Kay Easton wrote:

In article , A.Malhotra
writes


The butterfly weed
also bit the dust...although it germinated well, one day I found all the
seedlings had the tips nibbled off: no culprit in sight, and all other
seedlings untouched. Any ideas?

Sounds like slugs. They tend to go for something they like and leave
neighbouring pots untouched.

I've never seen any slugs in the potting shed so i doubt it. I was
wondering about woodlice? or wasps? Both of which I have seen plenty of in
the shed.

Too little light? It always happens to me. They sort themselves out
eventually.

We had to shade the glass because the light seemed too strong. We used an
old thin sheet. I suppose that might have cut the light too much. But even
the cerinthe that I potted up individually and put outside have stayed
floppy.


Did you really prick out the nicotianas? I can never muster the patience
to do anything than divide the mass into 1 inch squares and plant those
out.

Yes.....although patience was definitely wearing thin by then. Your way,
does one seedling eventually take over in each clump? How big are they when
you plant them out?



My california poppies are also a bit of a disaster. I planted them out
about a month ago, since when they appear to have shrunk if anything! They
are in dryish soil, in a part of the garden that is a suntrap when the sun
is on it but doesn't get sun the whole day. What's wrong with this?

That *sounds* OK. But I find they grow well on my wet clay, so maybe
they do need somewhere damper? I don't know.

Ah...I assumed that they'd like somewhere hot and dry being from
California. But if they like damp, they should be perking up after the last
week's rain....
Anita