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| Hoodia Seed |
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Some sellers
claim that your
Hoodia will produce
thousands of seeds!
Nature commonly
ensures plants
produce huge numbers
of seeds since so
few ever survive.
But with Hoodia I
don't know what
varieties I have
since it is so hard
to identify the
various types. If
they do produce seed
what will it be? A
cross pollinated
hybrid plant? |
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| July, 2007. I
have two plants
flowering next to
each other. One has
yellow flowers
(above) and the
other red flowers
(right). If these
cross pollinate what
will the seed be?
Should I sell the
seed on ebay as
Hoodia Gordonii
seed? If seed were
selling for $1 each
and you had 5,000
seeds...what
would you do?
What would I do?
I certainly would
NOT sell it! |
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How effective is any given Hoodia? |
All African Hoodias are on the
endangered list and illegal to
export without a license. However, plant collectors in
Europe have grown them for many
years; thus proving a legal source
of both plants and seeds. Again;
wild Hoodia may not be collected.
But only collector plants are
available; this is not certified
seed.
The seed sold as
Hoodia is NOT taken directly from
the African desert. It came from
hobbyists, collectors, etc.
Hoodia has never been bred for
commercial farming; therefore no one
can certify the seed (prove its
lineage). It may have been
hybridized by cross pollination.
Just because a Hoodia Pilifera
produces seed you do not know if it
is "true to type" unless you can
control what it was pollinated with.
A plant has to grow to maturity
before you can determine its
properties. Then you select the best
specimens and only allow those to
pollinate each other. Then you grow
that seed and see what it produces;
what characteristics are present
such as disease resistance, size,
vigor, and in the case of
Hoodia--what percentage of P57 it
produces.
The problem is similar to
commercial hemp (grown for
rope fibers) and
cannabis the drug. They are the same plant;
cannabis sativa. Hemp has about
3/10th of 1 percent THC (0.3). But
cannabis the drug has 15
times (5%) as much THC. Smoking
commercial hemp will give you a sore
throat. The other is a drug as
potent as whiskey.
No one knows the % of P57 in any
given Hoodia plant; what potency is
present (milligrams/kilogram of
plant). Could you concentrate it to
make your own extract? Yes, but
concentrating P57 is a chemistry
exercise that could burn down your
house.
There are no certified strains of
Hoodia. Why not? Probably
because the extract Pfizer tested
caused "unwanted changes in the
liver" and they realized it could
not receive FDA approval. That is
why they abandoned it.
The problem of growing Hoodia for
P57 production is complicated by
lessons learned from ethnobotany.
Plants used by native people may be
of interest to pharmaceutical firms.
Here is what they do:
• An ethnobotanist visits native
healers to learn which plants they
use for healing
• Samples of the plant are taken to
a laboratory to determine the active
ingredient
• The isolated active chemical is
produced for animal testing, then
human testing
In the case of P57 Pfizer found the chemical
synthesis too expensive. So
they extracted it from Hoodia plants
to
concentrate for human testing.
That is when the "unwanted changes
to the liver" was discovered.
Realizing that the FDA would never
approve it (due to the
effect on the liver), Pfizer
gave up on P57 in 2002.
The lesson of ethnobotany has
another key bit of knowledge; plants
did not always produce the "key
active ingredient" desired.
Specimens were collected that had
little or none of the desired
substance. What was wrong?
Plants produce substances as a
result of many variables. Here
are some to consider that may affect
P57:
• P57 may not be produced until the
plant is a certain age. No one has
yet quantified this.
• P57 may require a certain soil PH,
amount or lack of rainfall, certain
minerals, etc. No one has yet
quantified this.
• P57 may be low in home grown, flower pot
specimens. These may simply produce
"vegetative growth" but
little P57. No one has yet
quantified this.
The question is;
what does uncertified Hoodia
seed, grown in a flowerpot,
become in 5 to 7 years?
No one really knows. |
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| Hoodia in a
flower pot. A
cavegirl can do it! |
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| Can you grow
this in a flower
pot? |
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| Can you grow
coffee in a flower
pot? |
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My supplier told the $scammers
"We cannot deal with that" |
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Seed still costs pennies in Europe |
All African Hoodias are on the
endangered list and illegal to
export. However, plant collectors in
Europe have grown them for many
years; thus proving a legal source
of both plants and seeds. Again;
wild Hoodia may not be collected.
Hoodia Pilifera
was the first
variety identified as being used by
natives for appetite suppression.
Hoodia Ruschii, Hoodia Macrantha,
Hoodia Officianalis, and Hoodia
Juttae are also just as effective.
Brainwashed victims of the Hoodia
diet scam only know of Hoodia Gordonii because it grows abundantly
in large populations in Southern
Africa where they have cashed in the
fad by granting export licenses for
that seed. To obtain seed without a
license you can buy from European
sources.
