Meconopsis General Cultivation

Meconopsis, apart from Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh Poppy) are Himalayan plants and need cool, moist but well drained soil. They cannot stand strong wind, hot dry air and need light shade. They are also heavy feeders and need an organic rich soil with well-decomposed organic material incorporated under the plant. I prepare the site by digging out at least a cubic foot for each plant, incorporating well-rotted manure and then replacing the soil. The good blue colour in the blue poppies will only develop if the soil is acid. I tend to feed extra inorganic fertiliser as well, using Phostrogen Acid Plant Food and Tonic. The leaves of the blue poppies seem particularly prone to damage if planted in the wrong position. Strong wind will break them and I have seen damage where sunlight shining on rain droplets has burnt the leaf. In dry air and warm conditions no amount of watering may prevent the plants wilting and causing subsequent damage to the leaves. The flower buds do seem to emerge relatively early in the year and so frost pockets should be avoided.

To grow from seed I sow in early spring on the surface of peat and grit compost. They are kept cool (under 70 degrees Centigrade) and in the shade. I keep the moisture level up by hand misting daily. Under these conditions I would expect most to germinate in 2 to 3 weeks. They should be pricked out early.  The stage after germination is the most critical, they may damp off and fungicide is apt to concentrate in the leaf hairs and kill the seedlings. It would appear that when they are very young, perhaps at the one true leaf stage they are very sensitive to night time temperatures. Night temperatures over about 16º Centigrade (60º Fahrenheit) will kill them and it is probably this and not damping off that causes most of the casualties.

Christopher Grey Wilson - Poppies (Batsford 1993) A relatively easy book to find and covers many of the Poppy family not just Meconopsis. Superb colour illustrations. Well written and well set out.