plants to thier new environment. The leaves tend to curl and stick together if the humidity gets too low, makes an ugly plant. Outside in the spring and summer they do great. The caapi likes to stay moist, not so much the viridis so water it less frequently than the caapi. Both are kept partially shaded in the summer, and neither seem to like the full sun. I hope this helps a bit.

[MurCurY]

it definately does. anyone grow viridis from seed?

[Hippie3]

nice.
how are they doing ?
here's a caapi vine pic
Fresh Ecuadorian Caapi Segments. Very mature
note the quarter coin on top...

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[rocketman]

They are doing well Hip :) Im going to update the pics when it warms up a bit. Are those your caapi slices? Those are beautiful. I wouldnt mind having a nice mature piece for my medicine bag or just for decoration.

[Hippie3]

that's an old pic from discus archives

[Hippie3]

how do you germinate viridis seeds ?
do they need to be pre-cracked ?

[Hippie3]

get fresh seeds or berries. Put the whole berry [2 seeds per berry] or individual seeds in the ground about 1/4" down. Keep the soil moist, put plastic wrap over the top and in from a week to a couple months, they come up. They like humidity and frequent watering but don't keep the soil wet all the time after they come up. I give mine peter's 20 20 20 whenever they look like they need it, maybe a couple times a month. They like shade or partial sun but not full sun. They make a good houseplant.

Erowid says
Soak the Psychotria viridis seeds for about 15 minutes in a mild bleach solution (2 Tbs bleach in a cup (8 oz) of water). This will help keep them from molding during their long germination period.
Rinse and soak the seeds in clear water for 12 hrs.
Plant seeds in potting soil about 1/4 inch deep (8 mm).
Put the whole pot in a ziplock bag for mini-greenhouse effect.
Keep the temp around 70-80 degrees F. (22-28 degrees C.)
Keep out of direct sun.

if you bought the dry p viridis seeds lots of places sell, good luck. You'll need it because those don't sprout or have only a 1% germ rate. Your best bet is to get fresh berries. 2 seeds per berry. Even with ripe berries it takes a month or two usually to get them to come up. With dry seeds,... maybe 6 months, maybe never. I tried germing a batch a couple years ago and none came up.

take a nice matured leaf break it along the spine in a few places and plant it in some soil or some type of media (he uses pine bark mulch).
water it regularly, after some time the breaks in the spine will act as nodes and roots will grow from them.
After a few months a small sprout will grow from the leaf. At this point you carefully remove the sprout from the rooted leaf and plant it in it's own container.
Apparently you can grow about 20 or so sprouts from one leaf. It just takes a while!

If you can get the leaves, crack the spine in multiple places (not all the way through just kind of crack it's spine) plant them at an obtuse angle in plastic cups w/ holes in the bottom. Plant them so the soil comes up about 70% of the way. Put them in a terrarium. Take care of them and wait and wait and wait and wait

Place seeds in small container filled with peroxide, let them sit in a sunny location for a week. Plant them in a gladware container put lid on and put in a warm shaded location.

viridis likes humidity and shade or partial sun, not full sun......use peter's 20 20 20 whenever it looks like it needs it. They like a slightly acid soil but can tollerate a range of soils

Don't pick the berries before they are bright red or purple. Purple is a little overripe but the seeds from it are good.

Usually figure 3 to 5 months from start to plants up and on their own. It's good to keep a dome or plastic wrap over the rooting leaf to keep it moist.

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[Hippie3]

better not to harvest until the second year so you get large bushes. You can take a few leaves before then and root the leaves. Each leaf gives up to 7 new plants and away you go.


followed the erowid suggestions @ ( http://www.erowid.or...tivation1.shtml ) with some success (10 germinated out of 20). I was unsure about soaking the Psychotria viridis seeds for about 15 minutes in a mild bleach solution , so I reduced the suggested dilution to 1/4 Tbs bleach in a cup (8 oz) of water but socked for 30 min. The 10 seeds all germinated when the temperature was between 27 - 32 C. It took 12 weeks but temperatures were lower for the first 8 weeks 20 - 25 C.

They are gown inside a humidity tent, with fresh air pumped with an aquarium pump into a container of water. They look very healthy under these conditions but growth is very slow. I have started feeding them with fertiliser for acid loving plants, which they seem to like. Soil is 50/50 peat and perlite, lots of drainage but the soil is kept wet because of the high humidity.

