Nov 06: I thought of this project after me and my friends got scammed.
During a recent road trip to the lost coast, we came across a hippie market in the woods.
We ended up paying a lot for some chocolate bars that were supposed to have psilocybin. Of course, they had no psylocybin.
We cleared a whole Sunday off our schedule; We came to the ritual on an empty stormach, and set a nice fire. Then we consumed what was recommended as a beginner dose, and waited for the effect.
There was no effect, of course. We finished the rest of the chocolate, and didn't experience anything
That led me to think that if I want a halucinogenic experience, I would have to manufacture the substance myself
I know that growing mushroom cultures requires experience and equipment I don't currently have; but I'm good with plants; so Salvia Divinorum seemed like a good choice. I've never experimented with Salvia, but I felt like it would be fun to grow it
Also, it is important to mention that Salvia Divinorum is completely legal in California.
I actually got a potted plant from a nursery in Occidental. Plant.net agreed that the plant is definitely the divine sage.
Of course, I could just cut some leaves from the plant, but where's the fun in that? I need a proper hydroponic setup with a giant salvia plant in the hallway of my appartment
As I have learned over the years, roots that have known soil do not do well in hydroponics; they are too rich with bacterial and fungal cultures that are harmless in soil, but are a disaster in hydroponic environment
Therefore, the natural solution would be to clone the plant in rockwool, so it produces roots that are pure and free from all soil contaminants
It normally takes the clone about a month to develop proper roots. In the meantime, I can work on my hydroponic system
Nov 24: Looks like the clone has developed some roots; it's time to move it into a proper hydroponic setup
I've already got things prepared. I'm making a deep water culture system out of a large plastic tote; the description says 20 gallon, but that's when it's filled to the brim; reasonably, I could add 15 gallons of water into it
The air pump is nice and quiet, and produces a lot of bubbles
Now, adding nutrients; I'm using FloraGro series for this project; I know there are cheaper options that are just as good, but for this size it doesn't really matter
I added 60 ml of all 3 components; that's about half of what I normally give plants, but I'll keep the concentration low till the roots mature a bit
The color is just inert dyes that come with the nutrients
Now, the lid setup
I already had the lid pre drilled for my old projects; the holes are 3.5 inches in diameter, perfect for 3.75 inch net baskets
The basket in the corner will just be filled with clay pebbles; it will be the maintenance hatch. Later on, when the plant is large, you can't just open the lid willy nilly, so you need an extra opening to refill the water
Now, the clone
Moved into the second net basket and covered up with pebbles; that will keep the moisture in
Now insert it into the hydroponic system, and cover up with its coffee cup; it will serve as a humidity dome at first, just in case the roots aren't robust enough yet
And, most importantly, the lights. This is my old 'UFO' LED lamp I had in my closet, a leftover of my old project
I have the light plugged into a timer, it would turn the lights on at 8 AM and off at 11 PM
Now I'll just leave it like this for at least a month
Nov 27: Added a splash of Voodoo Juice to the nutrient solution; hopefully it will help the plant grow healthy roots
Dec 14: Looks like the plant is making good progress; At first every new set of leaves had a bit of a necrotic edge; the roots were probably not strong enough to support any leaves
But now I got a good set of leaves, large and healthy
Also, the roots finally getting outside the basket; I have one root that is at least a couple inches, plus another small one, though you can barely see it on the picture
So, looks like the plant has finally established itself; I'm expecting proper growth soon
Dec 24: Bad news about the potted plant. It seems to have succumbed to some root related ailment, gradually getting worse over the last few weeks
I don't know what the white things are; I know they look like traces of some insect activity, but it doesn't look like it from closer inspection; Maybe some sort of opportunistic fungus eating away a dying plant. Anyway, I got rid of it before whatever it is spreads
At this stage it's fine; I was planning to keep the potted plant alive as a backup, so I can make another clone from it in case something goes wrong in the hydroponics.
The hydroponic one, on the other hand, is doing well. Large leaves, with more growing. Roots look healthy and are making good progress too
Jan 09: The plant is making decent progress; I expect explosive growth in a couple weeks
Roots are looking good
The leaves are also growing at a good rate
I've noticed that the plant tends to be a little droopy in the evening, but is always reinvigorated the next morning
(evening state on the left, morning state on the right)
It might be a sign that the plant could use a couple less hours of daylight, but I won't be making any changes for now
There's a bit of fuzz growing on the clay pellets, but I'm pretty sure it's just some friendly mycorrhizae. If that was not the case, roots wouldn't be looking this healthy
Feb 4: The plant has been growing steadily, but not as quickly as i'm used to seeing plants grow in deep water culture
Also, the leaves are strangely elongated; a lot more so than in the original plant it was cloned from
The way i see it, it could be because of 2 possible reasons:
- Longer daylight hours than the plant is used to
- Reduced minerality
Longer daylight period is something I don't want to change for now
Reduced minerality, on the other hand, was good when the plant was just a sapling with underdeveloped roots; now the roots are much stronger, i can gradually increase the minerality
I added 25 ml of everything today. I'm going to repeat it the next 2 weekends. That would bring the mineral content to the level i normally count as balanced
Other than weired leaf shape, the plant seems healthy. I might be underestimating the growth, since it's been very actively growing some side branches. Maybe i should take some of the branches and make new clones out of them
Also, since I'm here, here's a root picture. Enjoy
UPDATE: the clone is ready
I'll find it a good home once it develops roots
I also got some leaves i trimmed off the clone branch. Time for an experiment
UPDATE 2: Made half a cup of divinorum tea out of the leaves
Wasn't enough to get past the hallucination threshold (probably because i had a nice full breakfast earlier today), but i definitely got some cannabis style high out of it
Tasted weired, but not unpleasant