Ethnobotanical Growlog (Cacti, Salvia, Kratom)

[jux]

ok, in an effort to track the growth of my imaginary friends (MIF) crappy ethnobotanical garden, i am going to post a growlog on his behalf...

first up, the cacti...

Cacti April 2007
(trichocereus pachanoi)

the first pic is two san pedros that have recently had cuttings taken from them. the second shows a closeup of a forming pup on the smallest cutting, and the third is an uncut san pedro around 7" in hieght.



next up: recent cacti photos...

Reputation Comments on this post:

	This deserves rep points, please keep it up.
	nice idea

[radiometer]

Good start, I'm looking forward to seeing the kratom pics.

[jux]

Originally Posted by radiometer

Good start, I'm looking forward to seeing the kratom pics.

thanks, i have only had the kratom a month or two, so those are the first pictures i have of it....i didn't take any right after shipping, but basically it was slightly shorter with four large leaves (which are all gone now) and two small ones....most of what you see is new growth.

[jux]

Cacti June 2007

a lot has changed over the last couple of months...first off, MIF decided to move all the cacti outside to get better lighting.

the uncut pedro became etoliated (apparently the compact flourecents MIF was using werent cutting it) and got some damage on the growth tip. MIF decided to cut off slightly below the etoliated part, and planted that as a new cutting... it is rather small so he is not sure how well it will do. the mother plant is getting ready to pup now (just starting to push through), so he will get pictures of that as it occurs.


the pup on the smallest cutting has grown, but seems to be dwarfed. MIF assumes this is because the cutting was a very young cacti. the larger cutting has now thrown up two pups that are growing rapidly... MIF is very happy about that!

now to the pics...they are a little weathered and water starved right now...occasional stress is good for them (and alk production) anyways. their growth rate is still really good, so MIF is not too worried.

(better pics soon, i promise!)


now on to the salvia!

[jux]

Salvia June 2007
(salvia divinorum blosser)

the story of MIF's salvia is sad and kind of funny at the same time...

MIF's plant was somewhat stressed from a combination of adjustment to the horribly dry air where MIF lives and a recent round of cuttings. one of his cats decided that this would be a good time to go on a spiritual journey and proceeded to eat his plant. after this happened MIF moved it and his kratom into a makeshift humidity tent he set up on his porch. the plant looks absolutely horrible, but luckily he still has one tiny cutting left in case the mother plant dies.

he doesn't have any earlier pics so his growlog will start here with the mother plant (aka cat damaged pathetic bundle of twigs) and her tiny clone.

here is a pic of the clone, which is growing very nicely (lots of new branching starting) and the mother plant next to MIF's kratom.


speaking of which...its time for the beginning of the kratom growlog!

[jux]

Kratom June 2007
(rifat clone)

MIF's kratom log will begin here also...

His kratom also got attacked by the cat (twice in fact) but the cat did nowhere near the amount of damage as he did to the salvia...(only ate a couple of leaves)

the remaining large leaves the plant had when it was shipped to MIF began to tear rapidly (likely from the dry climate where MIF lives) despite frequent (read: obsessive) spraying. this and the attacks by kitty prompted him to move it to his makeshift hudity tent. since the move about a week ago, it has shown an explosion in growth and seems very happy.

here are a couple of pics...it opens up a lot more during the daytime, so MIF included a shot from the top to get a better pic of the leaves....

[jux]

well, MIF hopes you guys like it so far...the plants aren't all that great and MIF needs to get better pics, but he wanted to get this started (he has been putting it off for a while). hopefully we will all see some nice changes as they happen....and we will all hopefully learn from MIF's mistakes.

anyways... comments, questions, or suggestions are welcome...and if any one is interested MIF will post up some pics of his other (non entheogenic) plants...it's mainly just unusual looking succulents, but cool nonetheless....

[radiometer]

The "tearing" pattern on the kratom leaves is due to the low humidity according to what I've read. SWIMs plant started doing poorly, for the same reason, lack of humidity, though SWIYs plants looks healthier than his did at that stage. The plant really got going great by getting it into a larger pot and keeping it in an enclosed space with a humidifier. Now that it's "big" SWIM has given it less and less humidity so that it seems to be adapting to his dry natural climate. The plant seems to prefer having moist soil, so SWIY may want to consider pots made of something other than clay, which lends itself to drier soils.

Regarding pot size, SWIM is starting to think this is a factor in the growth of this plant (tree). SWIMs plant grew a lot over the course of a two or three month spree after he repotted it and humidified its space. Now it seems stalled again, at 3', growing in something like a 1/2 gallon or so of medium. It's still healthy, but in no rush to make new leaves (though a new pair is just about to emerge at the top, the first in several weeks).

[jux]

humitity is definately the key...once MIF put it in the humiditiy tent the leaves looked much healthier...the combination of the higher humidity and natural light has easily increased its growth tenfold...

MIF is hesitant to repot it now while it is at this stage of rapid growth, but will rember that when the time comes.

