Sunday, September 14, 2008

Poppy Damage?

Today I'm becoming very disheartened as I look at my papaver somniferum poppies that have fallen over and seem to be struggling. As a first time poppy grower I've read everything I can about growing papaver but no literature mentions the underside/original leaves blackening.

I know poppies are meant to fall over (but they already did at a few weeks old), and now they're falling over again. It's either (hopefully) they're moving on to the next stage of growth...or they are slowly dying, I really hope that the latter is not the case. In the pics I will post below, if you zoom in on them you'll notice some blackening of the underside leave of the poppy close up pic. Just zoom in and the image will be quite large.



Here is another pic of the poppy garden as it is now...from the difference in the garden pic from my last post pic, you'll see why I am becoming concerned about my established poppies. Click on the pic for the full size.




Well at least if these ones die I have a myriad of somniferum seedlings coming up including the styles 'Drama Queen', 'Tassie White', 'Persian White', Shaggy Mauve' and 'Rose Tulip' poppies. Soon my 'Double Pink Peoniflorum' poppies shall arrive in the mail, YAY!

On another happier note, my sunflower seedlings are growing bigger by the day and it's my first time growing them too. Here's a pic of them in their plantable/biodegradable pots. These pics can be enlarged also. In front of the three Sunflowers is one of my California Poppies., that parsley looking plant.




Any comments, tips, advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

2 comments:

patty said...

hi Ton,
I'm sorry you are getting disheartened by your young plants drooping. I sowed my poppies within a wildflower mix, so didn't notice anything like that. I live in Canada, where I had to wait a lot longer for sprouting. Don't lose faith. I think you're doing all the right things.
(just so you know, I am now posting poppy photos on my tumblr blog here, http://lostorabandoned.tumblr.com/, as well as http://lostorabandoned.wordpress.com/ which is now more for my writing, but a few photos too.)
Good luck!

Tony said...
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