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03-19-05, 12:28

Cultivation
Propagated from seed. Seeds germinate best at 15°C and are less sensitive to temperature than most poppy species. Seed sown in shallow furrows, at rate of 4–6 kg/ha. In some areas poppy seed, mixed with sand, is often broadcast over tilled fields in early autumn at rate of about 0.5 kg/ha, as in Asia Minor. Then fields are weeded in the spring when the poppy has grown to about 15 cm tall, and plants are thinned then to stand about 60 cm apart. They flower in April and May and the capsules are ripe in June to July. Optimum yields are obtained when plants are spaced 10 cm between plants and rows 32 cm apart, thus allowing space for mechanical cultivation. Yields of seeds are slightly higher when plants are spaced 30 cm apart than when 40 cm apart. Thinning and spacing do not affect the oil content of the seeds. Fertile soil is essential for good growth and land should be fertilized accordingly.

Harvesting
While nearly all parts of the poppy plant contain a white milky juice or latex, the unripe capsules, containing the juice in abundance, are used for extraction of morphine and other alkaloids. Minor alkaloids are extracted from the straw also. The capsule wall is traversed by a network of branching and anastomosing lactiferous vessels which contain the latex. In the green unripe capsule, the latex is richest in morphine; but as they turn yellow and ripen, the morphine content diminishes and the codeine and narcotine contents increase. Shortly after the petals and stamens fall, usually in the late afternoon or early morning while the temperature is low, transverse oblique or ventral incisions are made in the unripe capsules with a single-bladed knife having one saw edge or a several-bladed knife, care being taken not to cut through the inner wall of the capsule lest valuable juice be lost and the seeds injured. The white juice exudes and soon hardens in the outside wall of the capsule into brownish masses which are scraped off the following day on a wooden tray. The scrapings are later transferred to earthen vessels or larger trays or dumped on the ground, where the opium is kneaded by hand to a uniform consistency. It is then shaped into balls, cakes, or sticks, ready for marketing. Crude opium from the 3 or 4 lancings should be separated for medicinal use since it contains a higher percentage of morphine. Codeine content in poppy shows significant variation as a result of weather and heredity. Morphine content is highest during period 10–30 days after flowering.

03-19-05, 12:28	#9 (permalink)
~afraidofamerica Guest Posts: n/a	Cultivation Propagated from seed. Seeds germinate best at 15°C and are less sensitive to temperature than most poppy species. Seed sown in shallow furrows, at rate of 4–6 kg/ha. In some areas poppy seed, mixed with sand, is often broadcast over tilled fields in early autumn at rate of about 0.5 kg/ha, as in Asia Minor. Then fields are weeded in the spring when the poppy has grown to about 15 cm tall, and plants are thinned then to stand about 60 cm apart. They flower in April and May and the capsules are ripe in June to July. Optimum yields are obtained when plants are spaced 10 cm between plants and rows 32 cm apart, thus allowing space for mechanical cultivation. Yields of seeds are slightly higher when plants are spaced 30 cm apart than when 40 cm apart. Thinning and spacing do not affect the oil content of the seeds. Fertile soil is essential for good growth and land should be fertilized accordingly. Harvesting While nearly all parts of the poppy plant contain a white milky juice or latex, the unripe capsules, containing the juice in abundance, are used for extraction of morphine and other alkaloids. Minor alkaloids are extracted from the straw also. The capsule wall is traversed by a network of branching and anastomosing lactiferous vessels which contain the latex. In the green unripe capsule, the latex is richest in morphine; but as they turn yellow and ripen, the morphine content diminishes and the codeine and narcotine contents increase. Shortly after the petals and stamens fall, usually in the late afternoon or early morning while the temperature is low, transverse oblique or ventral incisions are made in the unripe capsules with a single-bladed knife having one saw edge or a several-bladed knife, care being taken not to cut through the inner wall of the capsule lest valuable juice be lost and the seeds injured. The white juice exudes and soon hardens in the outside wall of the capsule into brownish masses which are scraped off the following day on a wooden tray. The scrapings are later transferred to earthen vessels or larger trays or dumped on the ground, where the opium is kneaded by hand to a uniform consistency. It is then shaped into balls, cakes, or sticks, ready for marketing. Crude opium from the 3 or 4 lancings should be separated for medicinal use since it contains a higher percentage of morphine. Codeine content in poppy shows significant variation as a result of weather and heredity. Morphine content is highest during period 10–30 days after flowering.