San Pedronomics: Auctioning Trichocereus cacti

Dr Liam Engel, founder of The Mescaline Garden, analyses price fluctuations in the auction of San Pedro clones.

*Trichocereus sp. (and a Myrtillocactus sp.) cuts for auction. Photo by Fahim Adabjou.*

The sale of San Pedro (Trichocereus sp.) cacti, the most common mescaline containing cacti, has boomed in recent years. The general popularity of cactus has fluctuated over the past century, much like fashion trends. During the 1970’s cactus was incredibly popular amongst home decorators, however, this trend practically disappeared in the following decades. Currently we are a witnessing a cacti resurgence, not only of people growing these plants, but also of the use of art and iconography related to cactus 🌵

Recent research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has contributed to the rise in popularity of San Pedro amongst the public, as well as sparking a medical gold rush as companies flock to make new psychedelic treatments. Emerging psychedelic medicines have also spurned an increase in positive reporting on psychedelics. Medical industry and media have increased public demand for psychedelics, including demand for San Pedro as a common, sustainable source of mescaline.

An overall increased interest in gardening and self-sufficiency in the past few years has also positively influenced the popularity of growing San Pedro. As we experience global environmental crises, people have an increased interest in ‘growing their own’ and being independent producers of their own consumables. Mescaline, in the form of San Pedro, is one of the easiest psychedelics to cultivate. San Pedro are less widely prohibited than other mescaline cacti, making San Pedro quite popular among psychedelic communities. Many growers begin in the hopes of producing their own mescaline, but quickly discover that there are so many other features to appreciate in these cacti.

The increased number of individuals growing San Pedro is evidenced by their immense engagement with related social media, particularly in various Facebook groups, perhaps the most notable being Trichocereus and Echinopsis Growers Worldwide which has over 30,000 members.

The expanding number of buyers has raised prices for certain plants and lowered them for others, however, the expanding number of growers makes the value of cacti increasingly dynamic. Similar pieces of the same San Pedro clone can drastically vary in price depending on where and when the piece was purchased.

Trichocereus Auctions Australia (TAA) is a Facebook group that hosts San Pedro auctions and hosts a current membership of ~7,500 people. The page was created by Torsten Wiedemann alongside a core Australian grower community including myself, many of whom are members of the Shaman Australis Botanicals forum “The Corroboree.” TAA quickly grew in popularity and inspired the creation of many other cactus and plant auction groups, many of which based their sales post formats on the TAA design.

Aiming to better understand price variation in the San Pedro market, I collected data from TAA concerning sales of notable clones. I was particularly curious about how the prices of clones compared to one another, and how these prices changed over time.

*Auction of T. macrogonus "Fahim03” on TAA.*

Method

I decided to make a manageable dataset by focusing on San Pedro appearing in my classic clone catalogue, as well as the two most well-known Australian clones, T. peruvianus “Sharxx Blue” and T. bridgesii “Chemical Sharman’s Dick (CSD).” TAA auction posts are required use the following the format:

Item :

Size:

Starting bid: 🌵

Buy It Now (optional): 🌵

Bidding increments: 🌵

End time:

Shipping & Restrictions:

Payment method:

Notes/Description:

For the San Pedro appearing in the clone catalogue that had at least three sales at auction, I documented the length, date of listing and sale price. Listings that contained multiple different clones bundled together were not included, neither were listings where the length of a clone was not clearly indicated. The average cost in $AUD per centimetre for each sale was calculated and used to generate some simple graphs to help visualise the data.

It is worth noting that the Facebook search functionality is not a transparent algorithm and at times appears to deliver different results for identical search terms, so there may be sales posts missing from this data set. I was banned access by Facebook for a time as a result of doing this research. This study certainly raises some interesting questions around the ethics of social media data collection, but these questions are beyond the scope of this article. As a core contributor to TAA I believe my use of this data aligns with the interests of our community, to whom this data belongs.

*The classic Matucana T. peruvianus look - T. peruvianus “Rosei 1.” Photo by Liam Engel.*

Average $AUD per centimetre

T. peruvianus “Sharxx Blue” had the highest per centimetre sale price of any San Pedro clone that did not display prominent variegation and/or consistent, uncommon deformities (Figure 1). Plants with occasional rib shifts or terminations, such as T. peruvianus “Sausage plant” were cheaper than “Sharxx Blue” and far cheaper still than distinct atypical forms like T. bridgesii “CSD” or T. macrogonus “Fahim03.” All T. pachanoi “Trojan Llama” sales were of plants were displaying typical, reverted growth. A common theme amongst more typical San Pedro bought at a greater price at auction is that many T. peruvianus (“Len”, “Matucana Sausage”, “Rosei 1” and “Rosei 2”, “Dawsons 2” and “Sharxx Blue”) share a classic Matucana T. peruvianus appearance; a striking frosty blue skin and swollen areoles.

