Hydroponic poppies grow log

glev · 04-07-08, 20:17

Hello folks, I will be documenting how to grow poppies from seed to flower using the deep water Culture technique of Hydroponics. Basically it involves submerging a net pot filled with a non-soil grow medium into a container filled with water, nutrients, and aquariam air stones (which are connected to air pumps) to oxygenate the water. I use 14 gallon rubbermaid roughneck containers, various air pumps and airstones as well as tubing from the pet store, and general or advanced hydroponics nutrients with a superthrive additive.
I cast the seeds directly onto the hydroton grow rocks, because the rocks are moist from the bubbling water below, the seeds stick in the crevices and begin to grow. Within a week you may have sprouts.

glev · 04-07-08, 20:23

I am using six 5 inch net pots per container, and using three containers for 18 plants.. thinning to one plant per pot after about a month, every few days i would thin out the weaker seedlings because usually there were about 10 germinating in each pot, I would drop about 20 seeds in to start, some do fall through the cracks.. In about 2 weeks, you should have some true leaves forming as the first two leaves are just the "seed leaves" or cotyledons. the first picture is about one week in, I cast the seeds the second week of february, this picture is from the 23rd, the first pic was the 17th.

glev · 04-07-08, 20:25

This next pic is from Feb. 29th, you can see the leaves are getting broader and begining the very early cabbage stage.

Hippie3 · 04-07-08, 20:26

hi
good luck.
btw
we ask members to
> upload pix <
here instead of linking offsite like you did.
that was the pix enter our image browser system
and avoids broken links in a year or so.

glev · 04-07-08, 20:31

My pics are too large, around 3 mb or so, and I dont have time to resize them all right now, perhaps I will start the log another time when I have more time to do that. Thanks!

Hippie3 · 04-07-08, 20:35

what type poppy, tasmanian, turkish, hens-and-chicks ?

duaut · 04-07-08, 21:21

swim tried this back in 1996-98 and had a little sucess. Poppies do not like lots of water. That's the only advice she has atm. Harvest is not as good as outdoors.

glev · 04-07-08, 23:56

These poppies are afghanistan special and Persian blues, they are really big now and will be ready for harvest soon.

Doctor D · 04-08-08, 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by glev2005

My pics are too large, around 3 mb or so, and I dont have time to resize them all right now, perhaps I will start the log another time when I have more time to do that. Thanks!

Resize digital pictures quickly

MS Image Resizer Power Toy for windows. If you can right-click, you can resize a pic. Simple as that.

glev · 04-08-08, 00:06

I will temporarily end this log with a link to see how the poppies are doing now, take a look. i'll come back and finish this when I have time to resize the pics for this website.

glev2005 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

glev · 04-08-08, 00:15

@Duaut : Poppies don't like lots of water? Only the roots are submerged in the water, it takes the place of soil, that's what hydroponics is. The leaves never get wet at all, so it actually gets less wet than soil grown outdoors. These are thriving and I would suspect they will end up around 3-4 feet tall which is the biggest these strains usually get.

Hippie3 · 04-08-08, 00:30

your pix are easy to upload from photobucket,
just copy the direct link
and paste it into the upload from URL section
of the attachment manager

[paperclip icon]

glev · 04-08-08, 00:46

Thanks, well if anyone has any questions about the grow, I'd be happy to answer.. the next pics should show the beginning of the budding process.

glev · 04-08-08, 00:55

Also, sowed Persian, afghan seeds and I think some tasmanians..is anyone here skilled anough to identify a taz from a persian in the later cabbage stage period? I have one which is different from the rest and Im hoping its a taz because the other ones are one pod per plant (at least until I deadhead it) and it would be nice to get a multipod Taz plant up there too.

greenie · 04-08-08, 01:11

questions:
1: how long from seed to latex?
2: average yield per netpot?
3: why do they onyl grow one head? can this be fixed?

omentheduck · 04-08-08, 01:35

hmm I would think that the potency at the end wold be a little lower that with soil as you have to give it water a lot more than when it is in the soil, ( during the flowering phase you really don't want to water it that much but thats hard to do with hydro)
They look very nice and healthy tho, very healthy!
I am watching this one

, I can't wait to see the out come!

Outdoors, the total time from germination to harvest will be about 120-140 days.
and as for he one pod there are many different types of poppies I think hens and chicks might be the ones you are looking for, they have a main center pod with a few others poping up around it!

