My grandmother's poppies!

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fakename

A few days ago there was a discussion about licking hallucinogenic Colorado toads, and now tips about opium harvesting?

LOLOL true, that makes me sound a little questionable haha. But no, I will not be scratching the pods to extract the opium, and I have a nice place prepared in the back yard for them.

Thanks for all the tips. I wasn't super worried about it, but I wanted to hear what other people had to say. I'm gonna go for it. It's going to make my grandma so happy to have her favorite flowers, and nobody goes in my back yard except my and my family, and like somebody said before, I don't think anybody would recognize them eve in they saw them. They might be able to tell they are poppies, but there are so many different kinds of poppies. ]

Thanks guys, you've helped me make up my mind. I appreciate it.

---------- Post added at 04:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

You could also eat Datura pods. My husband is fond of saying "it's hard to make things foolproof as fools are very ingenious. "

I've also heard of people eating datura pods. I've even ready quite a few experience reports. NOBODY that I've ever heard of eating it enjoyed the experience. It sounds remarkably unpleasant. I used to grow Datura when I lived in Oklahoma. I was never even tempted to sample the pods lol

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------

[QUOTE

Picking opium poppies doesn't do much good. To harvest the opium you need to incise the pod and collect the sap that runs out the next day.[/QUOTE]

I've read that you can make a very potent tea from the dried pods. I don't know how true that is, but that's the only reason I could think of why kids would pick the pods. But I live in an older neighborhood that is now revived and renovated and the houses are quite nice and remodeled, so incidentally, most of the people who live there are young families with small kids. Those young kids wouldn't even know the first thing about flowers or much less how to make poppy tea from the pods, so I'm not worried about that.

[Leafmite]

I am so glad you will plant them. They are so beautiful. One of my grandmother's friends always had a little plot in front of their home filled with the poppies. They used the seeds in baking. They had these for years and I always admired them as they were all different colors and so lovely. Unfortunately, they had to get rid of them.

And, honestly, I doubt you would face any consequences if police discovered them beyond being told to get rid of them. It isn't as if you are planning to sell opium. At least it isn't Monkshood you are planning to grow in your garden.

[Dollythehun]

Or digitalis.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I am so glad you will plant them. They are so beautiful. One of my grandmother's friends always had a little plot in front of their home filled with the poppies. They used the seeds in baking. They had these for years and I always admired them as they were all different colors and so lovely. Unfortunately, they had to get rid of them.

And, honestly, I doubt you would face any consequences if police discovered them beyond being told to get rid of them. It isn't as if you are planning to sell opium. At least it isn't Monkshood you are planning to grow in your garden.

I know plenty of people who grow castor beans which contain ricin, and I just started germination of some rosary peas which contain ricin's big brother, abrin.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fakename

A few days ago there was a discussion about licking hallucinogenic Colorado toads, and now tips about opium harvesting?

I learned about harvesting opium, and chasing the dragon, when I was a kid. It was clearly explained, with numerous beautiful photos, in National Geographic magazine. I've never tried opium, by the way.

The magazine didn't provide any information on how to grow opium, so the article was incomplete.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Or digitalis.

I always grow digitalis. I know it's toxic, but beyond that, it's there a problem?

[WaterWitchin]

I grow yearly or as the mood strikes poppies, datura, castor beans, digitalis, monk’s hood, and a few illegal wildflowers considered invasive here and not allowed. Used to have a fine crop of marijuana growing outside my pigeon loft each year... seeds were supposedly sterile. Not.

A rebel without a cause, living on the edge, or stubborn and no one tells me what to grow... pick one, or all.

[Dollythehun]

One man's meat, is another man's poison. I grow a lot of toxic plants, too. Digitalis, JScott, used to be used as a heart medicine. Correct me if I'm wrong, ES.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

I grow yearly or as the mood strikes poppies, datura, castor beans, digitalis, monk’s hood, and a few illegal wildflowers considered invasive here and not allowed. Used to have a fine crop of marijuana growing outside my pigeon loft each year... seeds were supposedly sterile. Not.

A rebel without a cause, living on the edge, or stubborn and no one tells me what to grow... pick one, or all.

That is exactly how I feel about the government telling me which plants I can and can't grow. I get the ban on non-native invasive species. Those can decimate the natural habitat of native plants. But other stuff? The government has no right to tell me that I can't grow poppies or mushrooms or peyote or any other plant I want to grow strictly for ornamental purposes (have you ever seen a peyote? I have seen them, and they are JUST PRECIOUS ADORABLE!) so that's the end of my rant. What I grow in the secret privacy of my home just for me to look at is none of anybody else's business.

[JScott]

And I made a perfect spot for them. They are going to look great. They need to be planted in the fall, right, so pretty soon. Don't the seeds need to stratify (experience a period of cold weather in the winter in order to grow in the spring)? I think that's right. I guess I'll plant the seeds sometime in November. I had a friend who grew them, and I seem to recall her planting the seeds in the fall, and then they would germinate late winter/early spring like in February or march, and they would grow even when the weather was still cold, and then really take off once the weather was warm, but not hot, and then they were done by the time the weather got really hot in June. Does that sound about right?