Indoor poppies help

[weterman]

I'm growing some poppies indoors using a light. I know the light works for poppies btw, I'm just wondering how much watering I should be doing, and how much light I should be giving. Right now, I'm giving them 16 hours of light per day, I feel like it might be too much.

[Peter1142]

Just what kind of poppies are you growing indoors under a light? *raises eyebrow*

[rainbowgardener]

What makes you think it might be too much ? Are your poppies giving you some indication that they don't like how much light they're getting ?

Poppies are full sun plants outdoors . It is hard for me to imagine how much lamp light indoors would be too much.

I don't grow plants to flowering indoors , but I start a lot of plants from seed indoors under lights . I keep the lights on them 16 hrs a day .

[weterman]

What makes you think it might be too much ? Are your poppies giving you some indication that they don't like how much light they're getting ?

Poppies are full sun plants outdoors . It is hard for me to imagine how much lamp light indoors would be too much.

I don't grow plants to flowering indoors , but I start a lot of plants from seed indoors under lights . I keep the lights on them 16 hrs a day .

I just want to make sure, I know they take a while to come up, I don't remember quite how long though, I've read it's 2 weeks, I don't think 2 weeks passes yet.

[weterman]

Just what kind of poppies are you growing indoors under a light? *raises eyebrow*

lol the same ones I grew outside idk what kind they are, they are offspring of old seeds.

[rainbowgardener]

You said you were growing some poppies, but now it sounds like you are just waiting for seeds to sprout. Is that right?

I've started a lot of things from seed but not poppies. They do need light to germinate and soil temp of 60 - 70 deg F. So don't bury your seeds just lightly press them on to loose potting mix, so they are in good contact with the soil. Keep the soil moist but not soggy and mist the seeds lightly once a day until they germinate, just so they don't dry out.

They can take anywhere from 2 to 4 wks to germinate so be patient.

[weterman]

You said you were growing some poppies, but now it sounds like you are just waiting for seeds to sprout. Is that right?

I've started a lot of things from seed but not poppies. They do need light to germinate and soil temp of 60 - 70 deg F. So don't bury your seeds just lightly press them on to loose potting mix, so they are in good contact with the soil. Keep the soil moist but not soggy and mist the seeds lightly once a day until they germinate, just so they don't dry out.

They can take anywhere from 2 to 4 wks to germinate so be patient.

Yes I'm waiting for the seeds to sprout. I was letting the soil dry out before I watered again, so it's a good thing I asked.

Would you know if 60 degrees or 70 degrees would be best? I can control the temperature in the room quite well, so if one is better than the other I'll keep it at that.

[rainbowgardener]

Letting the soil dry out a bit between waterings is for PLANTS, that have roots and store water. SEEDS need to never dry out completely (once you have initiated the sprouting process - seeds can be dry stored for years, but once you wake them up and start them growing, they will die if they get really dry).

If your current seeds went through too much of the wet / dry cycles, you may have to start over with fresh seeds. What I have read is that about 60 deg F is optimal for poppy seed germination.

[rainbowgardener]

so did your poppy seeds ever sprout?