California Plants

The California Plants Discussion Forum is now live! Click here to either go there and learn, ask questions, or share information to help others. Indoor plants, outdoor plants, shrubs, trees, and more are discussed.

The pink poppy in the photo below is about three and a half feet in height. Because I’ve grown this poppy in good compost rich soil, and only watered it every 2-3 weeks, it has become more drought tolerant. It gets about 3/4 a day of sunlight. Without a full day of sunlight it stretched up high to reach the sun at various times. This is our favorite poppy seed.

Tall Pink Poppy

Here are the steps to create a seed starting rack for your home. Creating this seed starting system doesn’t require much effort at all.

1. Purchase a wire rack. You can get this at a kitchen store, restaurant supply store, Costco, or another store. Ensure it has casters so it can roll. Ensure the shelves are adjustable.
2. Buy fluorescent tube grow lights or shop lights, with one warm and one cool bulb.
3. Hang shop lights from the rack shelves. Use the chains they come with.
5. Get a seed starter kit from any local home improvement store. Or just get a tray and punch holes in the bottom.
6. Use a soiless mixture for these seeds as new seedlings like a light and airy mix. Pre moisten the mixture in a bag before using it.
7. Don’t plant your seeds too deep. Just plant them about 1/2 centimeter deep, pressing into the mix.
8. Put a layer of sphagnum moss on top of your mix to prevent the seeds from dying overnight from damping off.
9. Optional: put a plastic dome on top of your seed tray so it acts as a greenhouse to give seeds a moist environment to sprout. Remove this dome once the seeds sprout.
10. Note that seedlings need 10-12 hours of light per day. You can use a timer so no there is no need to worry when the lights will come on. Keep the light close to your seedlings.
11. You can move the lights as close as possible as the seedlings grow.
12. Don’t forget to water the mix so it does not dry out at any time.
13. Once seedlings have grown 3 sets of new leaves it is time to be fed.
14. You can water with a soluble fertilizer at 1/2 strength so the plants feed themselves.
15. Pant seedlings in peat pots so when the weather is right they can go right into your garden - learn how to plant them with high density gardening here.