Poppies won't grow past seedling stage

[EdwinNJ]

I planted some poppies, maybe around May 15, they germinated, but they still won't get any bigger than the tiny seedling stage.
I'm in Northeast New Jersey. This weekends we have a heat wave, and the weather has been... Mostly cool until now. I know the heat wave isn't great for plants so let's please skip comments about that.
My garden is a raised compost bed, and Ive kept it well watereed.

The poppies are not any special garden type - well, one seed packet's worth is. But most of the seeds were from poppy seeds you buy at the supermarket, one large bag of Indian white poppy seeds, and a small spice container of Dutch blue poppy seeds from Whole Foods. The reason I used these varieties as opposed to proper flower-types from seeds companies is because I just want them for the seeds - my garden is at my parents' house and my Dad has told me how in Iran when he was a kid they would pour out fresh poppy seeds from the pod and he'd eat them fresh like that, so I figure I can do the same for him.

So what's up with this? Do I need to thin them? Usualy plants from seed manage to get bigger than this before I ever thin them, and THEN I thin them, it's just easier to do when they're a bit bigger than this. Frankly, I'm altogether fearful to try and thin them at any point quite simply because I haven't the room in my garde to do so. I will if they get bigger, I just want to delay attempting to squeeze in there.
Anyway, I don't think it would be a thinning issue. I've never seen seeds stop dead in their growth like this.

Or am I just not giving it enough time?

-Edwin
Northeast NJ

 

[EdwinNJ]

here is my atempt to post a pic

 

[EdwinNJ]

attempt 2

 

[Kya D]

poppy seeds are from the opiate family and will show up as an opiate in drug tests even 48 hours after eating a poppy seed muffin.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp
That said I don't know why your seedlings have stalled possibly weather, cool weather can stall seedlings.

 

[bob]

I haven't tried to growth them, but apparently I should. They like damp soil, partial shade, and cool temps. (Sums up my garden pretty well...) They also seem to do well in cooler places like Alaska or Canada.

 

[bob]

So are yours still alive, but just not getting any larger? That sounds odd...

 

[bob]

Ok, a bit of googling found a couple things. They like cool temps. They like damp, but well drained, soil. (Sounds like a contradiction, but essentially it's well drained, but it rains a lot...) so keep them moist.

Also they don't like to be crowded, and if they are they slow way down. Given that, try thinning a small area and see if it helps.

 

[EdwinNJ]

They don't like crowding? But they have such tiny seeds! Talk about contradictory.
Nature, you're jerk.

 

[bob]

That's what one post on the web said anyway... Then again, maybe when they grow naturally they grow in groups, but slowly, and nobody minds?

 

[EdwinNJ]

I figured out what the problem was.
They weren't poppies, at least not most of what saw growing. Like I said, I bought seed from a grocery store, seeds that were just harvested and sold as food. One bag I bought was from an Indian food company. Well, I guess that one was contaminated with weed seeds, and that in India part of the harvest processing involves the pods being on the ground. Because while I did get a few poppies, I got mostly these stupid weeds with the frilly leaves you see. I know I've heard of seed contamination with wed seeds, and that a few weeds in particular have REALLY TINY seeds. I looked at these plants and I could see the blossoms were all along the stem below the leaves, exactly how poppy does NOT grow, so it definitely wasn't poppy. There are a few poppy plants growing, and I got rid of the weeds.
Does anyone know what weeds this is?

 

[EdwinNJ]

See? Here's a normal poppy plant, it doesn't look like those frilly-leaved weeds at all

 

[GardenPictures.com]

Poppies tend to get stuck in a "lettuce" stage, then sort of nothing happens for a while. In hard or badly drained ground they can be sensitive during that time, as the root and the rest of the plant are connected by a skinny stem.

 

[cat]

Mine are doing the same thing. They are black peony poppies, but everything else is growing ok but the rock cress and the poppies. They're tiny. I'll take them out of the sun if that's the issue. I thought poppies love sun. but ok. Rock cress loves it. Everything else is speeding away, also those weeds, we have them also. I just hit them with Spectracide, unless they're too close to the flowers, then you have to pull them.