How to Grow Himalayan Blue poppy from Seed

 

The botanical name of Himalayan blue poppy is Meconopsis spp. The plant actually hails from the cool, sloping woodlands of China. Most gardeners in USDA hardiness zones five to seven can kick off their summers in view of its brilliant blue bloom.

 

How to Grow Himalayan Blue poppy from Seed

Select your cultivar: Actually, not all eighty species of Meconopsis produce blue flowers, and also not all reproduce by seed. To get the best results, acquire seeds of Meconopsis lingholm, Meconopsis baileyi, Meconopsis grandis or Meconopsis betonicifolia. When purchasing or trading make sure you inquire about the collection date and also method of storage. The Meconopsis seeds do not really survive long and they must be kept dry and cool until you are ready to plant them.

Time germination carefully: Actually the blue poppies’ seeds have such a short window of viability, a lot of gardeners prefer to sow them at the end of the growing season when they are freshest. Nevertheless, you must keep the emergent seedlings in a cold frame until the following spring after all threat of frost has passed. Another option is to simply wait until spring to sow.

Creating your planting mixture: You need to make a soilless medium that will provides constant moisture and also allows the Himalayan blue poppy delicate rootlets plenty of space to spread out. It is advised to use two parts peat-free compost to one part perlite. To combine, pass the mixture through a fine-meshed garden sieve or kitchen strainer. Make sure the medium is moist enough to stick together in the palm of the hand but not wet enough to drip.

Sow your Himalayan blue poppies seeds: You can choose a shallow tray with a depth of approximately 1 ½ inches. Fill the trays loosely with your prepared medium and then top with a thin layer of perlite to allow sunlight to reach the Himalayan blue poppies seeds. Scatter the Himalayan blue poppies seeds on the surface and press them down gently with your finger just until they reach the moist medium below. If you are actually using plug trays, plant 3 to 5 Himalayan blue poppies seeds per section.   

Tend your nursery: Provide the trays with about twelve hours of daylight, if possible with a full-spectrum grow lamp. You need to keep the growing medium moist by spraying with water as needed to prevent drying out. At night make sure the trays are in a room that stays between thirty-three and fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit.  A lot of gardeners note the notorious difficulty of growing blue poppy from seed, so don’t be concerned if your germination rate is a little bit low. If you see sprouts in 2 to 4 weeks, consider yourself successful.

Transplant your Himalayan blue poppies seedlings: Allow your Himalayan blue poppies seedlings to continue growing in trays until you notice their first set of true leaves. Fill four inch pots with your growing medium and then use your finger to make a one inch-deep hole in each.

You can hold onto a leaf rather than a stem or root, gently remove the Himalayan blue poppies seedlings from the tray and then transfer them to pots. If you germinated multiple Himalayan blue poppies seeds in each plug, transplant groups together. Pat the seedlings in and then moisten with a blend of one part water to one part high-phosphorous fertilizer diluted to one-half strength. Last but not the least, sprinkle the soil with a small amount of slow-release granular fertilizer.

Nurture Young Himalayan blue poppies plants: Monitor your young Himalayan blue poppies plants to ensure constant moisture that is not too dry or too wet and also provide the same diluted fertilizer mixture every 2 weeks. If you keep the pots outdoors, make sure you cover them with garden fleece to protect them from scorching on a hot day or freezing in a surprisingly late frost. Once they are about four to six inches tall, you can place them twelve inches apart in a shady spot of the garden that you have prepared with manure and ericaceous or peat-free compost.

 

Some Of The Things You Will Need

-         Grow lights

-         Slow-release granular fertilizer

-         Spray bottle

-         Ericaceous/peat-free compost

-         Manure

-         Perlite

-         4-inch pots

-         High-phosphorus fertilizer

-         Horticultural fleece

-         Germination trays

-         Sieve