Psychotria Propagation - Leaf Cuttings

Introduction


All Psychotria ssp will take via leaf cuttings. I will list the method i have found most successful for you below. For this run i have elected to use P. carthaginensis and P. Alba as it is what i have an abundance of, however the same methods can be applied to Psychotria Viridis and "Nexus".


What you will need.


1 x roll of kitchen paper towel
 2 x full sandwich clip lock bags
 1 x Permanent Marker or pen
 20 x elastic bands (or hair ties or anything to secure the paper towel around leaves)
 Water




Step 1 - Prepare your materials


tear paper towel off two sheets at a time ready for leaf cuttings, no need to wet them yet, and stack them to the side. Check you have all the above-listed materials




Step 2 - Preparing your leaves

Freshly Picked Psychotria Alba Leaf

I generally snip my leaves with sterile scissors right at the base near the branch of the plant, people reccomend fresh growth but i find both fresh and old growth work equally as well and older growth can be cut in half to get two cuttings from each leaf, as they are larger !


I also like to cut the base of the leaf off as i find having the main vein exposed works best but it is reported that this is not necessary.

P. Alba snipped up ready for propagation
(this step is NOT compulsary)

Step 3 - Wrapping and Bagging

Psychotria Leaf Cutting Folded and Ready to go !

Fold paper towel into thirds and then place the leaf a fraction away from an edge and about half of the leaf in the towel. Fold the corner closest to your cutting over then fold the paper toweling up around the leaf and secure with elastic band. Soak this under the tap until it is soaking wet then place directly into zip lock bag.

Psychotria Alba Leaf Cutting - Ready to be folded

Step 4 - Final Prep Stages

Ready to Go P. Cartha
Propagation bag.

After placing all your cuttings into the ziplock bag close it up then slide one of the corners open just enough for you to be able to breathe into the bag. Take a deep breath and hold it for as long as you can depleting as much of the oxygen as possible. Breathe into the clip lock bag until it is FULL of air and quickly clip the bag shut.


Place the cuttings somewhere out of direct sunlight but still reasonably well lit. I sat mine in the back corner of my verandah. You will have to re-open the bags periodically to blow some "fresh" CO2 in to help the plants along their way, i found every 3-7 days was fine depending on how many leaf cuttings are in it.






Step 5 - Potting out


Around four weeks down the track your Psychotria Leaf Cuttings should be starting to show substantial root systems, get them out and gently open the packaging. Roots will be developing directly out of the main vein in the stem and branching off from there pretty densely. I pot my cuttings out into a well draining soil mix and keep them in a larger humidity crib in 50-75mm pots for a few weeks and wait for suckers to start being thrown. If you have access to any form of rhizome development nutrients i would recommend using them at a low dose to encourage root development during this time, seasol or fish / worm emulsion would do the trick though. And i would be curious to experiment with using it in the earlier stages.

Less Developed P. Cartha

P. Cartha after 4 Weeks

A Month or so Down the Track - Pups Are Emerging !

psychotria carthaginensis With well
developed new tips

Uprooted psychotria alba
With 8 individual stems

Uprooted psychotria carthaginensis
"cross section"

psychotria carthaginensis,
Starting to throw new growth

Psychotria carthaginensis throwing
Stems from leaf cutting

Coming soon
 - Images to help explain things easier
 - - Some of the earlier steps really need them
 - Better Formatting
 - Better Wording to make it easier to understand








If you want any further assistance with propagation via leaf cuttings feel free to contact me at luke@youthgc.com or if you would rather purchase one that is already rooted and ready to go head on over to 

Australian Ethnobotany and Sustainable Gardening Centre - Webstore 

Psychotria Alba

Having grown my Psychotria Alba for just over two years now you could say i have developed quite an attachment to the plant. They are a beautiful plant with the glossy rippled leaves of all in the Rubiaceae Family. Loves consistent watering but doesn't like to be soaking wet all the time. 

The Alba is reputed to have roughly half the DMT of its more frequently used counterpart Psychotria 

Viridis. However its growth rates are more than double of the viridis. I also find alba to be much less 

prone to infestations of mealy bugs and other insects by comparison. Which can make it a more 

consistent option for Ayahuasca brews

Fruiting in the Late Summer p. alba gets beautiful clusters of small white flowers which eventually

 turn into fruit after a few weeks. Seeds of Psychotria should be harvested just before splitting 

their pods and spilling to maximize viability of collected stock

Cultivation can be made by many different means including seed, Standard cutting and leaf 

cutting. We find that Psychotria Alba acutally takes quite well from any form and they are purely 

down to your circumstances as to which is better.

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