Jimson weed Cultivation

Stramonium, Jamestown weed, or jimson weed Datura stramonium), is a poisonous annual of the nightshade family, which occurs as a common weed in almost all parts of this country except the West and the North. The leaves and seeds are used medicinally. 

Cultivated plants are frequently attacked by leaf-eating insects, especially in the early stages of growth, and it is often necessary to use lime or other insect repellents to prevent the destruction of the crop. 

The leaves, which are collected when the plant is in full bloom, may be picked in the field, but time will be saved if the entire plant is cut and dried in an artificially heated curing room at a temperature of 100° to U0° E When the leaves are dry they can be readily stripped from the stems, and should be baled for shipment. Such seed as is ripe may he easily threshed out of the capsules after the leaves have been removed from the stems. 

Yields of dry leaf at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 pounds per acre have been obtained. The yield of seed is much more variable, and is estimated to range from 500 to 2,000 pounds per acre. The price in July, 1935, for the leaves was 10 to 11 cents and for the seed 9 to 10 cents a pound. Source Stockburger 1935 

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The jimson weeds should be removed from vacant lots by mowing the plants while in flower or by cultivating the soil. 

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