I would by this but can we say red flag!
Amazon.com: Hydroponic Heroin: How to Grow Opium Poppies Without Soil (85278): Robert Neil Bunch: Books

glev · 04-08-08, 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenie

questions:
1: how long from seed to latex?
2: average yield per netpot?
3: why do they onyl grow one head? can this be fixed?

1: about 3 months, maybe a little more
2: one plant per pot is best, in hydroponics you can milk the pods for much longer than in soil, and when the head is dry, you can cut it off and a new one will form. It takes at least 10 heads milked for one to smoke a bit, but it varies, i wouldnt grow less than 10 plants if you want more than a one day session.
3:Some strains are a one pod per plant strain like persians, and some are multiple like taz or hen and chicks. When you cut off the dried out pod on a persian, however, more than one pod can come back as I understand and it will become a multiple pod plant. One pod per plant is not necessarily a bad thing though, because generally it is about the same yield either way. (one high yield pod or several low yield)

greenie · 04-08-08, 19:03

thank u!

glev · 04-11-08, 03:10

More growth going on!

waylitjim · 04-11-08, 03:58

Very cool, thanks for the photos.
What type of lighting are you using?

btw, clever setup here.

omentheduck · 04-11-08, 04:34

damn those look nice, do the pods need to be under the light or can you let them reach above them?

glev · 04-11-08, 11:57

I do intend to raise the light to have the pods be under them, I think they do need to get light to be healthy. The light I have is a high intensity flourescent, so Im hoping it will be able to penetrate down to the lower leaves as well.

glev · 04-11-08, 11:59

I'm using the teklight 4 foot lamps system. It has 8 four foot t5 flourescent in a highly reflective ballast. Sees to work well and emits very little heat. but it costs a lot, almost 5 hundred.

glev · 04-11-08, 16:41

By the way, I should let you know that I am in the netherlands, please check your own state's legalities before growing anything. At this point I am a little past 2 months from seed.

roc · 04-12-08, 21:15

I look forward to seeing more.

glev · 04-13-08, 23:02

Newer leaves look black and burned, deformed and kinda glossy.. old leaves look fine.. I started flowering by using 16/8 lighting schedule and basically all is the same. See photo

http://i30.tinypic.com/300wqwp.jpg this is the new up coming leaves

also see attachment to see how the more grown newer leaves look

If you look next to the burned looking leaf you can see how its different, kinda glossy and puffy and singed around the top and edges

glev · 04-13-08, 23:05

And, no I dont think my PH has changed drastically nor my nutes, they are about the same, a little more nutes now cuz im trying to flower but thats it.. please help! I dont think this is natural for the plant to do preflowering.

BaconSquishy · 04-14-08, 23:27

What about heat? Poppies are sensitive to it i believe, too hot in there?

Hippie3 · 04-14-08, 23:48

might be temps
but i'd back the nutes down too

glev · 04-15-08, 15:08

So I had what I believe to be some nute burn from using too much fertilizer, this affected only newer leaves, so I cut back on the nutes and thins I should be ok. When I was moving the plants to clean the reservoirs, i notices my first bud forming and can see they are about to bolt. Bolting is when they grow a long stalk which the pods and flowers develop from. They then go into hook stage where the peduncle is hanging down and then they straighten up and blossom. I think I will be in hook stage by the end of this month, so a little more than 3 months from seed to harvest is my guess. Hopefully the nute burn wont hurt my end result. More pics soon to come.

glev · 04-18-08, 22:50

Bolting is when, early in the blook stage, the poppies begin to grow upwards and form stalks where the flower will bloom from. I over fertilized them last week and some were burned, but I think they are recovering now and a few are begining to bolt. Apparently the ones that are bolting are forming around 4-5 flowers per plant that I can see right now. I expected only one per plant so I am happy!
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies003.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies004.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies001.jpg

you can see the stalk forming in some of these pics.

