Winter sowing Poppies

I absolutely love California poppies - they are such happy flowers. I w/s'd mine the first weekend of January [I had this in the container thread, but thought I would bring it out into it's own]. Now they have sprouted. I've heard quite abit on how they are tempermental to transplanting.

I found this on the HGTV site...

>>Transplanting poppies is a little different. Choose seedlings that have their first set of true leaves but are still quite small. Gently lift the seedlings apart, being careful not to damage the roots. Then poke a hole about the size of a root ball in the soil. Gently place the seedling in the hole, holding the leaves above the soil surface. Make sure the stem is completely covered up to the first set of leaves, to anchor the seedling and maximize contact with the soil.

Any experience with these? Sheila, sorry for duplication. I thought other might see it in it's own thread and find it interesting.

Anita

Hmmm... I think that describes the way I transplant most things!

"Clump transplanting" is said to be a useful technique with other persnickity plants.... Tom DeBaggio advises it for dill & others... Basically it's the same as the above, except you separate the plants into clumps of 3 to 5... Take whatever number breaks away; it defeats the purpose to prick apart individual plants and then gather them into clumps. Planting the seedlings deeper than they were growing, up to the first set of true leaves, helps stabilize them (and many plants will grow additional roots along the buried portion of the stem). I clump-transplant into cell packs or 2 inch pots, then transplant into the garden when the cell or pot has been filled with roots... Although I've never done this with CA poppies, I've used this technique with other seedlings that are said to be tempermental about transplanting, and it works fine. It also helps give a more immediate full appearance to the plant, so I like to clump transplant basil, lobelia, alyssum, etc.

I will definitely try that with Dill - thanks Jill!

I love poppies, too, and would love to wintersow--do you think I'm too late for this year?

Thanks for all the good tips! t.

I think you are safe in your zone - it's cooler than mine. I would go for it. If you are worried, you could always save some and direct sow them.

You should be fine for wintersowing for a while. Afterall, the groundhog saw his shadow today, so it's 6 more weeks of Winter!

Shirley - you asked me this in the container thread:

Anita,

Are you "pricking out" the Poppy seedlings that are the largest/most developed to transplant into your garden? My Poppies haven't set their 1st set of "true" leaves either.

My answer - if they have true leaves I will, but I think I might try critter's suggestion

I wintersowed several varieties of Poppies last winter and they did fantastic. I transplanted them out via the hunk of seedling method. Most of my poppies were not transplanted until late May. Some had more than their second set of true leaves. It was my first time ever having poppies and I could not believe that by the end of July one section of the poppies was about 3 and 1/2 feet and I counted 75 buds. They all bloomed it was glorious. When they finished and the foliage got nasty I ripped them completely out. Because with ws I know I can do lots more this year.

Tabasco,
You are not late in ws poppies. They do sprout quickly and if are heavy handed with the seeding before long your container will be completely green. I have 7 more varieties to try this year and I plan to do those next week.
HTH
Michelle

you have just made my day Michelle!!!

Last year, I wintersewed mine in newspaper pots. That worked great.
I used a bulb planter for the hole, gently took bottom off of newspaper pot and just plopped it in.

This is the red peony poppies:

Here is a pic of the Double Shirley Poppies that I wintersewed last season:

Anita,
I am so glad that I made your day! I will wish you lots of sprouts for your poppies and easy transition to your gardens!

Michelle

Glorius looking poppies! I started my wsowing poppies this morning. Planted 'French Flounce' poppies from Renee's seeds.

I am so excited! Thanks for the tips and encouragement.

p.s. What's a newspaper pot?

I saw a newspaper pot maker somewhere... in one of my gazillion seed and plant catalogs.

Beautiful pictures, nut4spuds! Love those Double Shirley Poppies....gee, I wonder why???....Like your "plop & drop" method of planting your seedlings! It obviously worked great!

I like the paper pot idea....then I could just plant the whole thing and not worry about the root at all! I have a soap stone pot maker too...I was going to use in the spring when I started rooting cuttings..

absolutely love those red peony poppies, nut4spuds

Nut4spuds,

Just curious: About how many seeds did you put in each paper pot? I have one of those paper pot makers, and have never used it! It just may be time to "break it out!"

Paper Pots
http://www.ehow.com/how_1745_create-seed-starting.html
http://www.smokytopia.com/paperpots/paperpots.htm
http://www.selfsufficientish.com/newspaperpots.htm

sometimes I even use toilet paper rolls that I have closed bottom up w/newspaper

"Borrowed" some blocks out of the kid's toybox and taped them together.
I used this to tap the dirt down.

hilomark
I tried to use about 10 seeds. I sprinkled them on top of soil and then sprinkled colored sand on top.
This was to help keep seeds in place and also to let me know that I already planted seeds so that I wouldn't double up.



This message was edited Feb 4, 2006 6:02 PM