Last edited by shiny on November 11, 2026. View history
Poppy
Poppy
- 3
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 2
- seed packets
Poppy facts
Lifespan
Row Spacing
27.5cm median of members' seed packetsGermination
14–21 days median of members' seed packetsDays until maturity
100 days median of members' seed packetsWhen to sow
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For poppy, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 3°C and a shortest growing cycle of 135 days at its best temperature, about 2228 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your poppy will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow poppies
Sunniness
Planted from
Photos
Photos
Poppy plantings
Where poppies grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about poppies
Nobody has posted about poppies yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing poppies.
Who's planted poppies
- shiny Big main bed · Wellington, NZ
Poppy harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your poppy harvests.Find poppy seeds
View all poppy seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 135 to 210 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Papaver somniferum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Magnoliidae Ranunculales Papaveraceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about poppies
Resources outside Growstuff.
