Blog – Avalon Magic Plants

Browse all our articles about truffles, grow kits, microdosing, kratom, cacti and everything else you want to know about smartshop products. Written by our team with over 15 years of hands-on experience.

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Our blog covers a wide range of subjects, from practical guides to in-depth background stories. Whether it's growing your own mushrooms, preparing ayahuasca or choosing the right kratom strain, we share what we've learned from years of daily experience. Every article is written and reviewed by team members who work with these products every day.

Mushroom Stopper package with valerian capsules and dextrose tablets on a wooden surface
24 Oct 2026

What a trip stopper does (and what it doesn't)

Two capsules and two tablets The Mushroom Stopper that we sell at Avalon Magic Plants is not a compl...

Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala): Effects, Risks and Interactions
20 Oct 2026

Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala): Effects, Risks and Interactions

Syrian rue (Peganum harmala), also known as harmal or esfand, is a tough steppe plant with small bro...

Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum) Side Effects and Interactions
20 Oct 2026

Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum) Side Effects and Interactions

Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum) has a reputation as a gentle herb, and for many people that's accurate. B...

How to Grow Lotus from Seed: Sacred Lotus and Blue Lotus
20 Oct 2026

How to Grow Lotus from Seed: Sacred Lotus and Blue Lotus

"Lotus" sounds like one plant, but when you grow it from seed you're dealing with two very different sp...

How to Grow Salvia Divinorum from Cuttings: Complete Care Guide
20 Oct 2026

How to Grow Salvia Divinorum from Cuttings: Complete Care Guide

Salvia divinorum is almost always grown from a cutting. The plant rarely sets seed, and when it does...

Yopo seeds with stone mortar and shell lime on a wooden surface
18 Oct 2026

Yopo peaks in five minutes, not four hours

Snuff trays from 1200 BC Along the coast of Peru, archaeologists have dug up stone trays and bone tu...

Ten rapé blends with different plants beside mapacho tobacco
16 Oct 2026

Bobinsana or tsunu? What the second plant in your rapé does

Every rapé starts the same The base of rapé is always mapacho, or Nicotiana rustica . Not cigarett...

Mandragora officinarum root and seeds
10 Oct 2026

Mandrake doesn't scream, but it did sedate surgical patients

Surgeons knew this root better than we do Search for “mandrake” and within thirty seconds you wi...

Muira puama bark and extract on a wooden surface
8 Oct 2026

Muira puama extract or loose bark? The resin makes all the difference

An Amazonian tree with more folklore than clinical proof Muira puama ( Ptychopetalum olacoides ) is ...

How to grow Hawaiian baby woodrose from seed
6 Oct 2026

How to grow Hawaiian baby woodrose from seed

Hawaiian baby woodrose, a slow but striking climber Hawaiian baby woodrose ( Argyreia nervosa ), lik...

Dried kola nut pieces next to a bowl of kola nut tea on a wooden table
2 Oct 2026

Kola nut has double the caffeine of arabica coffee

Most people only know the kola nut from the name Coca-Cola, and that is a shame. Gram for gram, this...

Growing Morning Glory from Seed
30 Sep 2026

Growing Morning Glory from Seed

Morning Glory (Ipomoea tricolor) grows quickly from a single seed into a climbing vine of two to thr...

Close-up of mycelium in a magic mushroom grow kit with subtle blue bruising
24 Sep 2026

Green in your grow kit is trouble, blue almost never is

You open the box and your stomach drops It happens to almost everyone who uses a magic mushroom grow...

Tampanensis truffle grow kit on wooden table
22 Sep 2026

Growing truffles takes three months, mushrooms two weeks

Order a mushroom grow kit and you'll see the first pins within ten days. Two weeks later, the box is ...

Tabernanthe iboga fresh seeds
13 Sep 2026

Iboga seeds sprout in weeks, the shrub takes a decade

Ten fresh seeds, a warm corner and a few weeks of patience. That's the starting point. What follows i...