Making Your Own Herb Garden: Facts About Coca Plants
Posted on 08 February 2010
The coca plant is one of the commonly prejudiced plants currently being produced and used. Most commonly known for being the plant which cocaine is created 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 plant enthusiasts 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 lives in South America, Africa, Ceylon, Taiwan, Indonesia and Formosa. However, it is most commonly known for its existence in the Andes of South America, where the majority of cocaine is created. The first discovered documentation 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 grounds of coca to support this idea.
Caring for the coca plant requires diligence and effort. The life of the coca plant starts as a fruit, which is picked when the drupes are almost ripe. These drupes are placed within a container and allowed to sit where the skin of the fruit becomes tender. Once this has occurred, the seeds are taken and the seeds are set in the sunlight in order for them to dry out.
Only once this occurs, the seeds can be sown. Germination takes approximately 24 days. Once the plant has grown 4 leaves, they are protected by a lattice covering for a year.
After the year has ended, the plants are transferred to preparation fields. This transportation can only occur within the rainy season. Three years after this transfer, some leaves may be gathered. Once the coca plant is able to be harvested, 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 leaf annually.
While coca plants are annual, a field will be replanted once every twenty years, as the quality of the plant diminishes 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 created directly from the coca leaf.
In starting your herb garden, as coca plants are so pricey, there are many procedures taken to guard the crops from natural predators and disease. There are a few varieties of pests that feed on the coca plants, as well as fungus that can cripple or kill the stalks, branches and leaves. Weeds can also be devastating 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 eczema and shingles.
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