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04-07-08, 20:17	#1 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	Hydroponic poppies grow log Hello folks, I will be documenting how to grow poppies from seed to flower using the deep water Culture technique of Hydroponics. Basically it involves submerging a net pot filled with a non-soil grow medium into a container filled with water, nutrients, and aquariam air stones (which are connected to air pumps) to oxygenate the water. I use 14 gallon rubbermaid roughneck containers, various air pumps and airstones as well as tubing from the pet store, and general or advanced hydroponics nutrients with a superthrive additive. I cast the seeds directly onto the hydroton grow rocks, because the rocks are moist from the bubbling water below, the seeds stick in the crevices and begin to grow. Within a week you may have sprouts. Attached Thumbnails

04-07-08, 20:23	#2 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	I am using six 5 inch net pots per container, and using three containers for 18 plants.. thinning to one plant per pot after about a month, every few days i would thin out the weaker seedlings because usually there were about 10 germinating in each pot, I would drop about 20 seeds in to start, some do fall through the cracks.. In about 2 weeks, you should have some true leaves forming as the first two leaves are just the "seed leaves" or cotyledons. the first picture is about one week in, I cast the seeds the second week of february, this picture is from the 23rd, the first pic was the 17th. Attached Thumbnails

04-07-08, 20:25	#3 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	This next pic is from Feb. 29th, you can see the leaves are getting broader and begining the very early cabbage stage. Attached Thumbnails

04-07-08, 20:26	#4 (permalink)
Hippie3 Admin Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 36,314	hi good luck. btw we ask members to > upload pix < here instead of linking offsite like you did. that was the pix enter our image browser system and avoids broken links in a year or so. __________________ GROW SUPPLIES: www.Mycrotopia.com ------------Simply The Best------------ Namaste Temet Nosce

04-07-08, 20:31	#5 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	My pics are too large, around 3 mb or so, and I dont have time to resize them all right now, perhaps I will start the log another time when I have more time to do that. Thanks!

04-07-08, 20:35	#6 (permalink)
Hippie3 Admin Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 36,314	what type poppy, tasmanian, turkish, hens-and-chicks ? __________________ GROW SUPPLIES: www.Mycrotopia.com ------------Simply The Best------------ Namaste Temet Nosce

04-07-08, 21:21	#7 (permalink)
duaut Octopus Sun Join Date: Sep 1971 Posts: 351	swim tried this back in 1996-98 and had a little sucess. Poppies do not like lots of water. That's the only advice she has atm. Harvest is not as good as outdoors. __________________ you see I have a millions of beautiful fractaline snake things in my head atm

04-07-08, 23:56	#8 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	These poppies are afghanistan special and Persian blues, they are really big now and will be ready for harvest soon.

04-08-08, 00:06	#10 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	I will temporarily end this log with a link to see how the poppies are doing now, take a look. i'll come back and finish this when I have time to resize the pics for this website. glev2005 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

04-08-08, 00:15	#11 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	@Duaut : Poppies don't like lots of water? Only the roots are submerged in the water, it takes the place of soil, that's what hydroponics is. The leaves never get wet at all, so it actually gets less wet than soil grown outdoors. These are thriving and I would suspect they will end up around 3-4 feet tall which is the biggest these strains usually get.

04-08-08, 00:30	#12 (permalink)
Hippie3 Admin Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 36,314	your pix are easy to upload from photobucket, just copy the direct link and paste it into the upload from URL section of the attachment manager [paperclip icon] Attached Thumbnails __________________ GROW SUPPLIES: www.Mycrotopia.com ------------Simply The Best------------ Namaste Temet Nosce

04-08-08, 00:46	#13 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	Thanks, well if anyone has any questions about the grow, I'd be happy to answer.. the next pics should show the beginning of the budding process.

04-08-08, 00:55	#14 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	Also, sowed Persian, afghan seeds and I think some tasmanians..is anyone here skilled anough to identify a taz from a persian in the later cabbage stage period? I have one which is different from the rest and Im hoping its a taz because the other ones are one pod per plant (at least until I deadhead it) and it would be nice to get a multipod Taz plant up there too.

04-08-08, 01:11	#15 (permalink)
greenie Pot Farmer Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 761	questions: 1: how long from seed to latex? 2: average yield per netpot? 3: why do they onyl grow one head? can this be fixed?