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[Hippie3]

They [seeds] only keep their germination potential for a few months at most

PV is a slow grower, you can't make it grow fast like some others. They prefer partial sun or shade, not full sun. They take to transplanting very well so dont worry about that. They like humidity and can't take freezing.

pretty resistent after they pass the seedling stage, specially regarding low RH and lots of light.
the suckers and aphids are the only plague that has struck ..

leaf cuttings & large viridis plants

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[Hippie3]

Most seeds of other plants sprout after a few days to a couple weeks some plant seeds take a lot longer. P viridis is one of those, it can take up to 6 months sometimes but most of them will come up within 2 - 3 months and a few will come up in less than a month. I heard gibberellic acid can help

start with fresh seeds or berries, old seeds are no good. I usually soak them in some peroxide for a few minutes to kill off any mold but that's not really vital. Put the berry or seeds into the soil about 1/4" down. I usually use a small pot with potting soil. You need to keep them moist until they come up so plastic wrap over the top is good. It will take from 1 week to a couple months before they start coming up. A few may take longer than that.

When you have your sprouts come up the next step is to grow them. They like bright light but not direct sunlight. Direct sun won't kill them but they do better with indirect sun or shade. They grow well indoors. They can be killed by freezing so take them in when it gets cold. They like frequent watering but don't keep the soil wet all the time. Let it dry out before watering again. If you see the leaves drooping, you let them go too long. For ferts you can use a number of things. I use peter's 20 20 20 and it works fine. You can tell by the color of the leaves if they need ferts. A nice deep green means they are fine. Yellowing, particularly on a lot of leaves means they likely need ferts. There are other things that could cause yellowing. They like a ph of around 5 but can be happy with 4 to 7. Top them and they put out new branches. As they get bigger, repot them into larger containers. They will tend to put out new shoots from the base as they get bigger. Cuttings root easily.
They are forgiving if you should take off some leaves but don't strip them bare if you want to keep growing them. Taking all the leaves will shock the plant and slow growth by a lot. You can shear a sheep many times but you can skin him only once. Store the leaves you take in a dark place after you've dried them.


-Real name: Psychotria viridis
-Common name: Chacruna, Amirucapanga
-Origin: South America
-History: Used for thousands of years as etheogen. A common ingredient in Ayahuasca brews.
-Law: Plant and herb legal, Illegal to process or extract active Ingredients.
-Active Ingredients: N,N-DMT, trace amounts of N-methyl-tryptamine and 2-methyl-tetrahydro-ß-carboline (MTHC)
-Dosage: 30 - 60 grams per person, dried leaves vary in potency.
-Preparation method: Leaves are boiled in acidified water for at least 4 hours. MUST be used with a MAOI to be orally active.
-Effects: Classic DMT effects, Effect can rival that of smoking DMT during peak. A very powerful mature etheogenic experience.
-Duration: 2 - 5 hours is average, nice "afterglow" lasting 1 to 7 days.
-comments; A close relative to the coffee plant. Useless without an MAOI such as Caapi. Effects are powerful and not for the faint of heart.. A classic primary admixture to Ayahuasca.

also see
how to grow p. viridis

For humidity loving plants I like to take small wooden boxes higher than my pots and use plexiglass to make a little minigreenhouse, and saw a few pieces of wood into corner pieces to support the plexiglass. Then, drill a large hole in either side, and screw circular pieces slightly bigger than the hole onto the sides at the edge of the circular pieces forming a piviting "door" so you can tweak humidity and ventilate once in a while. If you want a bigger box you'll have to add some form of humidifyer. maybe try playing around with something like that.

seen quite a few references to P. virirdis liking highly acidic soil.
As far as my experience goes; I use regular potting soil and I use fish emulsion as a fert. I water often. I live in the extreme south so the weather is sub-tropical. They do well down here!
These plants are pretty tough though! They are fairly easy to grow.
.

[Hippie3]

the leaves being stuck together is mostly due to lack of wind stress. Outdoors the wind gently moves the leaves back and forth. Inside, they don't have that. You can gently bend the leaf pairs back and forth a little bit every day and they will separate on their own after a while. Don't try to pull them apart just bend them a little.

unripe berries

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[Hippie3]

b. caapi

http://mycotopia.net...47&d=1143602565

http://mycotopia.net...48&d=1143602565

http://mycotopia.net...49&d=1143602565

http://mycotopia.net...50&d=1143602565

http://mycotopia.net...51&d=1143602565

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