Acacia harvest timing

[xram]

Hi all,

In an attempt to become self-sustainable given the uncertainty surrounding supplies (and because I love plants and enjoy growing them), I've started growing some of my own entheogens. I've got a few T. peruvianus, pachanoi, and bridgesii, a year-old M. hostilis, and a young narrow phyllode A. acuminata. The acuminata, if I can get it to adulthood, seems to be the best bet for small-scale sustainable harvesting (though I've got a nice two-pot system going for the mimosa that should make harvesting roots fairly easy once it's mature).

I've read that the alkaloid content of acacias varies markedly based on environmental conditions when it's harvested - season, rainfall, and so forth. However, I haven't seen any clear consensus on when the optimal time to harvest actually is, or what can be done to maximize alkaloid production. As I've only got room for one small tree, from which I plan to harvest stems and phyllodes, I need to make every little bit count. Although it'll be a little while before I can harvest anything, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I would have posted this in the relevant section, but I don't have full member access yet (mods, here's my into essay ).

 

[acacian]

general consensus is that after rain and during flowering is not ideal for harvest.. though there are differing individual cases. i tested a peculiar strain of longifolia last year which had the highest and richest dmt content during flowering (tests were also done during rain) .. i imagine in propagation these variables may differ. a lot of people reckon summer is the highest yielding time. generally if your growing a consistently active species you'll rarely not get dmt out of it

good luck with the growing

 

[atticus.paa.tal]

Hey, i live in Queensland, over the years i have worked with a variety of Acacia's found in the bush..

Longifolia: harvested early to mid february which yielded good results, the tree had old flowers and spent pods, could never achieve a nice crystal, only ever goo(ranging ph 1 to 4 on the cook, nothing worked), still very active, effects are very physical (buzzing, deep sinking feeling, body felt like fluid)

Obtusifolia: Harvested winter last year, mixed results compared to other yields and harvest dates, so i'm assuming winter is not the best for this species, just before flowering.

Acuminator: Leaves, always consistent yields. never worked with bark.

Maidenii: allot of fats/oils, post defat worked well, never polar defat, re salt the combined pulls and basify the wash. the spice is a little different compared to other acacias, more intense.

Podryiafolia: never given a yield, just brown waxy crumb, not active, ever...

hope this helps...

 

[DreaMTripper]

Thanks man always good to build the bigger picture for acacia!

 

[xram]

Thanks acacian and atticus, that's very helpful. It looks like I'll be shooting for summer after it's been a bit dry. I had read somewhere on here that rain drew the DMT into the leaves from the bark or something, but I remain skeptical. In any case, it seems I've got a while to go - either acuminatas are naturally extremely slow, or mine just doesn't like my setup.

Atticus, it sounds like you've worked with acuminata phyllodes a fair bit. In the acacia analysis thread, it looked like the acuminata sample was a dark brown goo, pretty far from white crystals (though that was the regular phyllode variety, iirc - don't think the narrow phyllode sample was pictured). Are you able to get crystals out of your acuminata phyllodes? If you don't mind me asking, what tek do you recommend? Thanks so much for letting me pick your brain!

 

[acacian]

yep people get crystals from acuminata phyllodes it just depends on the solvent they are using.. nen's sample was more than likely extracted with dcm whereas most people use shellite (out form of naptha over here). i know a member here has been extracting from the phyllodes of his own 3 yr old acuminatas and getting beautiful white fluff..

hey interesting to hear you mention the physical sinking feeling with longifolia atticus - I found the same thing... though I found at differen't times of year/differen't weather the extract changed a little

 

[xram]

Interesting, thanks for the clarification - that makes me even more excited. Three years isn't that long to to wait to have your own clean, sustainable source at home. I'm grateful to the nexus, and to you and nen in particular, for leading me to this plant. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get, given that I only have room to grow one small tree indoors, but it's mostly a special occasion kind of thing for me anyhow.

 

[acacian]

thanks xram its humbling to know I have helped people in some way.. not as actively involved in the nexus as I was at the moment.. very busy with work but still an occasional lurker.. its great to see how much acacia knowledge is coming into the spotlight now and how many people are interested in growing

 

[--Shadow]

I had read somewhere on here that rain drew the DMT into the leaves from the bark or something, but I remain skeptical.

