have this year grown poppys for the first time do you leave heads on or take of for drying out help please
Hi Kathy3.Leave the heads on the stalks,until they both go brown.The seed heads will start to open near the top,which is a sign that they are going to shed the seed. Now is the time to cut off the head with some of the stalk attached.Use a paper bag and tip the seed heads into this.You can either shake the heads or just put the bag with the upsidedown heads somewhere warm and dry,like a shed. Check on them every few days or so. when there are no more seeds,coming out of the heads,these can now be dispensed with. Don't forget to write on the bag what seeds they are. Put them somewhere dry ready for sowing in the spring. Good Luck Kandyfloss
my first year growing poppies also,my friend told me iff i like you can also just leave them and they re-seed themselves. The heads on mine are bent over is this ok or should they be standing up right, all of them are doing this. rosa
rosa they may well reseed themselves but if you cut off the heads the moment they start to harden and open, shake out the black seeds into an envelope and sow where you want them outdoors or for starting indoors. This is better than taking a chance that they land where you want them or indeed that they germinate at all. Ive pretty much repeated what kandyfloss just said and its good advice. If they are bent over though you will need to whatch them all the more closely for opening to minimise spillage. BM
thanks for advice, i have some orange poppies they have flowered and dropped there seeds, I am pretty sure i can see 2 seedlings growing will this be the case or will this not happen until next year, my other red ones poppy flanders are the ones where they are drooping, do you know why this is happening is there anything that i could be doing wrong like over-watering. from rosa
Rosa.Leave the orange poppies if they are the small alpine cambria types as they tend to do their own thing.If the weather is warm like it is now and they get some moisture they will germinate now.If not they will come up in the spring on their own. If they are drooping, then I would have thought it was lack of water, unless the heads are so heavy it is making them heavy, but it is hard to tell without seeing them. Kandy
kandyfloss yes they are the small orange ones they are fine it is my poppy flanders that are drooping, they are very tall they get red flowers, I thought iff anything i am over-watering them and the heads are not very big, they dont appear to be dying, could our north east winds have a factor in any of this. from rosa
are your yellow ones like these yellow ones in the backhttp://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f259/duckyjuk/newpatch.jpgground
yes they are like yours , they have died off but i noticed new leaves growing should they have died by now i have just left them as you suggested
The poppy flanders that had drooping heads seem to have straightened up somewhat and just started flowering, I have cut a few off and put the seeds in an envelope when i get a few more flowers opening will do the same. I think it has been the dreadful wind we have been having as i noticed them drooping again when it was windy as the heads are not very big. It can be nice one day a windy the next here in the north east
