Pod Size vs Yield

[killersnowman]

swim used to always get the biggest pods swim could get. he used to use around 6 of these pods and would get a lot of powder from them. he recently got an amazing find on pods that are around golf ball sized, relatively small compared to the tennis ball sized ones he used to use. now he uses 12-15 of these smaller pods. it still gives him an amazing viewing experience.

but...

the amount of powder that comes from these 12-15 smaller pods is around 1/3 less than that of the 6 large pods. so, is it more efficient to use smaller pods than to use large ones?

also, what sort of relationship does pod diameter have to opium yield? linear? logarithmic? power?

[fnord]

all depends on how there grown,species care harvest etc. papa somni is what grandma usually uses.

[samuraigecko]

Originally Posted by killersnowman

swim used to always get the biggest pods swim could get. he used to use around 6 of these pods and would get a lot of powder from them. he recently got an amazing find on pods that are around golf ball sized, relatively small compared to the tennis ball sized ones he used to use. now he uses 12-15 of these smaller pods. it still gives him an amazing viewing experience.

but...

the amount of powder that comes from these 12-15 smaller pods is around 1/3 less than that of the 6 large pods. so, is it more efficient to use smaller pods than to use large ones?

also, what sort of relationship does pod diameter have to opium yield? linear? logarithmic? power?

So far there is no direct correlation between pod size and alkaloid yield. Because varieties can vary seasonally and even vary in potency within the same pods on the same plant (for multi-stemmed varieties - hens'n'chickens etc) or the same pods within the same batch of plants. Bigger does not necessarily mean better. As one stated in the "Papaver Somniferum botany and selective breeding" thread:

"The increase of Latex yield is negatively correlated to Morphine content"

Meaning that the more latex a pod is able to produce the Morphine content has losses in that pod which is directly correlated. This may also, in theory, be the same for larger sized pods. Since large pods would obviously yield more latex when still fresh then the morphine content would be directly effected by this.

There is another interpretation however,

"As the pod size increases, Morphine production reduces. This means that a larger pod would still have significant Morphine content, if not more than the norm. But as the ratio of pod size and therefor CPS gets larger the available morphine content decreases meaning losses for the Opiate Farming Industry"

So one could take it to mean that pod size "correlation" can mean "proportionately" in which case bigger is definitely not better. Or one can take the actual morphine decrease as proportional in which case one still losses out to a degree, although not in the way one would have though.

On the whole, variety rather than pod size is the main determining factor in potency. Persian whites are the usual standard for most poppy pod people. Others are starting to lean towards the Tasmanian Purple variety also because of it has the highest stable Morphine / Codeine / Thebaine content. There is also an Indian White variety which has actually descended from Persian stock which has been stabilized quite nicely and is superior to the Persian.

Hope this has been of some help