04-12-08, 21:15	#25 (permalink)
roc Old Man Join Date: Mar 1970 Posts: 2,807	I look forward to seeing more. __________________ ubuntu! Member of Native Geekaho Tribe. "Think for yourself and question authority"

04-08-08, 01:35	#16 (permalink)
omentheduck YoUsEeNOthiNg Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 633	hmm I would think that the potency at the end wold be a little lower that with soil as you have to give it water a lot more than when it is in the soil, ( during the flowering phase you really don't want to water it that much but thats hard to do with hydro) They look very nice and healthy tho, very healthy! I am watching this one, I can't wait to see the out come! Outdoors, the total time from germination to harvest will be about 120-140 days. and as for he one pod there are many different types of poppies I think hens and chicks might be the ones you are looking for, they have a main center pod with a few others poping up around it! I would by this but can we say red flag! Amazon.com: Hydroponic Heroin: How to Grow Opium Poppies Without Soil (85278): Robert Neil Bunch: Books __________________ "I look, therefor I see. I try, therefor I will. I embrace, therefor I'm embraced. I believe, therefor I am!" omentheduck

04-08-08, 19:03	#18 (permalink)
greenie Pot Farmer Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 761	thank u!

04-11-08, 03:10	#19 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	More growth going on! Attached Thumbnails

04-11-08, 03:58	#20 (permalink)
waylitjim Grateful Mod Join Date: Sep 1972 Posts: 3,936	Very cool, thanks for the photos. What type of lighting are you using? btw, clever setup here. Attached Thumbnails __________________ <((( Waylit's Pan cyan Tek ~~~ Waylit's Wood Lover Tek )))>

04-11-08, 04:34	#21 (permalink)
omentheduck YoUsEeNOthiNg Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 633	damn those look nice, do the pods need to be under the light or can you let them reach above them? __________________ "I look, therefor I see. I try, therefor I will. I embrace, therefor I'm embraced. I believe, therefor I am!" omentheduck

04-11-08, 11:57	#22 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	I do intend to raise the light to have the pods be under them, I think they do need to get light to be healthy. The light I have is a high intensity flourescent, so Im hoping it will be able to penetrate down to the lower leaves as well.

04-11-08, 11:59	#23 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	I'm using the teklight 4 foot lamps system. It has 8 four foot t5 flourescent in a highly reflective ballast. Sees to work well and emits very little heat. but it costs a lot, almost 5 hundred.

04-11-08, 16:41	#24 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	By the way, I should let you know that I am in the netherlands, please check your own state's legalities before growing anything. At this point I am a little past 2 months from seed.

04-13-08, 23:02	#26 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	Problem with my hydro poppies new growth coming out with black tips looking burned.. Newer leaves look black and burned, deformed and kinda glossy.. old leaves look fine.. I started flowering by using 16/8 lighting schedule and basically all is the same. See photo http://i30.tinypic.com/300wqwp.jpg this is the new up coming leaves also see attachment to see how the more grown newer leaves look If you look next to the burned looking leaf you can see how its different, kinda glossy and puffy and singed around the top and edges Attached Thumbnails

04-13-08, 23:05	#27 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	And, no I dont think my PH has changed drastically nor my nutes, they are about the same, a little more nutes now cuz im trying to flower but thats it.. please help! I dont think this is natural for the plant to do preflowering.

04-14-08, 23:27	#28 (permalink)
BaconSquishy Mycophage Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 126	What about heat? Poppies are sensitive to it i believe, too hot in there?

04-14-08, 23:48	#29 (permalink)
Hippie3 Admin Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 36,314	might be temps but i'd back the nutes down too __________________ GROW SUPPLIES: www.Mycrotopia.com ------------Simply The Best------------ Namaste Temet Nosce

04-15-08, 15:08	#30 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	So I had what I believe to be some nute burn from using too much fertilizer, this affected only newer leaves, so I cut back on the nutes and thins I should be ok. When I was moving the plants to clean the reservoirs, i notices my first bud forming and can see they are about to bolt. Bolting is when they grow a long stalk which the pods and flowers develop from. They then go into hook stage where the peduncle is hanging down and then they straighten up and blossom. I think I will be in hook stage by the end of this month, so a little more than 3 months from seed to harvest is my guess. Hopefully the nute burn wont hurt my end result. More pics soon to come.

04-18-08, 22:50	#31 (permalink)
glev Mycophiliac Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 53	They're bolting! Bolting is when, early in the blook stage, the poppies begin to grow upwards and form stalks where the flower will bloom from. I over fertilized them last week and some were burned, but I think they are recovering now and a few are begining to bolt. Apparently the ones that are bolting are forming around 4-5 flowers per plant that I can see right now. I expected only one per plant so I am happy! http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies003.jpg http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies004.jpg http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...poppies001.jpg you can see the stalk forming in some of these pics.