Due to inconsistencies in naming and clones with unclear origins, there are cases where a clone may have multiple names associated with them, such as the T. peruvianus clones “Dawsons 2” and “Sharxx Blue” which are highly likely to be the same clone. Interestingly, only one TAA auction listed a cutting of T. peruvianus “Dawsons 2”, however, there were 14 auctions listing T. peruvianus “Sharxx Blue”. The “Dawsons 2” sale went for less than $2AUD per centimetre – far cheaper than any auction of “Sharxx Blue,” of which the average $AUD per centimetre is $10, as shown in Figure 1.

*Figure 1. Average cost in $AUD per centimetre of classic clones.*

While the division of typical and atypical San Pedro can be useful in explaining why some San Pedro reach a higher sale price at auction than others, much of the “CSD” sold on the auction page had been grafted and as a result did not exhibit the iconic form associated with “CSD.” Much like “Sharxx Blue” was valued more highly than “Dawsons 2”, some auctions seem to be more about the clones name itself rather than the plant being sold.

Different faces of T. bridgesii “CSD.” The grafted plant on the left looks like a typical T. bridgesii. The plant on the right is growing on its own roots and exhibits the atypical growth associated with “CSD.” Photos by Fahim Adabjou.

Changes in price of valuable clones

During the first three years of auctions the average price ($AUD) per centimetre of the four most expensive atypical San Pedro clones was much greater than double that of the more typical San Pedro clones (Figure 1). However, It appears that over time these clones decreased in value, with prices becoming more comparable to typical clones after a few years on the market (Figure 2).

*Figure 2. TAA pricing of Fahim01, Fahim03, Tunjo and CSD prices over time.*

The perceived value of different San Pedro clones is the subject of much debate. A potted cacti of the most commonly found San Pedro, Trichocereus pachanoi “Predominant Cultivar” AKA “PC”, that is between one to two metres tall can easily fetch over $500AUD in a large chain nursery. Most growers, however, would be lucky to get 50 cents per centimetre for this clone on TAA. Growers have more expertise, but they also have less buying power and a smaller customer base. While personally, I wouldn’t pay $500 for a metre of PC, I respect and understand these types of prices. It is an unfortunate circumstance that San Pedro growers tend to have to sell much better plants at lower prices while requiring greater personal effort than big businesses. Marketing, postage, and clone development is a lot of work for a sole trader.

Once a grower has identified a new clone they will likely try and maximise the value of the initial release and distribution in order to gain a return on their time invested. While I encourage growers to maximise the value of their plants, there is some etiquette that is not always apparent to new growers. Growers often share and trade unreleased clones amongst one another. If you are gifted an unreleased clone, there is an onus on you to avoid undercutting the sales of the person who developed the clone. This might mean you can’t distribute or sell that clone to others, until the developer makes a public release. If a clone you have been gifted is released, be mindful of how prices drop over the initial few years of distribution and aim not to undercut premium sales of the developer; this is the reward for years of hard work selecting and propagating the clone.

I like to think the San Pedro market is made up of various different groups, each of which has their own etiquette and prices. I distribute San Pedro differently amongst my cultivator collaborators than I do amongst the grower market, which is different again from how I distribute San Pedro amongst the public. For San Pedro growers, our knowledge is what gives our cacti provenance. The general public doesn’t know the different San Pedro species, let alone differences between clones within a species. I believe that people from outside of our community should pay higher prices – this is a cost of learning our specialist cultural knowledge. Rather than criticising other growers for their sale prices, I think we should consider our own cacti to be just as valuable.

A very small handful of growers are currently able to make a living from selling San Pedro. I would never criticise these growers for their prices, quite the opposite; I wish that these people received greater financial reward for their efforts. I wish this firstly, because these growers deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and I want them to continue along this path, and secondly, because I am excited for the future of San Pedro cultivation as people expand their operations. If San Pedro growers had the same resources as bigger horticultural players, imagine what we could achieve. Remember, there are so many more morphological and cultural features of cacti than mescaline content and deformities. I’m dreaming of a Matucana-type T. peruvianus with rainbow flowers and a fruit that can go on my ice cream…