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[BubbleCat]

Hello all,

It seems the Eschscholzia seed season starts, so just now I brought in my first few seeds, theres so many more to come in the next day.
I want to give all a quick walkthrough, since those plants are just wonderfull, they're decorative, easy and have medicinal properties 

I will attach photos...

Basically one plants flowers many times and also with many flowers at one time for months. They have a mechanism that ihibits self pollination, altho they pollinate amazingly quick and reliable, basically I dont think a single flower stays unpollinated. After pollination a seed pod will form, eventually grow, dry and finally split open.

One can harvest the pods dry or very close to drying when they are very voluminous, since the last days are only needed to rise pressure on the seedpod so it splits open. So waiting too long will result in a loss of the goodies (altho they self sow in that case) and harvesting too early will yield immature seeds wich are useless.

I fold simple paper baggies for most seeds I collect, not only for reasons of simplicy but also because they are breathable, so especially when collecting fresh seeds (like from undried seed pods) you dont want to put them in plastic zip locks because you risk them dampening of due to the moisture, in a paper baggie they can conpletely dry and are well protected from light and getting lost.

I hope this helps some of you and encourages growing theese wonderfull and giving plants.

Have a nice day all !

2 Likes Frog Pajamas and LIBERTYNY like this.

[SoulGrower]

Any tips on germinating and growing these?  I tried direct sowing some this spring and no luck.  It seems I read that they don't transplant well, so I didn't try starting them in small seed starter pots.  Maybe I can just grow them in a pot?

Do they need light to germinate?

[BubbleCat]

I usually surface sow them and start them indoors, because of the conditions here being not very californian. I surface sow them in soil, make sure they are not too dense and get lots of light. High density helps the mold to spread and they become big later on. The light is important because if they dont get any they will shoot skywards in the search for light producing a thin weak stem that eventually tips over. I know it doesnt really "say" much but i can only make the usual suggestion "keep the soil moust but not wet". Maybe I make a log next spring when I sow containers.

I have once read "treating with smoke" can increase germination rates when dormant, dormancy is close to non existent in cultivated species but does occur with wild species. Please keep in mind that introducing said cultivated species into the wild or into its reach may harm existent cultures, since the dormancy sure developed for reason. (So please be aware when living around cali - if I would I'd simply collect mine from the wild)

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