Grow your own San Pedro cactus!

San Pedro seeds

Contains 20 seeds of the San Pedro (Echinopsis pachanoi).

Growing your San Pedro from seeds

will be updated soon 🙂

Some tips for growing San Pedro Cactus:

Light:

• San Pedro grows well in direct sunlight but also in partial shade. San Pedro is suitable for growing indoors or outdoors. The first year provide some shade avoid sunburns from hot direct sunlight and let it get used to your climate.

Watering:

• Indoors: Make sure to water the plant consistently at least once every two weeks. Place the pot on a tray with water for an hour, allowing the roots to soak up the water. San Pedro cactus is better adjusted to watering than desert cacti. When the soil is still moist do not water the cactus!
• Outdoors: Water your cactus regularly, during hot summer days at least once or twice a week.

Temperature:

• The San Pedro will flourish in room temperature. If you want the San Pedro produce flowers it will need to go through the dormancy phase (the plants equivalent of hibernation) during winter. Starting in September or October, make sure the soil is dry as a bone and place the cactus in a cooler area (7⁰-10⁰C) until early May or April. During this period do not water or fertilize the cactus soil. The San Pedro will bloom in late spring.

Effects of the San Pedro Cactus

Somewhere between 1 to 2 hours after consuming San Pedro you will feel the first effects of the cactus. Effects can last ranging between 8 to 15 hours and the peak of the trip is after 3 hours and can last up to 4 hours.

• The first effects are drowsiness and a dreamy state, you may feel tired and sleepy. Feelings of restlessness and nausea are common.
• During the peak of the trip; open and closed eye visuals; euphoric feelings and out of body experience can be expected. You may feel confused, increased tension on the muscles and insomnia.
• After the peak during the final part of the trip, the intensity takes a few steps back, but increased empathy; closed eye visuals, enhancement of light perception and details (a sharp eye) remain.

San Pedros effects are seen as more manageable, controllable and gentle when comparing to the trips of Ayahuasca , LSD and Magic Mushrooms .

Alkaloids

A San Pedro cactus contains several alkaloids, including the well known Mescaline (0.21–1.8%). Mescaline is an alkaloid in the phenethylamine class.

Other alkaloids you will find in the cactus are: 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine, 3-Methoxytyramine, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenethylamine, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, anhalonidine, anhalinine, hordenine, and tyramine.

History of the San Pedro Cactus

The San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi) grows in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador and Peru on an altitude of approximately 2000–3000 meters high. The San Pedro is also found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, and it is cultivated in other parts of the world. The use of The San Pedro is goes as far as 1300 B.C. in Peru, images found on ceramic urns depicting the San Pedro. Reports of Peruvians drinking Achuma, a San Pedro containing drink, by the Spanish when they first arrived in Peru.

Traditional use

Traditional use of the San Pedro is found true all of South and Middle America. Usage in rituals & ceremonies by native shamans, both as a stimulant and as medicine. In Peru and Bolivia it is used in a vision-seeking drink called Cimora. Another San Pedro containing drink is called Achuma. Apparently the powers of San Pedro can undo ‘love witch craft and counter al sorts sorcery’.

Non-traditional use

The non-traditional use of San Pedro is mainly recreational. Due to its psychedelic properties derived from the alkaloid Mescaline the San Pedro is used for taking a psychedelic journey called ‘tripping’. Recently the Echinopsis pachanoi is used in therapeutic, ‘self-healing’ sessions and even in microdosing. The San Pedro is commonly available as a potted cactus for ornamental use.