Papaver...what time of day do you slash?

[Mad Hatter]

Hey there I'm new to this forum as a poster but I've been enjoying surfing around gathering interesting info and answers to questions for many years now. A foaf was wondering if anyone has a particular method or time of day when slashing their poppy pods? I've read that the sap has a higher alkaloid content around midday, although my foaf has found he gets a heavier flow of sap in the morning, whether the alkaloid content is also high in the morning I dont know but I would appreciate any sharing of experience or knowledge on this subject. Cheers

[Vagdevi]

Hey man. Welcome!

I don't know much on the subject though i've heard that slashing when the "hat" on the pod is sticking up will give a product with higher morphine as opposed to slashing when it's down which will yield a higher codeine content. Does the hat on the pods go up or down at different times of the day? I don't know as i've never had the pleasure! wish they were legal to grow in Aus!

You should be able to find some good info on the topic by searching aswell.

Peace~

[~shameless~]

Some guy i spoke too reckons the ''hat'' starts to turn up at about the 7-10 day markafter petals drop off , it stays up too, its time to do it then if you would have them growing of course.

You wouldnt do it if reasonable rainfall was expected within 2 hours either for obvious reasons.

[planthelper]

i don't know about fluctuations during the day, but the most important thing is to have plenty of milk oozing out, and this happens after a good rain or plenty of watering. it could be a good idea to reduce water for a few days before doing this. plants which had been thiersty for a while and than get lot's of water seem to bleed freely.

milking the pods at home is a good methode to avoid suspicios behavior, to do so you take the whole pod and cut the stem off and let the milk drop onto some tin foil. applying heat to the pods makes them bleed profusly!

you can do this by putting the pods into hot water (stem pointing upwards) than when another drop appeared you take the pod out of the dish with hot water and collect the drop of milk, than you put it back into the hot water.

maybe a hairdryer could do the job as well.

like this you can milk the pods only once, but most people never milk, because of the risks involved and right away boil the pods. but like this you get even raw opium!!

in many countries growing sommniferum poppies is totaly legal, but milking them would make you neighbour wonder what you are up to, so "home milking" is the answere, apart from being less labourous, as scraping pods, is a divious job.

anyway do this only where legal to do so.

Edited October 21, 2008 by planthelper

[Stonehenge]

You mean to say you can't even grow them in Oz? Here, there are vague laws on the subject but they don't bother you unless they catch you lancing or some similar activity. Lots of people grow them here.

[ballzac]

Where's 'here'?

Yes, you can't grow them here, but if you are an old lady and you have them growing in amongst your geraniums, you're unlikely to get in trouble for it.

[planthelper]

and if you would grow full bloom varieties (the ones with heaps of petals) this would aswell support the view that they are purly ornamental. poppy seeds can live for a long time in the soil (up to 50 years sources say) so one can hardly be blamed for what a previous resident did grow in the yard.

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks for the input people. Been doin research elsewhere too and found out that there is heavier flow in the morning usually because the sun hasn't been out long, so it's not so hot and dry and the plant has more moisture within it and more turgor pressure. So a plant which has had sufficient rain will have a heavier flow too, however the sap is more dilute if you know what I mean. lower alkaloid content