stewartgriffin
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2022
- Messages
- 12
Growing poppies is an easy task. Seeds are easy to obtain, they grow anywhere just about, and the results are worth the effort. When it comes to strain selection what i've learned is that you want to chose a strain viable to soil type. If you grow them in the ground in sandy areas any strain will do well, but the ideal strains for sandy lose soil are white seed strains which are native to the mediterainean and tend to produce more morphine. In clay soils however a dark seed will grow a lot better. Dark seeds seem to grow anywhere but its harder to find a strain with high yield. Ive found that hungarian blue and luarens grape poppies are decent for growing in clay when it comes to the yield. You can also tell what color the seed will be from a random poppy by the flowers basil dots around the inner petal area. Dark basil dots yield blue or black seeds, White basil yield white or brown seeds; further more there are rare strains of white seeds that produce flowers with purple basil dots, if you get your hands on these you've got one of two strains that are close to imposible to find. When sowing sow in fall directly in the area you want to grow them (the die if they are transplanted) if you choose ground soil work the soil with a hoe or tiller ; and keep the seeds moist consistently until they spout. When it comes to caring for them its quite simple. I personally use a raised bed. Its worth it to be able to grow imported poppies in my area where the soil is clat. The seedlings require low to no nutrients so until the poppies are at least a month or two old no added nutrition is needed. Google tells you they like low water but this is bullshit. I water mine daily and the results are awesome! After they get a month or so old and have big lettuce looking vegitation they are ready for some nutrients. I give mine co-op brand 6-12-12(npk) slow feed simply because i farm corn and watermellons and keep 50 pound sacks of it, but ive used in the past foxfarm and tiger bloom liquid feed in the past and had great results. ALWAYS USE A SENSIBLE AMOUNT OF FERTILIZER, they will burn if you give then an extreme amount but they do like to be well fed at the same time. Ive never pruned a poppie and its common for poppies to have dry dead places on the outer parts of the leaves, idk why its always been that way with every strain ive grown. When spring has set in and all of the wild flowers begin to bud its nessisary to give them a good feeding of bloom booster they normally produce about 3-5 blooms and some strains can produce even more. When choosing a harvest time for opium you dont want to rush into it. Give each seed pod enough time to swell and turn blueish; sellect a time of day when the sun will hit it and theres no chance of rain. The best days are when the sun and moon are both in the sky (i cant explain why just happened to notice this). Make a light insicion with a razor and allow it dry and scrape it off vary simple process. If you want to get the most out of a small crop extract latex. You can collect latex all season and collect the pods at the end. Always save your seeds. Ive had many strain i didnt and i really wish i did because i though ebay would still have them but ive never seen them since.
