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Plant poppy seeds in the fall or late spring / early summer after frost. Our seeds are already stratified and are ready to plant. Poppies prefer a temperature range of between 55 and 75 degrees fahrenheit. Poppies can withstand colder temperatures, but do poorly above 80 degrees.
Soak the seeds in water for 24 hours. Allow them to dry a bit for a few minutes in order to avoid water-logging the soil, as poppies do not do well in overly damp soil.
Select a sunny spot with well draining, sandy type soil. Poppies love the full sun but do not do well in temperatures above 80 degrees fahrenheit.
Scatter seeds and very gently rake to distribute. Cover with no more than 1/16" of soil. Poppies need sunlight for germination.
Mist the soil whenever it appears dry. Do not soak the soil. Germination occurs in 7-14 days (up to a month with certain varieties such as the China White strain). Germination efficiency and success is dependent on the conditions listed above.
Water sparingly with a misting bottle (do not pour water onto seedlings). Reduce the frequency of watering once seedlings reach 2-3” high as they do not like damp growing conditions. The most frequent cause of seedling failure is over-watering, which allows a fertile basis for fungal and mildew growth which often leads to seedling failure.
Do not plant in really hot weather. These seeds DO NOT like to germinate in summer-like weather. Poppies are a cold weather plant, and as such the best planting time for planting is fall-thru-late spring (depending on your location).
Poppies do not do well as transplants. If these must be transplanted, it is best to begin them in peat pods so that the entire pod can be carefully transplanted into a spot in which the roots will not be affected during transplanting.
