Since my business partner and I have had many questions regarding how to grow Hemia salicifolia, and seeing the lack of information out on it, I finally decided that I would post what has worked best for us. We have hundreds of these plants up for trade here at the trade winds section and have had many who receive these plants asking us questions on things varying from growing Hemia to how to use it. Remember, this is just my opinion and what has worked for me.
First off, Sinuichi is not a plant but the plant matter of the Hemia salicfolia plant. We have had numerous requests for Sinuichi plants, but confusion can be understood, as many sites list Sinuichi as a plant.
Second, Growing a Hemia s. plant is not difficult as it is a hardwood shrub and despite being from a tropical climate, I have found that they adapt pretty well to any environment that does not get a hard freeze. These plants get to rather large dimensions and although their first year of growth is slow, they soon take off at a fast pace.
Third, be sure to check out my photos in the gallery here of this plant. I will be changing the photos out about every week.
Growing Hemia from seed:
We mainly grow in pots, but I do know a person who grows them in the ground with great success in Louisiana. I suggest that you grow them in pots for their first year and then transplant them into the ground if you live in a climate that does not get hard freezes. Use a good mix of rich dark soil to grow these plants with large amounts of water and sun. We mix the seeds (which are smaller than tobacco seeds!) with some soil and disperse this mix on top of our soil. This allows the seeds not to be just lying on top of the soil and not pushed too far down either. Give them a light watering at first to dampen the soil and then come back and soak them down and wait.
Their first year of growth will only be about eight inches or so, but after their first year they will grow at a much faster rate. Hemia s. flowers throughout the growing season and if put outside at this time of year will be pollinated and will form seed pods. These seed pods are no bigger than a morning glory seed and they have practically no stem. These pods are ribbed and eventually turn from green to brown. When the seed pods are brown you can harvest the whole branch (as there is typically a seed pod every half inch to inch up and down the branches) or you can pinch and crumble the seed pods into a container for later plantings. Each seed pod contains about 30 seeds or more.
We keep half of our plants trimmed back and the other half are left alone. If the plants are regularly trimmed, they will form a nice compact lush plant. If you have the space and would like a larger plant, you can leave it alone and it will form a nice big bush at the rate of about a foot a year. My business partner compares the shape of these larger plants to that of a full ice cream cone.
Transplanting or after being shipped bare root:
If you transplant a plant to a bigger pot or receive one by mail, I would suggest that you cut back the plant to 4†from the base. This will allow the plant to pull out of the shock of root loss. Place the plant in rich dark soil out in full sun and water profusely at least twice a day until the plant rebuds and begins to look healthy again. After which you can reduce watering to once a day.
Sinuichi:
Sinuichi is plant matter from the Hemia s. plant and traditionally was harvested by cutting off branches of leaves and hanging them to wilt. Once the leaves were slightly wilted they were placed in a container of water and placed out in the sun to seep and make a tea. After a minimum of eight hours, the leaves were strained out and the tea was allowed to “sweeten†or ferment for couple of days before being drunk. Fair warning, this tea is very very bitter!!!!! Don’t say I did not warn you. There are many other ways to get the effects, just go ahead and experiment. I know that some people have no effects at all while others give up MJ for this stuff! I guess different strokes for different folks.
I hope this helps some and let me know if any one else has something more to add or if you feel I made a mistake. Thanks.
Dergheist
Great post dergheist, thanks for the information
No prob bro. I hope it helps those interested. Here are two photos of some samples of our Hemia plants. The first picture shows the seed pods up close and the second picture is of one gallon size ones.
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Please pay no never mind to this post! The prob is all fixed now.
Here are some more photos as promised. I will continue to add more as time permits.
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In the foreground is another example of our one gallon size plants we have up for trade.
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This is another shot of a plant that is loaded with seed pods.
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Here is a four gallon size Hemia s. plant.
I've had a young Heimia shrub do just fine outdoors through hard freezes in zone 5. I suspect they would do fine in even colder environments when a little older and well mulched. They are increadibly easy to grow, require very little care, and readily spread by seed on their own once established.
Not having used the material for psychotropic effects I can't really comment on that. However, I've used small amounts of a homemade tar produced from reduced sun tea (without letting it "ferment" for days) as an analgesic and it was far more effective in combating caffine withdrawl headaches/migranes than common OTC pain killers.
A year or two back there were numerous reports on various forums and the erowid experience reports about people suffering rather serious muscle cramping after ingestion of commercially produced Heimia sp. extracts. I suspect that the commercial products were extracted from raw dried material that was not left to wilt or soak in the sun, and that the reason for that traditional preparation was to remove or neutralize some toxin that exists in the raw plant material. I'd never heard of such adverse effects from several folks who'd used Heimia with the traditional preparation methods at the levels/doses necessary to obtain yellow/golden vision, deep relaxation and altered aural effects.
