Color of Cactus

[slim charles]

Does the brighter green the cactus is mean anything? SWIM bought a pot with three in it. The green one worked out great, but before he tries this paler, yellower one he wanted to know if color indicated anything as far as potency.

[Panthers007]

The color of a plant, be it leafy or a cacti, is determined mostly by the amount of water it has received and/or the amount of sunlight it has received. Though when a plant is turning yellowish, it usually indicates that it has not been getting enough water. Which is pretty rare for a San Pedro.

Bongo had occasion to encounter a completely white San Pedro once. It had been lost and had rolled under a radiator in the dark for a year. It was still growing and came back to full life once it was placed into a pot with cactus-soil.

[slim charles]

Cool, but what effect does that have on potency?

[Bezzz]

Swim tells me that the colour of the cactus has absolutely nothing to do with potency.

Although he does tell me that if swiy plans on harvesting a live plant to use for a journey there are some steps he could take to increase potency. Don't water for it for a few weeks (the longer the better), cut the piece that you want and leave it in a shady area for a few mores weeks and then consume.

Obviously this takes quite a lot of time....

The plant will find this stressfull and starts to produce more mescaline as a result. This method works better than other physical ways of stressing the plant like cutting it.

Ah and remember to save the top 3-6 inches of the plant (the growing tip), let the cut surface dry out for a couple of weeks then put it back in the pot. After a few months it should start to root. Don't water it until it has sprouted a few roots though!

[snapper]

SWIM once received several san pedro cuttings which had been stored a long time. They had continued to grow while stored in the dark and developed smaller, narrower tips which were devoid of chlorophyll. They were about 4-5 inches long and the tips died off when the cactii were planted. All rooted.
Yellowing is usually indicative of a lack of nitrogen (ie-fertilizer). For a cactus, San Pedro can grow a lot in a year and all that biomass demands nitrogen for protein synthesis, esp. chlorophyll. Pallor is a different thing. Pallor, rather than yellowing, reflects the chloroplast population (organelle containing chlorophyll) which is modulated by light. To a certain extent, less light will enlist more chloroplasts to take advantage of what is there, but in the absence of light, no more chlorophyll will be produced, hence the white cactus. Cactii exposed to high light may appear a bit paler compared to shadier ones. The diameter of san pedros increases with more light.

[Richi]

The darker the cactus, the darker the potency.

A website swim has ordered from states that stressed cacti are also more potent, but not darker in color.

When swiy tries the yellow cactus, let swim's know.

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by Richi

The darker the cactus, the darker the potency.

Source? This sounds like very useful information if substantiated at least by experiential evidence if not by laboratory of scientific testing.

A website swim has ordered from states that stressed cacti are also more potent, but not darker in color.

In swims experience, streesed cacti are generally lighter in color.

[Richi]

Yes shampoo, this is the conundrum.

Different sources have suggested different information - so I cannot deduce which is true. I will try to find specific ones.