Morning Star Conservancy is in the planning and planting stage of a seedling sanctuary project whose goal is to provide seedlings for planting in outdoor, natural habitat. An important part of this project has been the development of an independent (funded and housed by Mr and Mrs Lorax) seedling research program which is evaluating methods for determining efficient cultivation techniques. Knowledge gained from this project will be utilized in managing Morning Star Conservancy’s larger scale seedling sanctuary project. Today’s post is an update to what we are learning.

This initial seedling cultivation project began in October 2018, just over 4 years ago. It is a scalable measure (meaning easy to replicate or multiply) for determining seed germination efficiency and optimum growth conditions in a controlled environment. This project has been valuable in allowing us to determine best practices for the delicate seedling stage of the medicine’s lifecycle. In fact, recent improvements in growth rates have made it necessary to recalculate timelines for transplanting and scheduled transfer to permanent habitat. This is good news.

This research has been an important step toward growing a demonstration and education program that provides sustainably provided medicine for Native American Church use, and can be replicated and adjusted according to region. Morning Star Conservancy is working with groups in the US, Mexico, and Canada to establish cultivation projects that work best for the needs of the medicine as well as the people. Having an existing seedling project has been a helpful visual aid in demonstrating a natural and effective method of producing healthy seedlings on a small to large scale, dependent on each situation’s needs. Larger conservation projects will find these low tech, high efficiency methods easily expandable to fit their needs. Many cultivation projects have been already been improved or started in response to this pilot project, just by the fact that it exists. As cultivation director for an important conservation project, it’s my job to inform those concerned and invite your participation. It’s an unusual job, but someone’s got to do it.

Your inquiries are welcome at thepeyotelorax@gmail.com

It’s also my job to ask for your support. We need to keep this project growing. Please click and share the link at the end of this post. Thanks!

By optimizing environmental factors (experimenting with and adjusting soil mixtures, light, humidity, and nutrient levels) seedling growth rate has increased substantially, so much so that we have cut the growth time for first transplant from approximately 10 months to 10 weeks. This sounds like a huge success, and it is in that it has cut the most delicate stage of the seedlings’ development by a factor of 4. But it also means that the footprint of the project expands more quickly as the thriving seedlings require more space once transplanted. Therefore, we recently invested in a second seedling chamber unit to house the rapidly expanding garden.

The fact that the seedlings are responding to improvements in environmental factors also has made it necessary for me to adjust scheduling for transplant into permanent habitat. It now appears that this final transplant will be possible after two years of seedling cultivation rather than the three year estimate of my original seedling to natural culture proposal. While this is also good news, there needs to be a corresponding preparation of permanent habitat required to receive a substantial number of medicine seedlings within a two year, rather than a three year timeline.

As Morning Star Conservancy’s cultivation director, I am continuing to document our horticultural progress and will eventually make the results available to conservationists involved in this important work.

There are unknowns in the life of any garden and always things to learn. I have been blessed with the opportunity to apply my cultivation experience to the instructive guidance which the medicine is giving us as its caretakers. It’s a beautiful sight to see the medicine respond by rewarding our devotion with such vigor and beauty. Peyote has so much to teach and providing it with what it wants to grow is a beautiful part of Lorax family life.

Thank you medicine, for making your way into the garden of our heart. Please continue to bless our lives as we grow along with you.

Your assistance in Morning Star Conservancy’s Seedling Sanctuary is much needed and greatly appreciated! Please click and share the link below to donate to this important project.

Support The Seedling Sanctuary Project

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A Lorax Christmas