[jux]

Cacti June 2007 (cont.)

here is a close up of the pup on MIF's largest cacti which is just starting to push through (on the closest rib near the top of the cacti).

if the growth rate of the other cacti are any indication, this pup should explode in growth within the next couple of weeks..

on the last day of june MIF decided to check on the growth tip cutting and discovered roots! hopefully he didn't damage them too much in the process of digging it up...anyways, here is a pic of the newly formed roots....

all of MIF's cacti are still looking wrinkled (though the new growth still looks healthy) even though they get plenty water and light...he starting to think that the sudden move to the severe dry and hot outdoor weather is the cuplrit (either that or to much direct sunlight)....but more about that in MIF's next update (full update coming soon on his kratom and salvia too)

[jux]

Kratom July 2007

its only been a couple of weeks, but (IMO) the kratom is looking great. note the difference between the older and newer leaves...the old leaves (the ones that are ripped and look rough) are from before the humidity dome when i was simply spraying the plant and growing under compact flourescents. the newer leaves are much nicer looking (very smooth, no rips) and have formed since the move.

MIF just repotted it a couple of days ago into a larger pot. (it now has the pot MIF's salvia used used to lived in)... fortunately it doesn't seem like he stressed it much in the proccess. its root structure looked very strong so thats a good sign.

about MIF's setup...his dome is nothing more than the bag from one of those "bed in a bag" sheet sets you get from walmart or other big box store. it gets morning and evening direct light but is shaded from the mid-day sun. he has added holes on all four sides of the dome to allow for breathing and to allow wind to blow on the plant (neccesary for good leaf and alk production from what i have read). the down side is that it doesn't hold the humidity level as long so MIF needs to spray the inside a couple of times a day (it is very hot and dry where he lives) or the leaves will wrinkle or droop until the humidity level is back to an acceptable level (generally a couple of hours after spraying the dome).

MIF has noticed that the plant is a little big for his dome since he repotted it, so he is going to change it up a bit...if MIF's new setup works it will give the plant much more rome to grow...i will upload pics once he reports back to me with the results.

and now to the good part...the pics!


Update:

this is the humidity dome....MIF's kratom is almost too wide to fit inside it now (these pics are from a little over a week ago.) MIF has decided to make a second attempt at acclimating the kratom to life outside the dome (even though his first attempt was a failure)...tonight will be its first night, so we will see how that goes...

[jux]

Salvia July 2007

the cutting is still doing well, but the mother plant progressed to the point that MIF almost threw it away (he reconsidered at the last moment and repotted it...not much hope for it though)

as you can see the cutting was repotted into the pot his kratom used to live in (as i said earlier, the kratom got the mother plants old pot)

MIF's setup for the cutting is indoors with a window that gets direct morning light and is supplemented by two 100 watt compact flourescents on an 18 hour cycle. for humidity (even indoors just spraying isnt enough where MIF lives) it is covered by a three liter sod bottle with the label removed...a piece of plastic wrap with pinholes in it is in used instead of the cap and is secured by a rubberband. seems to be working well so far..

anyways, here are some pics of the cutting... (thumbnails)



Update:
despite how the salvia looks in those thumbnails, its not doing so well now...the cat (who already killed the mother plant) decided to knock the humidity dome (aka a 2 liter bottle) off the plant and ate half of the leaves before i noticed...

before kitty... (same picture as thumbnail)


after kitty.....(a couple of days after the attack)



the plant was moved outside after the attack...it doesn't seem to like it very much out there, but hopefully it will do better than its mother did....not looking to good though

[jux]

Cacti July 2007

for the purposes of this growlog the cacti will now be called (from left to right) A, B, C, and D

as i mentioned in an earlier post, the quick move to the july sun is taking its toll on the cacti...they look waterstarved, but they get plenty of water...MIF may have to move them back indoors...but as long as the pups look fine, he will keep them out there to see if they will acclimate. also MIF needs to throw some more rocks in there to help keep the topsoil from blowing away (its been very windy at nights...you can see the previously buried parts in the pictures)

the first pic is a top veiw of A showing its pup, the second is a pic of A and B , the last is of C and D together...not a lot of change, but i wanted to get better pics for MIFs growlog....

(edit: this is refering to the thumbnails at the very bottom of the post)






Update:

it looks like MIF finally got the cacti acclimated to the harsh outdoor climate...they no longer look waterstarved and are doing quite well....




he also made a couple of new cuttings which are currently in the ground. he decided to try to root one of the cuttings "log style" (planted on its side instead of upright)....they are getting pretty waterstarved, so they should be sending out roots soon....

[jux]

ok, before i bother to update this again for this month...

is anyone actually reading/checking this? i have another growlog (which is a little nicer and includes a couple of extra plants) setup in my blog...soooo.... if no ones reading this, i will just update that one and provide a link to those here who want it......

so, should i keep updating here or just provide a link to my other growlog?

either way, heres a teaser shot of MIF's kratom (newly adapted to the harsh and dry environment)...