Rocketeerjim Grow-Log - Sylvia (Salvia Divinorum)

[RocketeerJim]

@Ulmy:
Thanks, Ulmy. I've taken exactly none from Sylvia. I've only accepted what she gives me - about 1/4 dry ounce of browning/dying/dropped leaf parts.

I've taken no cuttings from Sylvia because I'm not comfortable with the outcome of my two Sway Sister cuttings. Only one has survived and that one only barely. [I had a couple of "moving" accidents with the Sway Sisters that resulted in broken mainstems so I harvested the tips of those and one of those two died - I think from bug infestation - and the other is just barely hanging on. A third Sway Sister simply withered and died.]

I have only Sylvia, Ska Sway and the tip of Sally Sway left. My growing partner still has Kat Sway but she has done nothing in the three months since we got her. He keeps her in his bathroom so she gets lots of moisture from the shower, shaving water and etc., but she has not grown. It is very dimly lit in the bathroom as it has only a small window and that opens up to a covered carport. . . .

I would be willing to let go of one or two of Ska Sway's branches as cuttings if someone wanted to come to me to harvest them. But I have little confidence in my ability to nurture cuttings and count myself extremely lucky that Sylvia has made it this far. Should she develop root rot or some other fatal disease I'll certainly reconsider . . . .


I'm still just an infant gardener. After some time I'll probably take a cutting or two from Sylvia. . . . .


BOOLIE!!
Yeah, the air has been pretty dry for quite awhile tho we're in the middle of a "storm" right now so I'm going to move the girls outside today for awhile. I don't want to leave them outside over night because the temp drops below 40F rather unexpectedly. The weather forecasts for my local area are usually wrong by several degrees one way or the other so I have no confidence that I can predict when a freeze will hit us. I'm verrrrry pleased with Sylvia's ability to tolerate hot weather but a freeze would almost certainly kill her.

I think Sylvia is a Blosser. I got her from funnyfarmherbs and I think that is what another member identified his funnyfarm purchase as - Blosser. I guess I should have asked at the time when I bought her but oh well. . . .

[nothim]

The biggest trick on planet Earth is to keep your plants indoors in a humidity room aka small improvised greenhouse at 20 celsius with plenty of light (no direct light)-----------and you will meet no stress ever with the Girls!!!!!!

She is very sensitive - and any kind of stress -like moving out, wind, dry air , sudden change of temp , intense heat, direct sun, low temp ... ------the plant will suffer -- she will show you that she did not like that by leaving her leaves down(droop, saggy..)--- first thing to avoid this is to bring her back in a humidity environement !!!!

She will grow ten times faster there!!!!

[RocketeerJim]

An excellent and tantalizing Christmas Gift (for the girls) suggestion. And one that won't make the rest of my family "Jealous". I'll give that some serious thought, Boolie. Thanks for reminding me. Now, where did I leave that measuring tape?

[DanG]

I tried reaching for your plant but i forgot that i'm only infront of a screen. I'm sorry i had bad intentions. All i can think of is salad

I admire your patience! I'm sure your plant will reward you for that

[RocketeerJim]

LOL. I hope so. I tried two quids last night, 28 leaves in all, each split into two, then all split into two piles. Chewed first pile for 5 minutes with 10 minutes additional time swishing around in my mouth. Spat it out, then repeated with the second. Then rinsed. Maybe rinsing was a mistake. I felt a little odd, maybe a slight pull, as I proceeded to the kitchen sink to spit and rinse and back to my bed. I laid quietly in bed in my darkened room for over an hour thereafter. No goddess. In fact no visuals at all. The Ray Lynch music I listened to sounded a bit more up-close and personal than usual and I felt calm and time apparently passed a bit faster than I perceived it to do, but other than that . . . . no real fireworks. Took a hot bath to calm myself before the event, too. Oh well, at least I got clean!

Sylvia looks a bit less full now. Don't you think?

[nothim]

Jim , you have to chew 13 pairs of leaves ( or as many you can put in your mouth) , and chew them like it is a chewing gum Orbit White , do not spit the liquid , do not swallow the liquid- try to keep it inside your mouth as long as you can at least 15 minutes--- during this you have to lay down in darkness with your eyes closed - you can eat(swallow) the quid and the liquid after 15 minutes at least!

then.. relax! you have to be patient ! it does not come the first time !

[RocketeerJim]

Thanks for that Boolie! Using the quid method I certainly found no comparison, not even a hint, to smoking X20 or X60 extracts. But I am still very thankful for what Sylvia gave me. She's still just a child, after all.



BTW, while we're on the subject of the quid method, there's something I've been thinking about and would like to propose to the group:

In one of his recordings Terence McKenna talked about the process of preparing leaves to assemble a quid. He described using his thumbnail to remove the center vein out of each leaf. Then,he referred to rolling up the "leaf pairs" rather than "pairs of leaves" into a quid. Why on earth else would he use the awkward term "leaf pairs" or, for that matter, "pairs of leaves" to describe a simple number?? If there were no special meaning to the term, instead of 13 "leaf pairs", why wouldn't he just say "26 leaves"????

