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[FewTrueSeed]

I would encourage you to get petite and vermiculite as frog pajamas suggested to me. I repotted mine in said mix and they are no longer showing signs of stress. Plus I started another that was sent to me. What fun!

At what point can I tell virdis from alba? Plants are distinguishable but I'm not familiar with the differences.

[plantlight]

At what point can I tell virdis from alba? Plants are distinguishable but I'm not familiar with the differences.

If you see domatia on the underside of the mother leaf, it is Viridis.  Some Viridis do not show domatia on all leaves but Alba never do. 

The next test is leaf margins.  Viridis margins travel the entire petiole.  Alba margins leave petiole exposed.   The plants should be a few inches tall for this test.

The next test is flowering.  If they flower white and are about a year old --Alba.  Viridis flower green in about 4 years I hear.  Mine haven't flowered yet.

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[modern]

Just a follow up on 'Trinity' the following set of leaves remained with 3 leaves. Going to start acclimating it to the outdoors.

What low temps does viridis starts to struggle with? 50s or 40s? Wondering if I'll need to bring some plants indoors come January.

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[Bach]

Small ones like that I'd keep inside most of the winter. Once they get six inches tall or so they begin to get hardier and can safely take it into the 50's. With time they will tolerate right down to the mid-30s, but as you know don't ever let them actually freeze or get frosted.

Once you start getting seeds they can be stored in the fridge for quite some time. I've done it for up to six months and they retain good viabilty.

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[plantlight]

Anyone experimenting with soil ph for psychotria?  I've noticed that my fastest growing Viridis has a soil ph of 6.6 while all of the others are closer to ph7.  I had thought the growth difference was genetic but I'm beginning to wonder if it's simply environmental.

Psychotria is in the Rubiaceae plant family along with coffee.  I read here:   http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/soil.htm
that the best producing coffee plantations in Brazil had soil ph from 6.0 to 6.5 and I wanted to see if the same applied to Psychotria.  I  have to confess that I wasn't keeping very good records of my earlier soil experiments when I was varying the addition of pine bark fines (ph 4.5) to my soil mix but I'm sure that's the reason for my low ph reading.

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[modern]

Has anyone done stem cuttings? The 2 I tried just rotted after 2 weeks :/ Wondering if anyone had any tips.

I'd like to have some stem clones for some experiments next year

[plantlight]

Yes, I have done 4 so far with 100% success in rooting.  All rooted in water and covered with a plastic bag (100% humidity) until roots formed.  My humidity dome at 80% is not good enough until roots have formed first.  Then I plant them in a 3" pot and keep them in the dome until ready to transplant. 

The maximum diameter of the cuttings rooted was less than 1/8th inch.  However, I don't know of any reason this method wouldn't work on larger diameter cuttings.

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[modern]

Thanks I'll try one in water, guess the soil I used caused the rot.

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[EIRN]

Stem cutting works as well leaf cutting...and the same method, in water. I my experience, humidity dome isn't needed.

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[plantlight]

I my experience, humidit dome isn't needed.

This is just one more reason to live in Brazil.    You can grow Psychotria in the ground along with Caapi all year long.  Also you don't need humidity domes to root Psychotria stems?   

Without a dome, leaves crisp-up for me before they root, much less stems.  Sheesh! 

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[Bach]

Sounds like stem cuttings in water is the way to go. My experiment with stem cuts was in perlite/vermiculite and a humidity chamber outside in the shade during a Florida summer.  Only got a 12% strike rate (6/50),  so obviously that's not the way to do it.

Anybody try a bubble chamber?

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[mj]

Has anyone done stem cuttings? The 2 I tried just rotted after 2 weeks :/ Wondering if anyone had any tips.

I'd like to have some stem clones for some experiments next year

I took a P. Alba stem cutting about 8 inches tall and removed all the large leaves leaving six small leaves the longest perhaps a little longer than my thumb, powdered a little number one rooting hormone on the stem which I scored with a razor knife in about 8 or 10 places and stuck it into a mix of potting soil 1/3 - coconut coir 1/3 - and the remaining third is half vermiculite half perlite I also threw in a little chopped up pine bark to keep the pot fungus free no worries there so far. Took about six weeks with a small baggie humidity tent, kept her at about 23 degrees C. I cut up the leaves which had been removed from the trim job on the stem cutting and they set root in a few weeks with one producing a small stem with two small leaves. I did the leaf cuttings in half size zip lock baggies with wet paper towels and a little number one rooting hormone. By the look of things I am going to have more plants from the leaf cuttings than I am going to know what to do with. Sure feels great to see these things develop roots and sprout baby stems and leaves. I hope that  Psychotria Viridis propagates from leaves as well as the Alba does. Hope that helps

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[plantlight]

 
I hope that the Psychotria Viridis propagates from leaves as well as the Alba does. Hope that helps

Great job with the alba mj although you can skip the rooting hormone --I've found that it doesn't make a difference.  I grew alba for 3 years thinking it was Viridis.  I have small growing space so I got rid of them all to make way for Viridis.  They're very stubborn though as I have them popping up in the yard from seeds fallen in years past.

Viridis is a degree more difficult to grow as it has a more narrow ph range and temperature tolerance.  Frustrating at times but you have the basics if you ever want to give Viridis a go.  Also, there is great information in this topic well worth the read from beginning http://sharetheseeds.me/forum/index.php?topic=260.0 great tips from knowledgeable members with more experience than me. Happy growing

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[madmonkeyz]

whats wrong with my p.viridis? they are now 3 months+.
their leaves are not dark green?
why?

[plantlight]

Could be nutrients.  Need more information and pictures would help.  3 months from rooting?    Are they in soil?  If in soil, what is the mix?