"A.Malhotra" wrote in
:

However, despite doing all the fiddly "pricking out" for the
Nicotiana, calendula and cerinthe that I did, the plants seem to have
really weak stems at the point at which they join the soil, giving
really floppy plants. Is this because I replanted them too close
together? I replanted them further apart than they had germianted, in
deeper trays using JI no 2 mixed with the seed compost I germinated
them in, as that's all I had available, and not enough room to put all
the seedlings in individual pots.

A tip that I got here, which has proved very good, is to bury seedlings
almost up to the first pair of leaves in compost when potting on, so that
the weak point is buried.

Sounds like it should cause damping off, but it doesn't: it really works,
The buried stem puts out new roots and the whole plant becomes stronger.

I've also found that if I failed to do this, I can sift more compot onto
the top later.

Dunno about nicotiana and calendula, but I find the difficult thing with
cerinthe is to *stop* growing it. It self-seeds very readily.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
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