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Growing the Opium Poppy
Opium
Citation:   Opium. "Growing the Opium Poppy: An Experience with Opium (exp44112)". Erowid.org. Jun 17, 2008. erowid.org/exp/44112

 
DOSE:
    Opium (tar / resin)
BODY WEIGHT: 165 lb
Growing the Opium Poppy
Look for my image tutorial in the opium gallery
Called – Easy Opium
This is a very simple to follow tutorial on how to grow and cultivate the the opium poppy.

1
Obtain seeds first, they are often offered on shaman websites but I order dried pods from a flower arranging site and use the seads form those. Once you got the seeds, moisten soil and sprinkle seeds evenly. Since seeds are small, try filling up an old salt or pepper container and sprinkling them accordingly. Cover seeds with about half an inch of soil, pat down soil so the ground is even but not too firm, and water the dirt so it can solidify a bit. The opium poppy thrives best in a sandy or loamy black soil with a pH of 6. Any good fertilizer works and usually the same things used for marijuana are ok to use for poppies.

2
In about three days, you will begin to see very small grass like sprouts beginning to appear. In this stage be careful not to over water under water or bend the sprouts with water at too high of a pressure. Do not attempt to thin until deeper root systems have developed.

3
When plants grow too close together, size and alkaloid qualities are hindered so thinning is necessary. For every 3.2 meters, about 15 plants should be present, about every 4 ft = 15 plants. To thin, separate the largest plants from the rest by picking the weaklings around the base of the healthiest plants. Do not dig up and transplant poppies, they do not like it and will most likely die. The plants should be thinned out so that there is about six inches between them

4
As the plant grows, new leaves excel upward in a spiral like motion from the center of the plant, as repeated growth occurs, each new group of leaves that rise will form a stalky stem that points straight upward.

5
Keep the plant well watered until flowering. After the flowers appear, do not water unless absolutely necessary. This is one of the secrets of high opium yield. Harvest time is 5-10 days after flower petals fall

6
Incisions may be made at 24 hour intervals. When the latex becomes thick enough that it does not run, the time is right to collect, another characteristic of harvest time is if the leaves turn a bit yellow. When you cut make sure there is no morning dew or frost, collect either on sunset or sunrise, let sit for 10-12 hrs and oxidize to form a somewhat solid form. Make shallow incision around the circumference of pod hurting just the skin; DO NOT puncture the inner pod because the poppy is hollow, too deep of an incision will force the opium to flow into the center of the pod where it cannot be collected and be lost.

7
Immediately after cutting a milky substance will protrude and coagulate with the air to turn brown; usually it is let to sit ten to twelve hrs. If it is too watery and just flows out like water or isn’t thick enough to collect, it is too early. If you are desperate, I have heard of people collecting this immature milky substance on some tobacco or weed and letting it dry that way. Use a butter knife to scrape the dried resin off pod, it should be a brownish/reddish goo.

8
After collection place in a dry surface to air out, when it reaches the consistency of hashish it is ready to store or smoke. Opium darkens with age and eventually it becomes almost black. If you wish to speed up the drying process, the raw product may be thickened by heating, to drive off excess moisture.

9
The pod may be incised again every few days, as long as it continues to yield juice. Alkaloid potency and yield will diminish as repeated millings occur. The contents of ten to fifteen pods seem to be about the right amount for one high if eaten. It takes considerably more if smoked.

10
Once your pods are milked, hang the biggest ones upside down to dry and collecting the seeds from them for the next season. Now you can take the dried pods and crush them up to make POPPY TEA, which by the way is one of the most evil tasting brews I have encountered. Discard cut pods immediately as they can be used as evidence against you.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 44112
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 17, 2008Views: 48,136
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Opium (63) : Not Applicable (38), Preparation / Recipes (30), Cultivation / Synthesis (31)

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