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[Pollinator]

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[MadPlanter]

Mine flowered probably in about 2-3 years but never set fruit. Think they flower many times but wont set until around 5 years old. Could be wrong. Had tons of flowers in the past but nothing.  Unfortunately the plants have passed on too. Probably was close to getting pods. What a shame...

Thats definitely flowers coming though.

[Toxicodendron]

Those plants look great, my man! Bwiti is most certainly pleased!!! Basse’!!!!!

The more I grow this family of plants, and add seeds from different countries within Central Africa I am astounded by the variety in morphology, hardiness, chemotype, and the likely advent of interspecies hybrids considered varieties of the same species. Julian Palmer has used this to his advantage, correctly so in my opinion, by marketing ethanolic extracts of the round fruit variety as Tabernanthe manii (conveniently unscheduled, BTW). This may not be a legal ploy, as iboga is known to hybridize across species.

Furthermore, there are significant variances in alkaloidal composition across populations. The lesson here is grow as many seeds, from as many types of fruit, from as many forms and populations of Iboga as possible. I myself have begun the process of harvesting up to 25% of the side roots from plants I have that are around 10 years old or older. scrape root bark fresh, and get analytical data from methods as simple as iodine or Ehrlich’s reagent, to Thin Layer Chromatography (easy, but VERY useful), and beyond. Less than 25% lateral root harvest & the plant bounces back just fine. May not flower & fruit that year as it recovers, but next year it cranks along just fine.

The idea is this, from my perspective. Grow a massive amount of seed grown, biodiverse specimen, Test root bark alkaloid production in methodical ways, select. then it is time to move to aero production, and or liquid culture.

In the meantime, plant the ever loving deluge out of these plants. Flowering, fruiting, viable seed set; these all vary from plant to plant, and in diferrent conditions. Grow lots of seeds & select for what you want.

And don’t get me started on the phytochemistry of this group. Oooh La La! It is a chemist’s wet dream.

3 Likes MadPlanter, Ian Morris and jbz711 like this.

[MadPlanter]

I'd buy some seeds or small plants from someone if available in the states. SMG had graciously offered some plants but hate to make him send anything live that far. These guys arent the hardiest species out there. This season I will have a solid greenhouse again so should be better equipped to keeo them over winter. My last one was too weak to handle being brought inside for days at a time this past winter and gave up. My last novo did too. That novo was like 6-7 years old. At least it parented tons of babies I gave away here in the distant past.  Ibo was like 2-3 years old. The winter before last lost my other one that was like 5-6 years old. Oh well what can one do but try.

On a side note anyone have kava kava plants available too?

[jbz711]

I've been completely unable to kill tabs, and trust me I've tried. My first plants someone sent me seedlings with only cotyledons as I'd had a lot of difficulty germinating up to that point.  When they arrived, I was so excited that I took them out and placed them uncovered on a windowsill that got no direct light. An hour later I looked at them and the leaves were completely shriveled, looked dead. In a panic, I stuck humidity domes on them and crossed my fingers. One of the three kept both cotyledons, and they rehydrated fine on their own from the use of a sandwich bag alone, the other lost one but it rehydrate the other fine, and the last one lost both.  I left the domes on and left them to grow and all of them, even the one that had lost all of its leaves before it ever had any adult leaves, survived, and still flourish. It's strange for me to hear people having problems with them. One thing that has definitely helped was plunking the terracotta pots they grow in into the hydroton ebb and flow bed attached to my aquaponic setup; the roots begin to girdle the roots withing months and the plant is even hardier after that.

1 Like Toxicodendron likes this.

[Toxicodendron]

Worth noting, The long fruit varieties seem to be hardier than the round fruit varieties (which may be that hybrid T manii anyway). Most of the fruit now comes from Cameroonian brokers, so it is the long fruit variety usually. You can tell because the mature color is more orange, and even if they are roundish they still have that orange color when ripe. True Round Fruit are more bright yellow when ripe. That being said, I've heard from people who have the round fruit in the ground, and it is just as hardy as the long fruit. I grow mine in big planters that I have to roll inside and out. So who knows?

If you ever find someone with round fruit for sale (still in the fruit, shipped that way) give them a try. the Thin Layer Chromatography chemical profile for my 5 year old round fruit looks pretty epic. Made only one fruit this year, as I root pruned 25% of side roots for the test, but it should produce in full swing this year.

You can get the round fruits from Australian vendors (two that I know off hand), and I'm sure there are a few of us STS folks growing them as well. Save yourself the $50 AUD, or whatever they charge. But props to Torstein and Shaman Australis. He was the one who brought the original round fruits over from Africa and helped them grow in tropical areas in Australia. They started hitting the States 15 or so years ago.