Sacred Cacti

@sensient, stunning show. Thank you for taking the time to photo and post these specimens. I wish you luck in caring for them, they have a good friend in you.
@PlantManBee, glad it wasn’t a total loss. Also wishing you success for your herb plants as well. Will the affected areas of damage/death on the cactus still house active alkaloids? I guess my question is how long after damage/die-back would the alkaloids stay intact before starting to degrade?
Cheers all
 
@sensient, stunning show. Thank you for taking the time to photo and post these specimens. I wish you luck in caring for them, they have a good friend in you.
@PlantManBee, glad it wasn’t a total loss. Also wishing you success for your herb plants as well. Will the affected areas of damage/death on the cactus still house active alkaloids? I guess my question is how long after damage/die-back would the alkaloids stay intact before starting to degrade?
Cheers all
Thanks for the warm thoughts. Unfortunately, I think I lost more than it looks like at first glance. Even the plants that didn't collapse are a little soft and the color isn't right. But there is hope for them I think. The one plant that looks pretty good is a small bridgesii I missed when I was wrapping everything up.

As for the alkaloids I suspect that they will be fine. Mescaline is a very stable alkaloid and IIUC samples found in 2000-year-old tombs still yielded active alkaloids. I smell them now as I'm pressure cooking some as I type. If you have ever munched on any psychedelic cactus you know the penetrating smell I'm talking about. To me, it means the goods are on the way. 😍
 
PMB, you remember the “Bitter-Beer-Face” commercials from decades past?

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That’s what I think of in connection to psychoactive cactus ingestion.

I know they found traces of mescaline in very old, what I believe were properly prepared cactus, quasi mummified. I’m talking about what happens to the alkaloids when the tissue turns to mush after the cells rupture from sustained freezing temps. Very different circumstance I’m thinking. I wonder how long it would last in that pile of mush?

All the best on your upcoming spirit journey(s). I’m very glad the remaining cactus should bounce back. What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger.
 
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It looks like some of the cactus will survive. The damaged parts will be cut off and pressure cooked to get the goods out.
Interesting.
Excuse my poor eyesight but it looks to be some P.C,s and Bridgesii in there. Some of the thinner ribbed types almost look Cereus. .but im guessing stress? ....not sure where you are located but I'm guessing the time of year watering has been withheld.
I can't see any spines on the Bridgesii types...Short spine or am I not seeing the spines? I had some Bridgesii that were long spine types but for some reason refused to adapt to local climate and would only throw short spines or spine tips..
It's believed that stressing leads to higher alkaloid content ...it seems to hold true with my personal experiments.
Have you experimented feeding them coconut water, triggers them into the throwing pups, I've had some good results.
Applying bap promotes pupping....I've seen some pretty interesting road runner cartoon style branching from bap application...but don't get into applying hormones to them.
Enjoy your journeying....with the current situation in the world I've been experiencing some very profound experiences.
Planning on doing some sweet lodge ceremony ..... interesting times🙏💚✌️
 
Some PC, and some unnamed short spined Bridgessii. No cereus, but I see what you mean about the deep ribs. They haven't had water for several months now.

I don't think that freezing will affect the mescaline molecules even when it's alive though I could easily be wrong. It takes time and effort to assemble. I know that it's relatively impervious to chemicals just from extraction experience with it. I have seen the pH swing from about 3-12 and it's still active.

I haven't tried BAP or coconut water yet. I've had plenty of cuttings. But since my stock is now mostly gone, I'll be retooling. My long spined Bridgessii all went indoors except for the one I mentioned that survived. I was pretty surprised that it faired better than any of the others.
 
Nice man!
Yes I think you may be correct regarding the freezing. Mescaline is very stable due to covalent bonding of mescaline .
Although it can still break down quite easily due to other factors, U V being one of these factors .
Depending on how you do extraction, If doing a straight boil down method adding citric helps stability and prevents attack and breakdown from free radicals.
I'm wondering how things apply to actual freezing of the live product?
Freezing of prepared brew as you would know retains potency for a long time, some say indefinitely, but I couldn't confirm this.
It would be interesting to hear about your results ..
Admittedly whenever any of my specimens have been frost damaged I have kept an eye on things and have removed and discarded anything to far gone.
Discovering fine specimens turned to slush is rather disappointing!
Very interested to hear how you go with things, good luck and condolences on any loses man💚
Sensient ✌️
 
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Big brother and little sister were doing well but they got too big for the pot they were in and fell over. We'll transplant them later today.

It'd be nice if we could have a Sacred Cacti moment where we simultaneously "get in the right mood" and share experiences real-time..
 
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