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My San Pedro's are dying

rincewindrocks

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
Messages
2,746
Location
Neuvo Mexico
I live in the desert, they are getting plenty of Sun and we water them once a week or so, but those fuckers are still turning brown. So two questions.

1) any suggestions on how to perk them up?

2) if they're done for, can we still pull them and extract the mescaline, or has it disappeared>
 
San Pedro are not desert cacti. They are tropical and sub tropical cacti. You dont grow them like you grow desert cacti. Grow them like you would grow an avocado tree.
 
Rumor has it that watering your cacti as little as possible maximizes alkaloid production. I cannot verify this however.

Of course, you've still got to water it frequently enough to keep it alive.
 
You dont need to worry about that until harvest. For now you want to water and promote growth.

Also, I am not entirely convinced that most of the alkaloid gains are anything other than decreasing volume of the cacti.....Yeah, it might be more potent by weight, but you dont necessarily have more alkaloid, you just have less water. It might help a little, but I think it ruins the taste. You will have better luck cutting the spines off or scrapping the skin. That way it thinks predators are attacking.
 
Along these lines, how hard should the flesh be? I have several and one of them feels pretty soft, but is still dark green. Another one is a bit lighter but has always been light, light green rather than dark... it's recently started feeling a bit softer in parts, but then sometimes feels totally hard again. Also, that one has brown patches that are dry as can be. I realize pictures would help but I don't have them at the moment.

I also realize this is someone else's thread, but hopefully my questions and subsequent answers will help shed light on their situation as well. :)
 
Brown patches at the base of the cacti are normal. It changes into a form that will root that way. If its at the top, thats not good.

You want to water them more. Also give them some nutrients. They grow in rich mountain and volcanic sub-tropical climates at high elevation. It likes richer soil than other cacti we are used to.
 
Well I'm in a high-end temperate mountain location at elevation... in the remnants of a rainforest. It's very humid here. And beautiful. :)

I do give them nutrients... it could be because they're coming out of winter hibernation. The brown is all at the bottom, but irregular... on some sides it's all green and on others the brown patches climb up 2-3 inches.
 
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