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Guest
Guest
i have 15 6 months-old peyotes. i am an experienced grower, i have been doing some reading about the water they need, and i have read all kinds of opinions, so i thought i would post my own opinion about my experience as a grower.
when growing from seed (i always grow from seed, because i prefer to wait 15 years to get a true peyote than to wait 3 or 4 and get a mixed trip because i can't wait to get stoned - i love to connect myself to the growing being, see it grow almost everyday), i can assure you that peyotes do not need any sunlight, and giving the seeds direct sunlight will probably kill some of them, because they should be planted in spring or early summer (and the sun is hotter in that time). the trick to grow them very strong and faster, it isn't to water the soil until it is soaking, or cover the vase or whatever you are growing in with a plastic - this will just grow many fungus and rot the seeds and the seedlings, if they hatch at all. you should only keep the humidity at 95% or up. you can buy a higrometer and measure it. the best way to grow peyotes from seed, if you don't live in a very humid area, is to build a terrarium like the ones used for flowering mushrooms. that way they will probably sprout in 1 or 2 weeks.
then, the water in the winter. many people say that you shouldn't water at all during winter. well, i think that you should water them! but you should keep an eye on them...cacti are not robots, they do not NEED water every 2 weeks or they will auto-destroy: they need water when they are thirsty, and you should, first of all, be able to notice they when they ask for water. they will get small wrinkles (i am talking about baby peyotes), and if you don't water them, they will soon die. if you don't belive this, try to water a baby peyote in anytime of the year that has wrinkles: they will boost in size maybe one or two days after watering. test this by yourself and you will see.
one last piece of advice goes to sunlight. be aware that your peyotes are not very fragile by touch (don't push it, though), but they are somewhat fragile to sunlight at first - that is their weakness. in the winter, they do well with indirect sunlight, but i like to expose them to the weak sunlight sometimes. they seem to like it, and it dries the soil, which is good (try not to have the soil constantly wet). but beware: don't put your hard-grown peyotes in direct sunlight in july without preparing them to do so! they will turn a greyish-white (like a ghost) and soon die. in the winter,i expose them to some hours of direct sunlight, and keep doing this, but everytime, i keep them longer, so when the summer comes, they can be at a shade all day long (in my country the sun is very hot, and i don't like to leave them with sometimes 44ºC or 45ºC on their heads for hours). they thrive this way.
i am sorry if this post offended anyone that blindly belives that their way is the best, and my way would just kill a peyote. i think forums are for having plenty of ideas, and everybody learns from them. maybe in some years i will know many more about peyotes that i do now, and so will everyone. the trick is to keep trying, to push the envelope further and further.
when growing from seed (i always grow from seed, because i prefer to wait 15 years to get a true peyote than to wait 3 or 4 and get a mixed trip because i can't wait to get stoned - i love to connect myself to the growing being, see it grow almost everyday), i can assure you that peyotes do not need any sunlight, and giving the seeds direct sunlight will probably kill some of them, because they should be planted in spring or early summer (and the sun is hotter in that time). the trick to grow them very strong and faster, it isn't to water the soil until it is soaking, or cover the vase or whatever you are growing in with a plastic - this will just grow many fungus and rot the seeds and the seedlings, if they hatch at all. you should only keep the humidity at 95% or up. you can buy a higrometer and measure it. the best way to grow peyotes from seed, if you don't live in a very humid area, is to build a terrarium like the ones used for flowering mushrooms. that way they will probably sprout in 1 or 2 weeks.
then, the water in the winter. many people say that you shouldn't water at all during winter. well, i think that you should water them! but you should keep an eye on them...cacti are not robots, they do not NEED water every 2 weeks or they will auto-destroy: they need water when they are thirsty, and you should, first of all, be able to notice they when they ask for water. they will get small wrinkles (i am talking about baby peyotes), and if you don't water them, they will soon die. if you don't belive this, try to water a baby peyote in anytime of the year that has wrinkles: they will boost in size maybe one or two days after watering. test this by yourself and you will see.
one last piece of advice goes to sunlight. be aware that your peyotes are not very fragile by touch (don't push it, though), but they are somewhat fragile to sunlight at first - that is their weakness. in the winter, they do well with indirect sunlight, but i like to expose them to the weak sunlight sometimes. they seem to like it, and it dries the soil, which is good (try not to have the soil constantly wet). but beware: don't put your hard-grown peyotes in direct sunlight in july without preparing them to do so! they will turn a greyish-white (like a ghost) and soon die. in the winter,i expose them to some hours of direct sunlight, and keep doing this, but everytime, i keep them longer, so when the summer comes, they can be at a shade all day long (in my country the sun is very hot, and i don't like to leave them with sometimes 44ºC or 45ºC on their heads for hours). they thrive this way.
i am sorry if this post offended anyone that blindly belives that their way is the best, and my way would just kill a peyote. i think forums are for having plenty of ideas, and everybody learns from them. maybe in some years i will know many more about peyotes that i do now, and so will everyone. the trick is to keep trying, to push the envelope further and further.