Thanks Jacko for your input, anybody else out there that grow this plant. I would love to have a load of different views posted to help out the newbies of this plant.
sorry for the double post, computer was giving me trouble.
i'm good friends with the person who wrote the original heima article on erowid and he used to be a member here but i don't think he has returned since the original site went down . Mcsquared did alot of personal research and took some risks back when this plant was almost totaly unknown.all the plants in his garden thrived on neglect . Just give it some water and leave it alone this plant is pretty easy to grow . I've been growing this plant in the ground outdoors in so cal. Its in a rich dark soil recieves about 8 hours or more a day direct sun and is going strong . I expect it to really take off this year. seems easy to grow and if you look around the net there are alot of diffrent preperations. the traditional fermented tea is a good place to start but many get it down to a powerful extract and take in a pill . taking too much sounds rather unpleasant so do some research first ! if i come across some more detailed preperation methods i'll post them .
Thanks so much Plantshaman for the input.
I have a couple small heimia bushes. One seemed to have died back in the winter but I don't know if that's because of the mild freeze it got, lack of water or what. It's growing back nicely now with lots of new green shoots. My kratom is bursting forth in new shoots. My other kratom which gets a little less light is putting out shoots but a little slower.
Thanks stoney for your input. Come on guys, I know there is more of ya that grow and use this plant, lets get as many views as possible about this plant and various reports of her results. (Not first person of course.)
Do any of you have experience in taking soft wood cuttings from Hemia?
Yes.
Quote from: "dergheist"Yes.
Could you explain the process?
Or possible give us a couple tips.....
i haven't tried but mcsquared told me that after alot of trials he never got it too root from cutting. I would maybe try the layering i think its called . Just bend a branch over and into a pot. Cover with soil and in a few months or when you see new shoots coming out just cut the branch and seperate from the mother plant . One thing i hear with hardwood cuttings is it helps to gently chew on bark for the last few inches maybe up to and including the lowest node or two nodes.
Well, I would directly tell ya, but I am kinda hesitant only because that is more of a trade secret that most propagators had to learn the hard way(Including Us). I will tell ya that if you know how to root any hardwood shrub, then you can do this one. Air layering or layering will also work, albiet more time consuming and not as fast. I do not know about the chewing of the tip of the plant, but hey, if it works for some, I say try it out. I would personally just plant the seed and wait a year for them to reach maturity. This is much easier in the sense of the amount of plants you get are tremendous, and you can then plant them all into larger pots as they get big. Just my two cents.
I found that seeds take a bit to germinate, and take awhile before taking off. I have some, with low umidity, that have been under a 400W MH and still have not gained their second set of leaves. I'm sure, though, that they will take off soon. Just check Dergheist's beautiful plants to see how quickly they grow
Quote from: "RifeHeretic"I found that seeds take a bit to germinate, and take awhile before taking off. I have some, with low umidity, that have been under a 400W MH and still have not gained their second set of leaves. I'm sure, though, that they will take off soon. Just check Dergheist's beautiful plants to see how quickly they grow
Yeah, it takes a long time for them to really start growing. It took months for me.
I've had much success propagating my Hemia. The method I used is quite simple, it's not the easiest physical work though!
The trick is to remove the plant from it's pot and divide the root ball.
I divided mine into four cuttings and all four survived with minimal effort. all I did after potting two and planting two in the ground was water the crap outta them. They looked like they were going to die for about 2 weeks but they came right back and are quite healthy now.
I'm telling you, these plants are tough... They are hard kill. I butchered mine with a shovel to divide the root mass. I only meant to divide it in half but it ended up being quartered! :lol: I didn't think the smallest division would survive; much to my surprise it is alive and thriving!
I've starved my Hemia and dehydrated it in the past. I had it planted in the ground and moved to a new place so I dug it up and potted it and took it with me. When it was planted in the ground it got razed to the ground by a mower and came right back even thicker, and lusher than before!
Needless to say, Hemia is tough. Don't worry about your root cuttings surviving and don't worry about cold weather. They'll survive it for sure!
edit: Of course you will want to use this method of propagation with a mature shrub. Mine was about 3-4 yrs. old.
Now that I think about it when I got my Hemia from my friend it was a root cutting that looked completely dead. I just watered the living crap outta her and she came to life within a week or so,,,
I had an easy time of propagating this plant: just let the mother plant grow. The seeds spread out all over the place and little plants will sprout up in no time, simply dig them up and pot them! I could see this plant being invasive in some climates.
My Hemia is doing great but new growth has a bright red color to it. I've been fertilizing it regularly for the past couple months and its been fine. Any help?
The red sometimes occurs from too much nutrients. Try and lay off the ferts and see if that does not help. This plant is very hardy, so this is not too much of a concern and it will tolerate over fertillizing.
I also have a couple heimia bushes. The hardest part was getting them started from the tiny seed. Once established, they seem pretty durable and resilient. I have one in a big pot and the other in the ground. The one in the ground died back some this winter, but has rebounded and is loaded with flowers. Haven't made tea yet. So many plants, so little time.
I harvested somewhere close to 5 billion seeds from my 2 plants. haha.
I recently bought an H. salicifolia and H. myrtifolia to add to my garden. They are LOVING the sunshine and rain here in central florida!
I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on differences, other than height, of the two.