Topic: Hydroponics?

[fallout330]

I do agree Psychenaut....interesting, didn't realize that was a factor!

[Eon T McKnight]

1st let me correct myself.  They got 40lbs of 'tatoes in 6 WEEKS.  Not 36.  Guess I just couldn't believe it.  They started harvesting in three weeks and had 40 lbs by 6 weeks  --  when they stopped.  (Rumors of a youkon gold crackdown, I presume.) (U know me, always kiddin'.  )

He did say that the roots (and 'tatoes) were all WHITE.  I.e no root bark, as is normally seen w/ normal (oh, how I LOVE that word) plants.

Seems that the amount of roots can be increased by misting (bubbling?) the roots on an intermittant basis.

Do those roots have the desired nutrients?  I doan fookin know.  An dat b da truth.  I am interested, howsomever, in finding out...

Who wants to take the plunge?  That water looks warm to me (HEHE).............    Yer Pal,  McKnighty

[Psychenaut]

Some type of drip irrigation set up where the roots are growing into lava balls etc.. may make for an intersting project.  The constant flow of water around the roots but still not being totally submerged in the liquid may create a favorable environment... hmmmm fun stuff!

[fallout330]

Sounds very interesting guys and girls.....I'm just now only leaning better soil growing techniques for my Echinopsis pachanoi, Echinopsis peruviana and Voacanga africana specimens.....Hydroponics seem like a dream for now  Just got my seedling heating mat!

[GratefulDad]

I am thinking some deep DWC buckets with airs tones and organic nutes for the plant.  Gimme the details of what the ideal conditions are, and maybe I'll construct a DWC bucket and give her a shot under an extra light in my veg room.  I need humidity levels, light cycles, and all that jazz, temps, etc.  

Maybe I'll start a side project for iboga in the next few months.  If anyone has extra seeds, I may be interested but let me get things built and running first.  Worst comes to worse, I could always start it out in DWC and then switch to a nice huge bucket of organic soil, with a huge root mass, and let them go crazy.  It has me thinking, anyways!

[Eon T McKnight]

DWC?  Driving While Comatose?  Please enlighten!  ~et

[GratefulDad]

Deep Water Culture.  It basically consists of a bucket/lid with a hole made for a basket filled with hydroton or lava rock.  An air stone is placed in the bottom with a pump running outside.  The bucket is slightly modified to make things work easy, but a quick search on google could find you some ideas.  The bucket is filled with nutrient solution and the air pump bubbles oxygen through the air stone into the solution.  The plant sits in the basket and the roots grow into the hydroton and then further into the bucket as it grows.  The highly aerated water allows maximum oxygen to the roots, while sitting in the pure water/nutrient mix.  It is checked for pH, ppm's, EC, and kept topped off with plain pH adjusted water or nutrients as needed.  The reservoir can be cleaned out and new nutrients added about every two weeks.  Some do it less, and some more often.  But that is the basic idea.

[Eon T McKnight]

After seeing Chris Jenks' video on Utube (thanks, Dad!) I posted the following on the vox list.  Seems that root bark cells can be cultured to produce ibogaine.  I guess that the quantity of living root bark cells would determine the amount of ibogaine present in the plant.  If dead root bark cells do not accumulate from aeroponics, as they do in the native environment, the amount of ibogaine could be small.

If any good info comes from my vox post, I will add it to this topic.   ~eon


To the Esteemed Good Doctor Jenks:

I just finished watching the video of your conference presentation.  A BIG thanks for your humanitarian efforts!

Near the end, you mentioned culturing T. iboga root bark cells.  Has anything been published on the subject?

Allow me to relate the reason for my interest.  A while back, my son built an aeroponics growing chamber made from widely available and low cost materials.  The chamber was a 6" PVC pipe with nebulizers (spray nozzles) inside.  A nutrient solution was periodically sprayed on the roots.  The plants were raised under grow lights.  Here's some more from wiki:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics  (Please note the profusion of healthy rootlets in the photos.)

What makes this technique relevant to iboga is that the roots grew profusely  --  especially the fine rootlets.  Since the ratio of root bark cells to inner root cells gets larger as the roots get smaller (decrease in volume), there should be a very high percentage of ibogaine in the rootlets.  IF  --  and that's a BIG IF  --  ibogaine is always produced by root bark cells.  That is, is it necessary for the root bark cells to come in contact with dirt or some other stimulus to begin producing ibogaine?

If cultured root bark cells produce ibogaine, I would expect that the roots of aeroponically grown T. iboga would as well.

The rootlets could be harvested over and over again from a single plant without causing it serious harm.  And one could probably have a number of plants growing in the basement or attic along side other (ahem) medicinal plants.

By way of reference, my son was able to harvest 40 lbs of potatoes in 6 weeks!

If T. iboga could be raised under lights, aeroponically...

[Eon T McKnight]

I'm guessing that this is the article that Chris was referring to at the conference.  Does anyone have a copy that could be shared  --  without violating any copyright agreements, of course?

Abstract
Tissue lines, selected from explants of Tabernanthe iboga H. Bn. and cultured in shake flasks, produced and released from three to five indole alkaloids into the culture medium. the iboga alkaloids in order of their relative abundance were ibogaine, dihydroxyibogamine, ibogamine, voacangine, and ibogaline. All five compounds have the same basic ring structure as ibogaine, a putative anti-addictive drug. Three of these could consistently be detected in culture medium that was removed and replaced at two-week intervals over periods of at least five months. the nutrient-hormone combination used consisted of Gamborg's B5 medium with 2% w/v sucrose, 2mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxy-acetic acid (2,4-D) and 0.1 mg/16-benzyladenine (BA). These results suggest that plant tissue culture procedures can be developed as an economically feasible and environmentally responsible source of ibogaine and other potential anti-addictive drugs.

    http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a757815221&db=all

Perhaps the "nutrient-hormone combination" mentioned in the abstract could be included in the aeroponic medium to accelerate RB growth and alkaloid production?  Dump a bunch of hormones and precursors into those tender, absorbent root hairs?  Force them rootlets to grow uncontrollably.  Then we'll come out with the organic version, without the hormones and vegan precursors, at 10x the price!  We'll be rich, famous and powerful!  (And  we shall become the new Post-Neo-Republicans with a host of lobbyists in our vest pockets.)  Isn't capitalism fun ? ! ? !

That the RB cells were "cultured in shake flasks" is a good indicator, in my battered & beaten brain, that the root bark cells WILL produce several alkaloids, some of which are still legal in the Unenlightened Stalag of Amerikka.

Ya-freakin-Hoo!     ~et

PS  --  Hey kidz, can YOU find the mini-rants hidden in this message?   !e

[Eon T McKnight]

Here's a copy of the root bark cell culture paper that Chris Jenks spoke about, courtesy of the kind doctor himself.   ~et

http://puzzlepiece.org/ibogaine/literature/basile1999.pdf

PS  --  Shoot, looks like a bad link, file or something.  Googled "basile1999.pdf" but found nothing.  Sorry folks!  ~et

PPS  --  Members need to login to see and download the file from the link below.  Please see GDad's post below if you have problems opening it.    ~e

[GratefulDad]

I opened it with a portable application called sumatra..  Thanks pk!  It is a free portable application found here: http://portableapps.com/apps/office/sumatra_pdf_portable