Seems to me an unnecessarily awkward use of language unless the term "leaf pair" has a special meaning. Elsewhere I've read that the Mazatecs also cut each leaf to remove the center vein, then place it with the superior surfaces facing each other, repeating and stacking leaves atop one another before rolling them into a cigar shape.

I therefor suspect the "leaf pair" McKenna spoke of is not two leaves at all but, rather, each "leaf pair" is actually only ONE leaf that has been prepared in the traditional Mazatec fashion (so each "leaf pair" is really one leaf, halved via removal of the center vein, and then stacked onto itself with the top surface of each "half" facing the other "half's" top surface).

What do y'all think??

[nothim]

i think that 20 normal big leaves is a filled mouth

i , one, never counted them cause i get very small to small , to average to normal leaves and i count by how many i can chew without suffocate( do not know the expresion when you eat and the food goes on the air channel lol) and how many would fill my mouth - once i over exagerated to 30 big ones and my sitter just prepared to call for the funerals so i stopped at 20 leaves

regarding the center vein - i think they remove that cause there is too much water there and you will end up with too many liquid that eventaly you will have to swallow earlier than you have to

[RocketeerJim]

I probably over-analyze this stuff, Boolie! I myself thought the center vein might be too fibrous but your moisture idea also "holds water"

[shambhu]

1. Lord Shiva has a cobra around his neck. Make "intelligent correlations" with the veins you have under your tongue (cobra has a forked tongue). That idea alone could be a developed into a little "how-to".

2. Sensory depravation is a big plus. Try to be in total silence and total darkness (unmoved posture also helps, if you want to "fly"). "Subtle" senses are normally overshadowed by the intensity of our "normal" senses. TOTAL means NO light whatsoever. Not "semiobscurity" - the smallest excitation on the retina impedes the process.

3. A water fast before the attempt should help declog your sinuses and lymph vessels around your neck, boosting absorbtion immensely.

my $0.02

[RocketeerJim]

Thanks for that, Shambhu. Every bit of insight is welcome.

While we're on the subject of preparations, I forgot to mention I brushed the inside of my mouth with a toothbrush (to remove dead skin and improve absorption) using a baking soda/water solution (to create a more alkaline environment) per suggestions I read in Salvia and Salvinorin A, Best of Entheogen Reviews. Also, I make it a point to always be in pitch blackness: althouh I mentioned my room was very dimly lit, when using SD I also always wear a black knit beany on my head and pull it down over my face so no light can get through to my eyes even if I open them. Admittedly, I'm probably quite a sight! Unfortunately, I've had trouble keeping it on when I use extracts as I generally retreat to another room, outside the house and etc. to get out of the vortex.

My goal for the quid was to soften and extend the experiences I've had using extracts. I want to get past the vortex (rather than retreating from it) and still have time to explore. Unfortunately, I usually run from the vortex because it is so intense!!

This last experience was my first quid attempt. From now on I'll forget about using music and use earplugs to block out noise. The music was really rather distracting even though I enjoy Ray Lynch and have always used his music as a relaxation tool.

I'll have to wait awhile before I try the quid method again or Sylvia will be stripped of too many leaves.

I've kept a dose of 60x in my pipe for three days now. . . . just waiting for the right time and the right frame of mind before going down that road again. I think every day about meeting the goddess and also contemplate questions and problems I'd like to resolve . . . . Unfortunately I also think about how scary the first experience was for me - the "agonist" nature of SD has clearly affected me. I know it won't harm me, I can create the appropriate set and setting, I want to do it, yet I have this trepidation. . . . amazing, no?

[nothim]

earplugs?

they are no good-- it will go through! i mean .., they will be like inexistent during the experience and you will hear through

i think music is alright , if you have not got any stupid neighbours to make noise and spoil it! oops - mine have just arrived -show time! lol

[DanG]

I smoked some dried leaves while listening to a 6 minute modern Icaro mix(kinda like acid/trance).
I kept hearing something like "Jesus is the lord" while the song was playing. It's weird because after i came back to normality i listened to the song again and didn't hear anything about christianity. I'm not even close to being religious!

All i can come up with is salvia probably have back-massed or mixed up the music in some way. Beats me!

[DanG]

Unfortunately I also think about how scary the first experience was for me - the "agonist" nature of SD has clearly affected me. I know it won't harm me, I can create the appropriate set and setting, I want to do it, yet I have this trepidation. . . . amazing, no?

That is perfectly understandable. It's like my dog seeing the outside world for the first time. Big ass moving metal objects(Cars), Loads of scary sounds(horns), just a different environment with so many unknown things. It freaked him out!

But the good thing about the unknown is that if one subjects himself to it frequently then he'll grow as a person!
The only tip i can give you is to accept it moment for moment. forget about the past and the future, just continue looking on with the present

[nothim]

Icaro mix(kinda like acid/trance).

what 's the artist cause i can not find any on google -
i found something called cora novoa which is not bad either