I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?
Thanks
Pete C
SE London

On 07/02/2011 09:22 PM, Pete C wrote:
I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?

Sprinkle poppy seeds on ground. Come back next spring.

That's how I do it...

-E

Pete C wrote:
I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?

How isn't the question, how to stop them is the question! They'll
self-seed, or just take the thing where you want it to grow. Probably want
to wait for it to dry on the stalk first. If you're worried about losing
the seeds, put a bag over it to catch them, but mostly I find the seeds stay
in for ages once the holes open up, so you can catch it whenever.

Our allotment is full of the damned things after hte boys sprinkled seeds
last year. :-(

On Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:22:35 +0100, Pete C wrote:

I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how? Thanks

As long as the poppyheads were starting to loose colour/go brown it will
be fine (it is possible to take them too early). Put them in a brown
paper bag and as the pods dry holes will open round the side and the
seeds can be skaken out into the paper bag.

In the wild the seeds are dropped into the soil, covered lightly by
winter soil disturbance, and root in place. You may prefer to plant them
in late spring, loosing less to pests and rot. Make a light, flat,
seedbed, water well, sprinkle the seeds & cover lightly with anything to
hand (riddled soil, old peat compost, sand). Keep moist but not wet &
they will grow.

Like others say, they self-sew very easily if left, so long as they like
the conditions - and it has to be very wet, very shady, or very acid to
put them off. There can be 5,000 to 10,000 seeds to the gram, and one
head can produce more than a gram. The seed can stay viable in the soil
for up to a century, sprouting if disturbed and brought to the surface.

Papaver rhoeas is one of my favourite sights as wildflowers. I know
farmers think them a pernicious weed, but I defy anyone not to smile when
they see a red wash of them along a field edge. To my Grandfather they
were the Flanders poppy, he would stand up a little straighter when he
saw them. Although he would not have the paper ones in the house, as
they had Earl Haig's name in the middle.

To me they bring back memories of another old man, once a partisan and a
refugee priest of the orthodox church, who lived in an abandoned railway
station. He grew poppies, red and purple, in his garden, and carefully
collected the seeds for poppy-seed cake. He painted icons for a living,
and filled notebooks with exquisite paintings of birds, insects, and fish
he saw on his daily walks. He made illegal slimovitz, vodka, and opium,
and poppy seed cake, all for his own consumption. He lived out his
later life in harmless isolation, interested only in wildlife and
painting. And poppy seed cake.


--
Bob Harvey

Poppies like to be free of competition and are triggered by light - ie they stay buried in the soil for years, but when light reaches them it means the soil has been churned up, so they have a chance to grow while they're not in competition with other plants. That's why they grow so well wherever soil has been turned over, like roadworks, and why they used to be a cornfield weed, not a plant of the hay meadows.

So from your point of view, just scatter them on to bare soil and don't cover them.

On Sat, 2 Jul 2011 22:30:25 +0000 (UTC), Robert E A Harvey
wrote:

On Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:22:35 +0100, Pete C wrote:

I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how? Thanks

As long as the poppyheads were starting to loose colour/go brown it will
be fine (it is possible to take them too early). Put them in a brown
paper bag and as the pods dry holes will open round the side and the
seeds can be skaken out into the paper bag.

In the wild the seeds are dropped into the soil, covered lightly by
winter soil disturbance, and root in place. You may prefer to plant them
in late spring, loosing less to pests and rot. Make a light, flat,
seedbed, water well, sprinkle the seeds & cover lightly with anything to
hand (riddled soil, old peat compost, sand). Keep moist but not wet &
they will grow.

Like others say, they self-sew very easily if left, so long as they like
the conditions - and it has to be very wet, very shady, or very acid to
put them off. There can be 5,000 to 10,000 seeds to the gram, and one
head can produce more than a gram. The seed can stay viable in the soil
for up to a century, sprouting if disturbed and brought to the surface.

Papaver rhoeas is one of my favourite sights as wildflowers. I know
farmers think them a pernicious weed, but I defy anyone not to smile when
they see a red wash of them along a field edge. To my Grandfather they
were the Flanders poppy, he would stand up a little straighter when he
saw them. Although he would not have the paper ones in the house, as
they had Earl Haig's name in the middle.

To me they bring back memories of another old man, once a partisan and a
refugee priest of the orthodox church, who lived in an abandoned railway
station. He grew poppies, red and purple, in his garden, and carefully
collected the seeds for poppy-seed cake. He painted icons for a living,
and filled notebooks with exquisite paintings of birds, insects, and fish
he saw on his daily walks. He made illegal slimovitz, vodka, and opium,
and poppy seed cake, all for his own consumption. He lived out his
later life in harmless isolation, interested only in wildlife and
painting. And poppy seed cake.

Your narrative has brightened my day - many thanks.

rbel

In article , Emery Davis
writes
On 07/02/2011 09:22 PM, Pete C wrote:
I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?

Sprinkle poppy seeds on ground. Come back next spring.

That's how I do it...

-E

Rake over ground first Emery as poppies seem to like newly disturbed
soil. Mind you they could be oriental or annual, Welsh or Shirley for
all we know


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

rbel wrote in message ...
On Sat, 2 Jul 2011 22:30:25 +0000 (UTC), Robert E A Harvey
wrote:

On Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:22:35 +0100, Pete C wrote:


snippy

Your narrative has brightened my day - many thanks.

rbel

Likewise.

Thanks for all the replies

Pete C

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Emery Davis
writes
On 07/02/2011 09:22 PM, Pete C wrote:
I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?

Sprinkle poppy seeds on ground. Come back next spring.

That's how I do it...

-E

Rake over ground first Emery as poppies seem to like newly disturbed soil.
Mind you they could be oriental or annual, Welsh or Shirley for all we
know


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk


Poppies can lie dormant for years and years and years, THEN, disturbance and
hay ho up they pop.

Two stories about Flanders's Poppies ........

1) The ground ran red with blood which made it look like Poppies

2) The ground was disturbed the Poppies flourished.

Think about it. Which is correct?

Mike


--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................




--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

On Sat, 2 Jul 2011 23:07:58 +0000, kay
wrote:


'Pete C[_3_ Wrote:
;928901']I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a
vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how?
Thanks
Pete C
SE London

Poppies like to be free of competition and are triggered by light - ie
they stay buried in the soil for years, but when light reaches them it
means the soil has been churned up, so they have a chance to grow while
they're not in competition with other plants. That's why they grow so
well wherever soil has been turned over, like roadworks, and why they
used to be a cornfield weed, not a plant of the hay meadows.

So from your point of view, just scatter them on to bare soil and don't
cover them.


Now or later in the year?

We've got some seeds from OH's mums poppies - they're californian ones
(mostly yellow for some reason the other colours didn't do as well)

The tiny seed shakers are so cute!
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

mogga wrote:
We've got some seeds from OH's mums poppies - they're californian ones
(mostly yellow for some reason the other colours didn't do as well)

We've got mostly pink (in 'normal' and doubles) - a very dull kind of pink,
with a dark purpley bottom. But there is one single yellow by the front
door.

The tiny seed shakers are so cute!

So cute, until you're trying to pull the plants out without scattering!!

It self-seeded on ground near you, so likely it will happily grow in the same way in your garden.

On the other hand, I gathered some arctic poppy seeds from plants found while on tour in Iceland, (not the same as Iceland poppies) scattered the seeds in my garden, and I've never seen one. Those I should have carefully germinated in pots without competition from other plants.