Making Your Own Herb Garden: Facts About Coca Plants

One of the commonly misjudged plants commercially produced and used is the coca plant. 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 plants. That’s why it’s also beneficial for you to have these plants in making your herb garden.

The coca plant grows 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 being made. The first discovered written source of the plants was in 1783, but it was not classified until 1786, where it was given the name Erythroxylum coca. However, it is believed that the coca plant has been established as a domestic species for over two thousand years. There is proof within burial sites of coca to lend credence this belief.

Nurturing the coca plant needs diligence and effort. The life of the coca plant starts 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 skin of the fruit becomes squishy. Once this has happened, the seeds are removed and the seeds are placed in the sun in order for them to dry out.

Only once this happens, the seeds can be planted. It takes 24 days for the coca plant to germinate. Once the plant has acquired 4 leaves, they are guarded by a lattice covering for a year.

After the year has finished, 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 processed, they are gathered three or four times a year. A fully established acre of coca plants can yield 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of product annually.

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 drink no longer contains cocaine, it is still created directly from the coca leaf.

In starting your herb garden, as coca plants are so expensive, there are many safeguards taken to guard the crops from natural predators and disease. There are several varieties of bugs that prey on the coca plants, as well as fungus that can harm or kill the stalks, branches and leaves. Weeds can also be fatal to adolescent 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 diseases such as shingles and eczema.