From: joelong@cco.caltech.edu (Joseph Louis Long) Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: Re: HBWR seeds Date: 10 Jun 1994 05:11:37 GMT Message-ID: <2t8sm9$e47@gap.cco.caltech.edu> [quoted text deleted -cak] I saved this post from a.d a year or two ago on growing LSA containing plants. GOOD LUCK! ----------------------------- clip starts here HAWAIIAN WOODROSE Merremia tuberosa Morning glory family (Convolvulaceae) A slender perennial vine with leaves divided into 5 to 7 narrow lobes. The flowers are yellow, followed by a smooth round capsule, surrounded by 5 petal-like sepals. Native to Asia; naturalized and cultivated in Hawaii. CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION: The large woodrose may be grown outdoors in southern California and the South. The seed of the large woodrose must be nicked well before it will grow. Cut a nick in the seedcoat with a hacksaw, or cut the small end of the seed off. Soak for 24 hours or until it swells. Then place the seed in a bowl or cup of damp peat moss, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it over the pilot light of your stove, or anywhere that maintains a temparature of 80F or more. Ordinary bottom heat usually isn't warm enough. Check every few days until it sprouts in 4-10 days. Once sprouted, plant in a 3- to 4-inch pot if grown indoors, or start seed in May if to be grown outdoors. Place the pot in a large sunny window and give the vine something to twine around. I have seen these vines grown one foot or more per week. It is very easy to grow after sprouting. It can take little or much watering and much abuse. The vine will flower the second and subsequent years. HARVESTING: The pods may be harvested when they are thoroughly dry. Its storage properties are the same as those of the baby woodrose. So, onto the baby... HAWAIIAN BABY WOODROSE Argyreia nervosa Bojer. Morning Glory family (Convolvulaceae) A large perennial climbing vine with heart-shaped leaves up to 1 foot across, backed with silvery hairs. The flowers are 2 to 3 inches long, rose-colored, on 6-inch stalks. Pods dry to a smooth, dark brown, filbert-sized casule containing 1 to 4 furry brown seeds. The capsule is surrounded by a dry calyx divided into 5 petal-like sections. Native to Asia; naturalized and cultivated in Hawaii. CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION: It may be grown outdoors in southern California and Florida. Elsewhere it should be grown in a large pot or tub outdoors in the summer, brought indoors in winter. It may be propagated by cuttings or seeds, and in the spring by division. The seed may be sprouted by making a small nick in the seedcoat away from the germ eye. Soak the seed until it swells. Plant 1/2-inch deep in loose rich soil. Do not use bottom heat. After the cotyledons appear, water sparingly, letting the soil surface dry out to a depth of 1/2-inch. Over-watering causes stem and root rot. The plant grows slowly until it develops a half-dozen leaves; after this it grows quickly. In its first year this plant grows into a small bush 1 to 2 feet tall. During this time it may be grown in a large pot and kept indoors in winter. The next spring it will grow into a very large vine and should produce flowers and seeds. In this second year it should be planted out, or grown in a tub. In cold-winter areas the roots should be liften and stored or the tub kept in a cool place until spring. The methods of increasing the alkaloid content of morning glories (which see) may be applied to this vine. HARVESTING: The seed pots should be harvested when thoroughly dry. They should be stored in a cool, dry place. Their potency may begin to decrease after 6-9 months. Okay, so now onto Ipomoea (Morning Glory): ...Various methods have been devised to increase the alkaloid content of the seeds by altering the soil chemistry and using hormones. An interesting account of these methods is found in the book _Home Grown Highs_ by Mary Jane Superweed. That's it. The above info came from the book _Growing the Hallucinogens_, by Hudson Grubber (Twentieth Century Alchemist Series, (c) 1973). This is the companion book to _Legal Highs_; it contains growing info only. I may have gotten it from loompanics about a decade ago (fifth printing, 1981). Don't know if these guys are still around. Morning Glory's are really weed-like vines (I believe another common name is pigweed, and have heard that a chopped vine can grow into a new plant from as little as a 3/4in length). I know of a few places around the city where it grows wild or semi-wild (at least sidewalk accessible), and have collected a good number of capsules the 2-3 times I strolled past. Some weevils lay their eggs in the flowers; when the insect matures (inside the capsule), it cuts out a small (3mm dia.) perfectly circular hole to escape. These seeds are now approximately 3 years old (I collect more seeds than I have time to care for (70-80 plants)), but I sprouted some of the Morning Glory a couple months ago with a fairly good germination rate (~75%). However, overly-humid conditions caused rotting and their demise.