Trichocereus potency testing

[pete666]

Here are the first results from testing cacti grown in my garden. I did not want to standardize the testing in the usual way (by extracting from dried green tissue). Instead, the aim was to make the cacti directly comparable to each other.

For that reason, all plants were grown under the same conditions: a small 5 cm apical scion was grafted onto a vigorous rootstock. Once the cactus reached a weight of 1.5–2.5 kg (after roughly 12–14 months, including a 6-month vegetative rest period), it was cut and stored at 22 °C in complete darkness for three months. The apex was removed to prevent further growth, and any emerging buds were also removed.

Alkaloids were then extracted from the complete fresh material of each cactus (including core, white flesh, green flesh, wax, spines) using an STB extraction, followed by quantitative analysis.

The table shows the percentage of alkaloids relative to the total fresh mass, along with a relative potency comparison expressed as a percentage of the strongest cultivar. The most potent cultivar is G2 atm, which has consistently been my strongest since I have it. In previous extractions, it reached levels of up to 0.26%, which is about twice as much as in this trial. This difference makes sense, as in this case the plants were grown under ideal, low-stress conditions and for only one year, rather than over a longer period.

More cultivars will be tested and added later...

Cultivar	potency %/fresh	potency %/G2
Ogun	0,051%	39,8%
Eileen	0,075%	58,67%
Urubamba	0,042%	33,39%
Zhuracpamba	0,061%	48,14%
G2	0,127%	100%
Liria	0,045%	35,57%
W.Baker 5452	0,102%	80,18%
JxH	0,044%	34,34%

 

[aizoaceous]

Very interesting, thanks. Extraction of the whole plant is strictly more informative than the usual smaller samples, just a lot of work. Is the reported potency by mass of crude alkaloids, or by a more selective method (chromatography etc.)?

 

[pete666]

Very interesting, thanks. Extraction of the whole plant is strictly more informative than the usual smaller samples, just a lot of work. Is the reported potency by mass of crude alkaloids, or by a more selective method (chromatography etc.)?

Just crude alkaloids. The extraction process is quite precise - no heat, with a defatting step - so the result is usually fairly pure and off-white. I expect it to contain at least 80% mescaline.

 

[modern]

the plants are all in your cultivation so the fresh yield should provide adequate information but I've been scratching my head on this for presenting increase in yields.

my fresh yield increase is around 10-15% where the dried yield of the same exact plant (recorded both weights) the increase is 40-45%.

Dry weight seems to be the most reliable due to being able to make uniform dry material but the control had a higher dry weight than the same mass after the experiment. 300g fresh for both same clone and almost uniform size but control is 15g dry vs 9-10g dry for the experiment meaning loss of volatile compounds (I suspect mostly certain compounds being converted and release more CO2 and others like ethylene and JA among others.

You collection seems to be uniform treatments so not a big issue. But even different hydration say the same clone after a long drought would cause the fresh yield to vary a lot no?

Can you share a picture of your G2 clone

 

[pete666]

the plants are all in your cultivation so the fresh yield should provide adequate information but I've been scratching my head on this for presenting increase in yields.

my fresh yield increase is around 10-15% where the dried yield of the same exact plant (recorded both weights) the increase is 40-45%.

Dry weight seems to be the most reliable due to being able to make uniform dry material but the control had a higher dry weight than the same mass after the experiment. 300g fresh for both same clone and almost uniform size but control is 15g dry vs 9-10g dry for the experiment meaning loss of volatile compounds (I suspect mostly certain compounds being converted and release more CO2 and others like ethylene and JA among others.

You collection seems to be uniform treatments so not a big issue. But even different hydration say the same clone after a long drought would cause the fresh yield to vary a lot no?

I fully agree with you. In my case, however, drying such a large number of cacti is impractical and not strictly necessary, as my goal is not to directly compare my results with those of other growers. The primary aim was to compare my own cultivars under identical conditions. Once this internal comparison is established, it becomes possible to relate my dataset to those of others by using well-known reference cultivars (such as Eileen, Ogun, Baker, etc.). All cacti were grown under identical conditions, including the same watering regime. While this approach is not fully bulletproof, it should provide a reasonable basis for estimating relative potency. If that is even possible with these plants.

 

[pete666]

Can you share a picture of your G2 clone