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Mass producing Lophophora williamsii to alleviate wild population strain. Experimental.

Due to a combination of overharvesting, improper harvesting technique, natural habitat destruction and collectors paoching, Lophophora williamsii is starting to have a bit of a hard time in certain areas. Although still, luckily, common in some spots, it is declining a fair bit in others. Here we discuss some experiemnts and theories we have on the scale needed and details of producing large quantities of peyote for the Native Americans to try and limit some of the wild populations destruction. Now that said, let's be fair and point out the Native American use is not the only force which is harming wild populations, probably not even the biggest. It is, however, one force we can easily change and limit from wild harvesting, and indeed we notice quite an interest among certain members of the church in cultivating them. We may not be able to prevent freak weather and wild pigs, but we can decide where the things we use come from.

Some notes on growing conditions

We write this page with our own growing conditions in mind. Here, temps don't get under 10C and stay under 50C invour greenhouse. We have humid weather with dry winters and very wet springs/summers. Here we use greenhouses because of rain, we need to keep the plants dry. In other areas it may be to keep them warmer. If you live in a warm and dry area, you can probably avoid greenhouses altogether and may simply do well in the open land with some shade cloth. Adjust accordingly to your environment. Bascially we do best with year temps in the 15-30C range and little rain with some form of light shading of direct sun.

Some statistics to start with

Best case scenarios

From seed to first harvest: 4 years

From harvest to next harvest: 3 years

Mature plant pot space required: 3x3" (bigger as they get older/larger)

Ideal min/max temps: 7C/35C

What is taken and what is needed: our goals

According to one of Matin's papers Texas has an annual harvest of 2,000,000 buttons. Let's start there.

2 million peyote buttons harvested annually

The setup

In this research we are going to be using the standard 20x50' size greenhouse. Height is pretty irrelevant with Lophophora species. If you are lucky enough to be in a dry/warm spot, you can avoid a greenhouse and setup up a shade cloth canopy very cheap. Don't shade too much, 20-30% should be ideal under blazing sun.

Materials needed

20x50' greenhouse

Plastic pots: Square! *NOT* round!

Soil mix

Means of watering

Fertilizer: we use low n-p-k organic chicken manure based pellets. Organic is a wise idea for things to be harvested.

Lophophora williamsii seeds

Sowing trays

Pump sprayer (fine spray)

Clear plastic (like cling wrap)

Our system: Benches & layout

We discuss using benches raised up off the floor.

Benches in a 20x50' greenhouse have the following surface areas Benches run the length of the greenhouse and there is a 2' path between them. Left side: 4'x49', middle: 8'x45', right side: 4'x49'.

Under the benches can be storage of things like pots, fertilizers, hoses, harvesting equipment etc.

What fits in a greenhouse?

Seedlings take up very little space. we use 12"x24" trays (3"deep) and sow about 1000 seeds per tray. So you can see large quantities take up very little space.

First year transplants are put into 2"x2" pots. Here is what fits on the benches: Left bench: 24x294=7,056 pots, middle bench: 48x270=12,960 pots, right bench: 24x294=7,056 pots. This is a total of 27,072 2"x2" pots.

2-3 year transplants are put into 3"x3" pots. Here is what fits on the benches: Left bench: 16x196=3,136 pots, middle bench: 32x180=5,760 pots, right bench: 16x196=3,136 pots. This is a total of 12,032 3"x3" pots. This is also the harvesting size pot, so this is the maximum amount of harvestable plants per greenhouse, per 3 years (the equivelant of 4,010 plants harvested per year).

This size pot can handle plants for a good while, though if you do not practice root pruning you may find the pots are not tall enough, if you can find good tall square pots, perfect! Bumping up to 4"x4" pots will surely satisfy the need without question, but plant quantity is obviously sacrificed

Soil Mixes

For Seed sowing: This stage is the most different from other Lophophora stages as they need a lot more moisture and humidity. Our preferred soil mix to sow seeds in is as follows: 1 part coco powder (not coir, want the fine stuff), 2 parts sharp sand (rinsed), 1 part perlite/pumice (small), and a top dress over the entire pot/tray of sharp sand of about 0.5cm to cut down on fungus. A lot of people heat sterilize their seedling mix to kill any bugs and other things growing in there.

For older plants: Although our mix is slightly more complicated we have found this mix to be of incredible quality and grows Lophophora very well. Keep in mind this mix is intended for greenhouse plants that have their water controlled 100%. We divide the pot soil into 3 layers. The bottom layer is a 1cm layer of coarse pumice/rock to allow good drainage. The middle layer, where the roots will feed, we use the following mix: 1 part coco powder, 2 parts sharp sand, 2 parts coarse grit, 1 part pumice/perlite, 1 tablespoon fertilzer for a 2x2" pot or 1.5 tablespoons of fertilzier per 3x3" pot. this layer is the bulk of the pot. The upper most layer is 1cm of coarse grit. This layer is for 3 reasons: prevents bugs, prevents teh fertilizer from staining teh plants crown brown, and it prevents the soil in the pot from spilling out when watering from above.

Also note that coco powder holds moisture, so in very humid/wet areas/times of year less may be advised.

You will need to measure the height of your pots and get a volume to estimate how much material you will need.

Sowing the seeds

Sowing cactus seeds should be done on teh surface because they need light to germinate. Keep them in the greenhouse under 50% shade cloth, or start them indoors under a pair of 24" shop lights (use 6500K and 2700K tubes). Keep seeds around 25C as much as possible. Spray the surface with clen water when you notice it starting to dry out a little bit. The trays must be covered with clear plastic to keep humidity up, but allow some air flow in order to prevent soggy conditions and fungus growth. Ideally, slightly moist feet and very humid air that is not stagnant.

