Author Topic: Poppies as a crop  (Read 3383 times)

Poppies as a crop
« on: 26 June, 2016, 06:58:34 pm »
We've just returned from a ride and saw several fields, large fields that take minutes to cycle past, full of pale pink poppies.  What crop is it?

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #1 on: 26 June, 2016, 07:00:55 pm »
Opiates.

Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #2 on: 26 June, 2016, 07:15:10 pm »
In Hampshire?

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #3 on: 26 June, 2016, 07:29:35 pm »
I saw the same last week on top of Ditchling Beacon. Like this:


You can see what I think might be seed pods from Rape, although they're slightly out of focus.  My uneducated guess is that poppies have been sown along side the Rape (which has already flowered), but why I don't know.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #4 on: 26 June, 2016, 07:37:18 pm »
Furious Googling suggests that if those are oilseed rape pods in the picture above, then the poppies are there as a weed. From some herbicide manufacturer's website:

Quote
Poppy – Papaver rhoeas – is an annual weed common and problematic in both cereals and oilseed rape.

One plant can produce 20,000 seeds and the seeds can remain dormant for 100 years in the soil seed bank. Poppies have a similar competitive indices to blackgrass and mayweed and can also cause harvest difficulties including blocking of combine sieves. Since the loss of trifluarlin, control has relied heavily on pre/early post-emergence herbicides.

Sulfonylurea resistance has been confirmed in the UK, therefore resistance management and WRAG guidelines should be considered when targeting this weed if resistance is known or expected.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #5 on: 26 June, 2016, 07:41:57 pm »
Those red poppies aren't sown. They're weeds. Weedkillers for poppies in OSR is expensive as they're both broadleaved and the more specific a weedkiller,the more expensive it is.
Pink poppies are the crop. T42 had a picture of some french ones last year.


ETA: Gah. Out knowledged by google-fu.


Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #7 on: 26 June, 2016, 08:13:06 pm »
In Hampshire?

Yup. They're used to make morphine. It's all above board and legal! Unlike the poppy home "brew" made by the recreational chemists when I was at school.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #8 on: 27 June, 2016, 01:48:08 am »
I was under the impression that opium poppies needed more light and heat than UK sun would provide, to provide a significant drug yield.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #9 on: 27 June, 2016, 09:08:16 am »
IIRC Mitcham, where the mints come from, used to grow both lavender and opium up until the 20th century.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #10 on: 27 June, 2016, 09:15:40 am »
The Fenlanders used to live off "Fen Tea". Interesting stuff here: http://druglibrary.eu/library/books/opiumpeople/opiuminthefens.html

jiberjaber

  • ... Fancy Pants \o/ ...
  • ACME S&M^2
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #11 on: 27 June, 2016, 10:28:36 am »
IIRC Mitcham, where the mints come from, used to grow both lavender and opium up until the 20th century.

And from Wallington outwards.  Wallington celebrates it with their lavender sculpture.  There is often a large lavender field set aside near Carshalton Beeches opps The Oaks.



https://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200554/heritage_and_culture/1372/lavender
Regards,

Joergen


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #13 on: 27 June, 2016, 11:59:47 am »
In Hampshire?

Yup. They're used to make morphine. It's all above board and legal! Unlike the poppy home "brew" made by the recreational chemists when I was at school.
This is the reason poppies growing as a weed in a field can get a farmer (presumably a gardener too) a large fine in Poland.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #14 on: 27 June, 2016, 01:10:23 pm »

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #15 on: 27 June, 2016, 09:10:56 pm »
Swindon had four varieties of poppy this year; the normal light red ones, some darker red ones of similar size and the giant pink and purple ones.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #16 on: 28 June, 2016, 12:35:00 pm »
I saw fields and fields of poppies like that in the Czech republic last week. I assumed they were for the seeds rather than morphine. What do the ones grown for poppy seed look like?
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Poppies as a crop
« Reply #17 on: 28 June, 2016, 01:00:01 pm »
The Lavender Hill Mob were handling the wrong stuff.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight