Making Your Own Herb Garden: All About Coca Plants
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
The coca plant is one of the most misunderstood plants currently being grown and harvested. Most commonly associated with being the species which cocaine is derived from, it has the stereotype of being a dangerous plant. However, the coca plant has many medicinal and safe uses, which have been used by practitioners since the discovery of the species. That’s why it’s also beneficial for you to have these plants in making your herb garden.
The coca plant thrives in South America, Africa, Ceylon, Taiwan, Indonesia and Formosa. However, it is most commonly identified for its presence in the Andes of South America, where the majority of cocaine is created. The first known written source of the species was in 1783, but it was not officially registered until 1786, where it was given the name Erythroxylum coca. But, it is believed that the coca plant has been tended as a domestic plant for over 2,000 years. There is evidence within burial sites of coca to support this theory.
Diligence and effort is needed to tend to the coca plant. The life of the coca plant begins as a fruit, which is gathered when the drupes are almost ripe. These drupes are set within a container and allowed to sit where the flesh of the fruit becomes tender. Once this has taken place, the seeds are removed and the seeds are placed in the sunlight to dry out.
Only once this occurs, the seeds can be planted. It takes 24 days for the coca plant to germinate. Once the plant has grown 4 leaves, they are protected by a lattice covering for a year.
After the year has completed, the plants are transferred to preparation fields. This transportation can only occur within the rainy days. Three years after this transfer, some leaves may be gathered. Once the coca plant is able to be processed, they are processed three or four times a year. A fully established acre of coca plants can yield 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of product per year.
While coca plants are annual, a field will be replanted once every twenty years, as the quality of the plant fades over time.
The most common use of coca plants is in the popular soft drink, Coca-Cola. While this soda no longer contains cocaine, it is still made directly from the coca leaf.
In starting your herb garden, as coca plants are so expensive, there are many procedures taken to protect the crops from natural predators and disease. There are several varieties of insects that eat on the coca plants, as well as fungus that can harm or kill the stalks, branches and leaves. Weeds can also be fatal to young coca plants, as the weeds remove the soil of the nutrients that the plants need for basic life. In making your own herb garden, it’s good to know that there are also some medicinal benefits with the coca plant. Modern medicinal uses of coca include use as a bactericide, as spinal anesthetics and as treatments for ailments such as shingles and eczema.
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