Sfter prbably about 6 months they will start being more round/globular in shape and begin to look more like proper little peyote cactus. When theya re about 0.5-1cm you can start removing the ploastic cover every other day to allow them to slowly adjust to less humidty. Over the course of a month gradually take it off for longer until it is removed indefinately. When the little peyote plants are adjusted to more dry conditions and are getting pretty crowded in their trays, it is time to transplant

Transplanting your peyote

The growth rates will vary slightly with every grower, but if you have 1cm after the first year, you are on the right track. 2cm in the first eyar is very exceptional. Anyway, when things are crowded its time to transplant. This is simple, in fact so simple people often fail making it more complicated.

First, stop watering for a week or so before transplanting. The soil should be all dry. Take all the little peyote out of the trays/pots and dust off the majority of the dirt. Some growers use an air compressor, but thats overkill. At this point decide if you want to root prune. I recomend it and use it myself, it gros cactus FAR faster! But i wont discuss it here. If interested see our page on Cactus Potting.

Whether you root prone or not, set the little peyote cactus somewhere out of direct sun but still well lit. Also make sure its a dry spot. I simply put them in empty trays under the benches or setup some 50% shade cloth. Leave them here for about 4-6 days.

Unlike leafy plants taht cant have their roots dry out, cactus can. We dont really need to keep them wet, and in fact wet roots in some species, especially Lophophora, for prolonged periods often lead to rot. This is why we leave them out for a week, to let the roots dry out and heal any breaks that occured while uprooting and/or root pruning.

Once finished drying you can pot up your peyote into the next pot size remembering to use dry soil when repotting. For the same reason we left the plants out before repotting, we dont water after repotting for at least 1-2 weeks. Again, this is to allow any breaks in teh roots that occured while repotting, and it does happen almost everytime so dont bother spending too long repotting each one to prevent every minor break. As long as its given a dry time to heal, it will be all good. after this time, you may water. It is also a good idea to repot at the beginning of the growing season, if your seasons are different.

Lighting

Seedlings should be given 50-60% shade if in the greenhous eunder full sun. If indoors 2x24" fluorescent tubes would be ideal for 2 trays

Older plants in their own pot are grown without any shade cloth in our single layered plastic sheeted greenhouse in Taiwan. In areas with more intense sunshine, a lower number shade cloth like 20% is suggested.

Watering

With the exception of seedlings, Peyote should be watered abotu 2-3 days after their pot has completely dried all the way through. This is only true in the warm growing season. Many suggest a less frequent watering cycle, which is safer, but slower growth is the result. In general, if you let them dry out for a few days then soak again they are fine so long as a fully soaked pot does not stay wet for more than 4-5 days. Our pots are usually fully dry in 2-3 days. Yet another advantage of small pot size.

Feeding

If you used my soil mix mentioned above with the organic pellet fertilizer mixed in, you wont need to fertilize until you repot. Once in your final pot size you may want to replace the soil every 2 years or so. Using liquid fertilizers is ok when watered down and about once every month in the growing season.

Timeline

Day 1: Sow seeds

9-12 months Transplant to 2"x2" pots.

2.5-3 years Transplant to 3"x3" pots.

4 years First harvest of 4-5" buttons (best case scenario).

7 years Second harvest and continue harvesting every 3 years from now.

Costs involved

The costs of things vary immensely. In places such as Europe and North America, things are very much inflated to teh extreme and it will no doubt cost more. Prices given here are for what we actaully pay in cash here in Taiwan I 2011, converted to USD at time of writing (approx 29NT$ per 1 US$).

Grenhouse + Benches: $2,800

Pots (12,500): $1,700

All Soil ingredients for 1 greenhouse: $250

Watering equipment: $40

Peyote seeds 12,000: $900 (from cataloge).

Rainy day fund and upkeep: $150

Total: $5,840

Things to consider with cost

Seed cost is high and maybe not easily found, but if you have even half a greenhouse house of mature plants, thos ecan supply future greenhouses with seed quite easily. A 4 year loph will probably throw out 40-50 seeds that year. Times say even 1000 plants you now have 40,000-50,000 of far superior seeds to aanything store bought. So this cost, if worked in a sharing manner, is only an innitial thing for teh first greenhouse, unless one want to rush things along. Grafting can also speed up seed production.

Buying things in quantity is cheaper! This is where getting a community together and doing multiple greenhouses at once can really save big bucks. Same with pots. Buying a few thousand vs buying an entire container will surely have a different final figure.

Results

First 4 years: 12,032 buttons per 20'x50 greenhouse.

The first 4 years is spent growing the peyote up and getting good healthy roots. After 4 years you can harvest your first batch of an estimated 12,032 buttons.

Every 3 years after: 12,032 buttons per 20'x50 greenhouse.

After every 3 years of so, if all goes perfectly, you can harvest another batch. Though in reality not all will grow back so fast, so after here there are huge variables.

3 years for 12,032 buttons in a single greenhouse. This equates to 4,010 buttons annually.

Coming together to make it happen.

So, it's expensive to get setup and running, sure. But let's try and take a broader view. Let's take a sample group of 100 people of varying degrees of use. a greenhouse setup costs $5,840. If everyone sent in a $58.40 check, its done and that 100 can sustain the use of peyote until their dying day without ever harming wild populations.

Is that enough to go around?

Hard to say as the amount people eat varies and teh size of each button varries but lets use a 5-8 button dose as an average. 4,010 buttons per year produced divided by 5-8 per person = 501-802 times. Divide that by 100 people and that is 5-8 times per year per person for a one time cost of just under $60. It's a decent chunk of change, but worth it if it helps preserve something sacred.

People already often get charged to join some ceremonies, just think of the possibilites of the entire peyote using community chipping in? This goal would not only be accomplished, it would be far surpased. Logical conservation.