My Banisteriopsis caapi are coming along really well, they seem healthy and right on track for their age, while my Banisteriopsis muricata seems to be really struggling and consistently drops all but the highest leaves on it. They are growing in identical soils, moisture, PH, and light exposure so I just can't figure out what's up with the muricata. Any of you guys have experience with cultivating the muricata or have any ideas as to what the issue might be?

Muricata is a very touchy vine , put it outside in shade as soon as possible . All of my caapi do great with fast growth no issues or complaints .

I have to baby my muricata , put it this way , it doesn't take clones well , I had to air layer it for a year and a half to get a clone and baby that one as well , large pots do help , but being outdoors with the wind blowing it and natural light , filtered , part sun part shade , I actually never let a lot of direct light on it , it's in the semi shady area of outdoors all day , in the winter it need s a part sun light direct light window for about min 4 hours a day

I feed it a flowering fert about twice a year nothing crazy , I leave it alone , I don't take cuttings , leaves , nada .

I harvest the leaves it drops or branches that die and try to air layer the vine for clones , it is not my bulk vine to be sure .


I mainly grow it now for novelty because it grows so sensitively . I'm ok with that , those silver leaves and the addition of its minimal vine in my novelty home brews . It's enough but it's not my bulk vine as I said .

Just nurture it with as much 'leaving it alone ' as possible in a spot you won't move much were it won't get sunburned an it does ok with watering. I don't over water I really don't underwater or let it dry out either , but never ever over over water in my case . I've almost lost it a couple time s. Now I leave it be

Also , it grows very slowly compared to yellow vine . Maybe a tenth to two tenth s as fast

Holy crap, a year and a half to air layer is incredible.
I've had it outside beside my cappi vines in a fairly well shaded area and in a large-ish pot for almost three months now and it looks like you're right about it being touchy. With the exception of my Peganum I don't think I've ever had as much difficulty getting this one to flourish. I've all but given up on the rue until I can get my greenhouse in order, I swear that plant is just plain anti-social (Rue).
I really appreciate the advice, so far it looks like I'm following about the same recipe you are with the exception of watering which I might have been overgenerous with and the flowering ferts. I'd heard they were difficult to grow and that was all I needed to hear to have to have one, it's a sickness lol. It's the constant leaf drop that has me worried the most, it consistently drops all but the top two leaf sets which made me think it wasn't getting enough light but everyone says dense shade until it establishes. Thanks again!

Mine drop a lot of leaves in the winter or if it isn't happy where I've moved it . Honestly we ve come to an understanding lol , she knows I'll take care of her so she puts on some growth , I harvest near nothing and the reward is presence . I'm donating the clone to a university in a year or so after I air layer another one for the purpose of seeding.

As far as s. Rue I gave up too. It would only be a novelty for me to grow because seed collection on them would be sparse for my uses for them beyond visual enjoyment ,but I have also wanted to grow them for some while now .

Lately passionflowers have captured my attention for their fast growth and while being significantly less potent than rue and caapi ( a typical brew would be around 250-300g ) they have a anti depressant and sedative quality that I'm looking for in my brews.

With them being native to my area they grow and can be harvested in the end season . Not the best tasting brews , but the quality I like better . The flowers attract a lot of butterfly and birds too which I like too . But yeah the muricata is kinda just a collection vine for me . I collect a lot of aya vines , I've a black , had a white , I had a McKenna red , I have a thunder aya , cielo , a number of grown from seed either tuncanuo or cielo , I think I have a caupuri but the nodes are too small and it's too young to tell as of yet and recently I've acquired a chaliponga vine ( possibly ) it still needs some idling but it looks promising .

I've no idea the strength of these vines but I honestly use leaf from them mostly rather than vine because they hold as much and sometimes more harmala compounds than the vine itself .....so if I leave the vine ....more leaves ....more leaves ....more brew . The taste is different , but I have a tough tummy and can take it it seems.

I would love to be In a tropical area to harvest vine regularly but I'm happy here so it's a niche spirit for me