Rules For The Collection Of Medicinal Plants

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Self-procurement of medicinal raw materials saves finances and provides a quality guarantee. Information for those who do not want to buy ready-made plants at the pharmacy, but prefer to collect them on their own. On the rules for harvesting seeds, buds, flowers, bark, foliage, roots

Why are your plants better?

The collection process is communication with nature, which is very beneficial for health. Self-procurement gives confidence in the quality of raw materials. You see the plant, its condition, choose the best specimens. When you do this, your goal is to support your health and loved ones, therefore, efforts are aimed at obtaining high-quality material for the most effective treatment. By the way, expensive foreign herbs are not always better than those growing in your latitudes.

General collection rules

To improve the medicinal properties, the collection is carried out at a certain time. They are individual for each species. Some will be useful for year-round harvesting, while others will benefit from early spring, flowering, or mid-summer. Therefore, we need primary knowledge about the timing of collection, when the plant is strong and most useful. You want healing properties, not a beautiful herbarium. So let's dwell on the rules.

1. We choose an environmentally friendly place of collection. Within a radius of half a kilometer, there should be no main roads, enterprises and landfills. From country roads - 100 meters.

2. Information about the harvested plant. Many plants have similarities. It is important to know exactly what the original looks like in order to avoid mistakes during collection.

3. Weather is of great importance for quality preservation and further processing. All herbs and aerial parts are harvested in dry weather in the morning or evening, excluding the midday heat. Flowers and foliage - cannot be taken after rain, with abundant dew. This makes drying difficult and promotes decay. It is advisable to remove rhizomes and roots from wet soil after rain.

4. Respectful attitude. If you need a stem, do not uproot. Do not completely expose the area, leave a third of the plants in place. When picking fruits, do not break branches.

5. Phases of the moon. The collection of foliage and flower stalks takes place when the moon is growing. Harvesting of roots is planned for the full moon. During these periods, the plants have maximum strength.

6. Container. Match the prepared “harvest” container to your goal. The bag, basket, bucket should be spacious so that you do not have to ram and break.

What, how and when is best to collect

The composition of plants is changeable, therefore, it is necessary to choose the timing of the highest concentration of active ingredients in specific types of raw materials. For example, at the roots it is spring, at the foliage - the time of flowering, at the fruits - ripeness. So, in more detail about all types.

Collection of herbs

The most useful will be herbs collected at the beginning of flowering, for example, a three-part series. The cut is done with a knife, pruning shears, scissors. Damaged stems are removed immediately. If peduncles are needed, then the stem is left and only the tops and lateral flowering shoots (wormwood, St. John's wort, motherwort) are broken.

Foliage picking

You can start when the leaf has reached its largest size, in most plants this is in the initial stage of flowering. There are exceptions, as early flowering leaves have not yet formed. After flowering, a leaf of lingonberry, bearberry, coltsfoot is collected. In order not to deplete the plant, it is recommended to leave a third of the leaves. The best raw materials will be the lower and middle tiers. You need to take with a petiole or with a stem (nettle, sage, dope), which is removed after drying.

Collection of buds and flowers

Swollen buds are helpful before opening. In flowers, the concentration peak occurs at the beginning of blooming, moreover, a loose, fading bud will crumble during drying. In the buds, you need to cut off thyme, prickly tartar, a series.

If you are interested in wood, then for collection you can use bending hooks, telescopic pruning shears. For convenience, a net for flowers is attached to the scissors. Flowering herbs are cut off by hand or using comb-comb (for chamomile). Only reed petals are taken from a cornflower, a corolla from a mullein. Flowers are the most delicate part and require neatness: lay in a loose layer, protect from the sun.

Collection of seeds, fruits, berries

To obtain high-quality raw materials, the collection is carried out in dry, cloudy weather, excluding hot days. They begin only when fully ripe. Many seeds at the first sign of ripening (cumin, dill). Fruit inflorescences are cut with twigs. The berries are stored in a basket in small layers with a layer of leaves.

Bark harvest

Take a two-year-old branch for removing the bark. Cutting of the material is carried out in the spring, during the swelling of the buds. Notches are made at intervals of 25 cm, longitudinal between them and then carefully peel off. There should be no wood.

Collecting roots

Tubers and rhizomes are harvested after snow melts or at the end of autumn. Use a shovel or rounded digger. Marsh plant roots (calamus) - after the water level falls. In waterlogged soil, it is more convenient to work with a rake and a pitchfork.