A kind soul donated some baby lophophorias and some trichocereus. I tried to locate some pereskiopsis to graft the lophos on to --- no luck. Can I graft lophos of this size (attached photo) to trich's of this size (attached photo)? Are the trichs too small? It's kind of hard to tell from the photo, but the trich's are roughly 3.5 cm tall.
Hypocotyl (spelling?) grafting can work. That is when you take a slow growing seedling and graft it to the base of a faster growing seedling. I would wait until you get some pereskiopsis, though. A wedge graft with pereskiopsis and a slow growing cactus will take, even if the scion is a little bigger than you might want for a regular pereskiopsis graft.
Yeah, I've been calling all our local nurseries about pereskiopsis to no avail. I wonder where I could get some? ;)
I looked up Daves' Garden's website and they don't have any listed, but I emailed him anyway --- maybe he's got some ideas. He's close by, on the Island.
I have a question regarding Lophophoras: Is it Ok to grow them in Canada? Maybe odd question,but in US you might get to jail,am I right?
They are completely legal to grow in Canada. Same with San Pedro, Peruvian Torch, etc. In fact there are no cactuses that are illegal to cultivate in Canada at all (like cannabis or opium poppies are). However, if you process them to extract the alkaloid mescaline, that would illegal as mescaline is just as illegal as any other hallucinogen like LSD-25 or MDMA. I believe the exact charge would be, "Manufacturing a Controlled Substance", or some such. I just grow them because I like them. I'm a plant lover and have many types of plants. Edit: From the Consolidated Statutes of Canada, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act: Mescaline (3,4,5--trimethoxybenzeneethanamine) and any salt thereof, but not peyote (lophophora) is a "Schedule Three" category drug.
Yep - "Manufacturing a Controlled Substance" is the main charge for extraction. Then they tack on all sorts of other wierd ones if they don't like the way you look. "Posession of a Narcotic With Intent to Distribute" is a normal add-on, because they'll assume that if you're extracting you're gonna sell it. Unless you're of the Southern Plains Cree Nation or the Southern Blackfoot Nation, and sometimes the Southern Crow Nation (the tribes from Southern Alberta) - they've got carte blanche because of what is enshrined as "traditional use."
If these cactuses start being widely used as a precursor for mescaline production, they will likely be made illegal. However, from what I know about mescaline use (not much), I don't think it's the kind of drug that will really catch on due to it's nauseating side effects. Still, I like my cactuses and don't ever want to risk losing losing them.
I can't really see it happening, largely for the reasons you state. I'd be more concerned about them outlawing it on the grounds of the buttons, not the extract. Equally, I'd be concerned about them outlawing the San Pedros first.
I just got a reply from Dave, of Dave's Garden --- he said he had no idea about pereskiopsis. Oh well. McSquared seems to be my last, best hope ... ;)