There a a few hypothesis on this. Mainly it is either 1) expelled from the stomata, or 2) further synthesized into other compounds (like growth hormone) with the influx of water

Why excess rain drops alkaloid content, and what increases it - Collaborative Research Project - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus

By contrast, if you are looking to 'increase' alkaloid yields, there have been numerous studies that show a relation between drought/water stress and and increase in indole alkaloids.

Also, I'm currently growing acuminata (broad and narrow) under lights as well as outside.
Have you found if they respond well to 24hr light periods (similar to a growing/vegetative stage of cannabis)
I'm going to experiment growing them in these PVC pipes

 

[atticus.paa.tal]

Hey, i use a combination of tek's, mainly Lextek, The Handbook and Whatcha's, with hydrochloric, and phosphorus sometimes, i find with hydro there is less chance of failing the synthesis, and there tends to be less fat/oils on the surface of the boil, plus it is allot cheaper...

I have had acuminata(8 narrow leaf) growing for around 2.5 to 3 years, the older they get the better... It was the same for me at first, brown/yellow crumb, i figured that the crumb was plant matter/membrane being pulled with the solvent, a quick wash with shellite and back in the freezer(crystals formed, although slightly oily), plus the first extraction was with only 100g of leaf and i basified the cook without straining, the following extraction was allot better, i used around 1kg of leaves... acid cooked and strained X 4, reduced(1 liter), salted(rock salt), basified, pulled, re-salt(hydro), basified, pulled, bi-carb wash, in the fridge for a day, then in the freezer... around 4.5grams of fluffy white pure love

You must do a proper defat, i have thought about soaking the dry matter in turps, separating, drying and then the acid cook to see what happened, maybe there will be less oils/non polar impurities and a post defat may not be necessary, i'll give it a shot sometime... aromatic solvents would work best for this, rather then shellite i'm guessing, also, freeze the fresh leaves after harvesting, burst the cells, dry and freeze again, grind the dry matter before cooking, more fine the grind the better.

The Acuminata are slow growing, but you will see when they are around 1 to 1.5 years old, and in the ground, not potted, they really start to shine, with full sun, they wont be as flimsy and floppy if you know what i mean, and never use blood and bone, for some reason the acacia do not like it, none of the them, i lost a few.

With the Longifolia, i wasn't sure if i made the correct id, because there was more yield in the root bark, there was a huge storm in the area and several mature tree's were uprooted, it was like heaven, harvesting without a conscience, 4 kilos of root back, double that of trunk bark, from 1 tree! after more researching i was 100% sure that i had made the right id, phyllode structure, size, shape, length of flower, color, bark texture etc and yet it had never been documented that the root bark was considered to be active, well not what i could find, i never did an extraction on the phyllodes, i was to busy enjoying the bark..

a note for the root bark: the fresh inner bark is white/yellow/brownish, upon tasting/chewing there is a tingle, a dry flavor, the smell is dry, fruity and slightly pungent.

Testing the extract caught me by surprise, i sandwiched the goo, a big blob of it and sparked up, at first there was nothing and i thought, damn nothing, what a waste of time, 20/30 seconds later it dropped me, i was in fairy land gasping for air, sitting upright on a tall chair riding it like a electric bull, aahh man thank god i was alone, i was rocking all over the show, holding on for all... i had never had that physical effect before, with any other acacia or mimosa, definately a distinctive effect from longifolia, i recall when having a large dose the tension in the upper body/skull almost became uncomfortable, even painful at first, the feeling always subsided it was only ever brief, i gathered that there may have been residue sodium hydroxide, but there was no stinging/burning lips or tongue, and no caustic flavor, only the nice dmt flavor and smell, plus after another extraction, the same effect.

I thought i would mention this, since i found it interesting, i have noticed that grasshoppers tend to not eat much of the acuminata phyllodes only ever a nibble, they love mimosa, confusa, cauliflorous, florabunda, and won't touch viridis... i wonder why.