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(Above) Nice quality offerings from a collector.
(below) This commercial source used to have half a dozen
varieties of Hoodia at about $30/1000 seeds before the scam
began. ebay sellers marked up seed 3,000% to cash in on the
fad until the seed became unavailable. |
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| Some sources claim there are 20 to 40 Hoodia
varieties. I have, so far, found these 19 named Hoodias: Hoodia alstonii, Hoodia bainii, Hoodia currorii, Hoodia delaetiana,
Hoodia dregei, Hoodia flava, Hoodia Gordonii, Hoodia
husabensis, Hoodia juttae, Hoodia lugardii (now Hoodia
currori subsp. lugardi), Hoodia macrantha, Hoodia pilifera
(formerly Trichocaulon piliferum), Hoodia officinale
(formerly Trichocaulon officinale), Hoodia parviflora,
Hoodia pedicellata, Hoodia pretnar, Hoodia rosea, Hoodia
ruschii and Hoodia triebneri. |
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(above) in its third year
this plant is growing
rapidly. Large Hoodia plants
are rare and expensive.
People say it takes 5 to 7
years for the Hoodia plant
to mature and develop the
appetite suppressing
qualities exploited by the
African tribes people. Some
dealers are claiming that by
taking the plant out of the
wild and applying lots of
fertilizer and water the
plant will mature faster.
This may not be true; the
plant comes from a desert
region where its
pharmacological properties
may be linked to the long
growth period in a hot, dry
climate. Treating them as a
house plant may produce
impressive vegetative growth
without the same percentage
of steroidal glycosides. In
fact, no one knows! The
Hoodia craze is too new, too
much of a fad with a lot of
hype from "get rich quick"
Internet types.
Here is information from a
website that has an
interesting description of
both the desert growing
conditions and the
scientific explanation of
how Hoodia affects appetite.
"...(Hoodia) grows in the
semi-deserts of Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia,
Angola and Republic of South
Africa.. It grows rather
slow - it takes about 5
years of growing it, before
it flowers and before you
can start harvesting any of
it. It can be 15 - 20 years
before the plant is fully
grown and at the peak of its
productive life....the
potent appetite suppression
is caused by steroidal
glycosides...a component of
saponins...bioactive
compounds that are present
naturally in many plants."
(from:
http://www.mypurehoodia.us/hoodia.htm) |
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| What a beautiful
plant! They are so
cute and chubby. The
spiny appearance
does NOT mean this
is a cactus. It
is a succulent
and an asclepiad at
that. That places it
in the "stinking
orchid" family.
But who would try to
scam people with a
"Stinking orchid
diet?" See how
absurd THAT sounds?
I just can't bring
myself to scam
anyone with such
hype. |
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Raising
this plant
in your home
when it is
native to
the deserts of South
Africa; Namibia and
the Kalahari is a
challenge. Because
it comes from a dry
region the young
seedlings and year
old plants seem to
have no immunity to
fungal diseases. Our homes
are relatively humid
environments filled
with mold & fungus
spores that
killed many of my
young Hoodia plants. As the
plants get older
they seem to develop
enough immunity that
this is not a
problem.
However, I lost so
many seedlings,
probably 30%, that I
contacted the
Asclepiad Society (Hoodia
is an asclepiad) in
England. The
secretary, Chris
Moore, recommended
two excellent
fungicide products:
Phyton-27 and
Daconil. This later
is now sold by Ortho
as "Ortho Garden
Disease Control."
I have found it
totally effective in
preventing seedling
loss. However,
after the seedling
stage I only
grow my plants
organically with
Maxicrop Kelp, Fish
emulsion, humic
acid, ThermX yucca
extract, etc. |
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| If you know what
you are doing you
can save a plant
that has root rot!
Take a cutting of
the portion above
and root it.
Works
for me. |
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Hoodia
will root from
cuttings. But if you
grow from seed
you
may have to use a
fungicide. |
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| (above)
root buds are stiff
probes looking for moisture.
When they form you can
lightly water to stimulate
fine root growth. Then you
have a healthy
plant. |
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Hoodia are
fascinating plants
to grow
Mine more than double in
size each growing
season |
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Since it takes
years to mature you
may want to start
now with collecting
these. You should
consider first where
in your home you
will tend a
specimen. Set up a
place where the
light is bright but
not direct. Direct
sun can burn plants
just as people get
sunburned. They do
best in what is called
"Bright shade."
If you have never
grown African succulents
I recommend that
you practice with one Hoodia plant at a
time. If you kill
it, figure out why.
Then try again and
improve the
conditions of light,
temperature, watering, etc.
until you can keep a
Hoodia alive and
healthy. OK?
As you gain
experience and skill
you may buy more, or
propagate yours from
cuttings. When you
have a large,
beautiful specimen
you will be very
happy and proud.
I am! Email me &
send a
photo? |
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