papaver somniferum is both an easy and fun plant to grow and care for.
A few simple ground rules:
They can not be grown very well indoors, they require a large area for their roots to spread out so they may reach optimal height.
Each plant can produce twenty or more pods, each pod may have a different strength based on it's type.
You can start them out in simple dixie cups, in order to save space.
The best time to start is just after Christmas, early January is perfect, it will take approximately six months to flower.
Once you have your seeds and area picked out you begin to sort out the seeds, you should provide a good amount of space between each plant if starting directly outdoors, for the purpose of this writeup I will be walking you through growing them starting in dixie cups. I use organic soil, but poppies will grow in almost any soil, sandy, organic, compost, just about anything will work for them.
You want to sow the seeds just below the surface of the soil, so simply fill your dixie cup with your soil, and place one seed in each cup, then cover the seed with a thin layer of soil and water.
Move them to an area with a generous amount of light, not too strong though, within a week they should germinate, although you could have stragglers that will show up long after the first have sprouted. Do not use chemical fertilizer until you have them in the ground, when they are smaller the fertilizer has a tendency to burn some of the leaves and do more harm than good.
Roughly one month after germination they should be moved to their final place, in order to keep from damaging the roots we used dixie cups which will allow them to slide out fairly easy. We move them after a month or so in order to keep the roots from taking damage from exposure to light.
Given another month you may fertilize, not too often though. By the third or fourth month they will be of considerable size.
By the fifth month you should be seeing them reach a much higher size, I will not cover beyond this point as it becomes basic care. Don't over-water as that can reduce potency as well as kill the plant and don't over-fertilze for obvious reasons.
If there are any questions sent me a message or reply to this thread, have fun growing!
A few simple ground rules:
They can not be grown very well indoors, they require a large area for their roots to spread out so they may reach optimal height.
Each plant can produce twenty or more pods, each pod may have a different strength based on it's type.
You can start them out in simple dixie cups, in order to save space.
The best time to start is just after Christmas, early January is perfect, it will take approximately six months to flower.
Once you have your seeds and area picked out you begin to sort out the seeds, you should provide a good amount of space between each plant if starting directly outdoors, for the purpose of this writeup I will be walking you through growing them starting in dixie cups. I use organic soil, but poppies will grow in almost any soil, sandy, organic, compost, just about anything will work for them.
You want to sow the seeds just below the surface of the soil, so simply fill your dixie cup with your soil, and place one seed in each cup, then cover the seed with a thin layer of soil and water.
Move them to an area with a generous amount of light, not too strong though, within a week they should germinate, although you could have stragglers that will show up long after the first have sprouted. Do not use chemical fertilizer until you have them in the ground, when they are smaller the fertilizer has a tendency to burn some of the leaves and do more harm than good.
Roughly one month after germination they should be moved to their final place, in order to keep from damaging the roots we used dixie cups which will allow them to slide out fairly easy. We move them after a month or so in order to keep the roots from taking damage from exposure to light.
Given another month you may fertilize, not too often though. By the third or fourth month they will be of considerable size.
By the fifth month you should be seeing them reach a much higher size, I will not cover beyond this point as it becomes basic care. Don't over-water as that can reduce potency as well as kill the plant and don't over-fertilze for obvious reasons.
If there are any questions sent me a message or reply to this thread, have fun growing!
