Special Kitty wrote:

Your seedlings have Marphistes Gall disease. It is caused by the
Marphistes mite. The female mite lays her eggs in the developing seeds
of the mother plant the previous summer. The eggs overwinter in the new
seeds and hatch in March and April of the following year. The
stretching is caused by the larvae being trapped within the stems of the
sumflowers and their wiggling as they try to escape.

Go to your nearest swimming pool supply store and ask for a quart of
muriatic acid. Pour it full strength on your seedlings. It will kill
the Marphistes larvae immediately. Any leftover muriatic acid makes a
great substitute for gin or vodka in mixed drinks such as gin and tonic
(muriatic acid and tonic) or vodka martini (muriatic martini). Don't
worry, muriatic acid is completely harmless, as it is used in swimming
pools with no known problems.

Please, PLEASE, ignore this post. The poster is either a troll or worse, has no
idea what they are talking about. Muriatic acid is extremely toxic:

http://www.mcmua.com/hazardouswaste/...iatic_Acid.htm

And there are absolutely no hits - NOT A SINGLE ONE - when doing a search on
google under "Marphistes gall" or "Marphistes mites".

A very creative, but dangerous troll.

pam - gardengal