Hi all.

I have a dozen or so Papaver Somniferum (poppy) seedlings that are about 3 weeks old. They started out ok, but over half of them started to fall over after growing about 0.5-1 inch. Others still stand up perfectly. I am worried that the limpness is caused by something I am doing...

a) Perhaps the seedlings are too heavy because they are water-logged; I don't water them until the top of the soil is dried out. I water them twice a day with a spray bottle (~4 sprays per cup).

b) Perhaps they are not getting enough light; I have 3 15W bulbs hanging about 10 inches above them (producing what, to me, seemed like the brightness of the sun at that distance). The bulbs are on a timer that turns them on for 10 hours a day.

c) Perhaps they are not getting enough fresh air; The plants are in a confined space, but I have a small fan right above them that I turn on for about 30 minutes every day. The fan blows away from them, so the force of air on the plants is negligible.

From several sources, I have read that it is normal for the seedlings to fall over, while from another source I have read that there is something wrong if they are falling over, so I'm a little torn on whether or not there is actually anything wrong at all. I know that I need to transplant the seedlings into bigger containers soon (the cat litter tubs that I've been saving ), but I would like to get them healthy before I do that. Alternatively, I don't want to transplant the limp seedlings if they are too far gone. I would appreciate suggestions from anyone who has experience with this phenomenon or with horticulture in general. My thumb is currently only this green.

Thanks for any help you can offer.
Hixidom

yea that looks fairly normal to me.
you could add a bit more soil if you are concerned.

10" is pretty far.

45W for how many sqaure feet? You want 25-50 per square foot or so, and to keep the lights close, 2-4" close is more ideal.

These can be a tricky plant indoors.

You don't mention what type of bulbs you're using. I generally press florescent tubes right over seedlings as they produce little heat and a light that isn't likely to burn much aside from fully exposed cacti/succulent seedlings.

P. somni. doesn't tend to transplant well and is rather cold hardy as a seedling. So, it's usually surface sown where it's going to grow in late fall before snow or as soon as frosts have stopped in the sprint. Beautiful flowers, and the blue-green coloration of the foliage really adds some contrast to a flower bed when it's not in flower.

I'm using fluorescent bulbs (3 of these). I'll try to bring them in closer. The plants take up no more than a square foot. My setup is currently very small. I would add more soil, but the seedlings are just so fragile I am afraid to risk destroying them. I have read that they indeed do not transplant well, but I have some ideas for getting the dirt from the cup to a bigger pot without handling the plant directly, so we'll see how that goes. I would plant them outside to begin with, but I don't have a yard of my own to plant them in, and I can't think of a safe place to plant them otherwise.

To everyone who has responded, thanks for your advice.

EDIT: Sometimes I wonder if fluorescent bulbs are good to use for plants. Yes they have a higher light to heat output ratio, but is that really a good thing? Natural sunlight includes infrared rays, so perhaps plants require infrared rays to be healthy.

Sunlight and ideal climate are indeed the best for most plants. However, you can get a cheap, close(er) to natural spectrum of light using a mix of warm (red spectrum heavy) and cool (blue spectrum heavy) florescent tubes.