Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other plants
can?

I take it these are blooming plugs in those little trays? do you thoroughly soak the
plugs before planting? do you disbud when planting and cut or pull the very bottom
roots off that are winding around? when planting blooming plants with white root ball
I loosen the soil and then make a "mud puddle" and jam them into the mud. This makes
sure that there is complete coating of the roots in the plug with mud and water. I
also mulch these because the top of the plug sometimes wicks water out from around
the roots. Ingrid

"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote:

Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other plants
can?




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote in message
et...
Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other plants
can?


That's strange. Here in upstate NY (Rochester), when all the other plants
are suffering from drought or floods or high winds, my marigolds are the
ruffians who laugh it all off.

1) Whenever I've read about marigold culture, sources say the plants need
nothing special, and in fact may do better with less feeding. I grow them in
the nastiest soil on my property, and they're robust, year after year.
Primarily, I grow the "climax" series from Burpee, which are the big
marigold plants, not the little French/dwarf varieties. There have been
other odd marigold problems in this newsgroup recently, and I wonder if the
out-of-control breeders have managed to lose some of the marigold family's
bulletproof characteristics.

2) The meaning of "partial shade" varies from one yard to the next, so it's
hard to know the real situation. Some of my marigolds grow on the West side
of the house, and see no sun until mid-afternoon, at which point they are
roasted until sundown. They seem identical in quality to the ones which get
sun all day. If your version of "partial shade" means dappled sunlight most
of the time and full sun hardly ever, you should see lesser results, but
certainly not plant death.

3) You say you've had the same problem year after year. Are you growing the
same (named) variety each year? Or, same general category? If so, you might
want to try a more robust variety. If you bought these as plants, I'd
contact the nursery and ask if they've had complaints about the variety.

-Doug

Thanks.

Yes, those are little blooming sixpacks from local nursery and I
didn't do anything you are suggesting. Will try again.

wrote in message
...
I take it these are blooming plugs in those little trays? do
you thoroughly soak the
plugs before planting? do you disbud when planting and cut or
pull the very bottom
roots off that are winding around? when planting blooming
plants with white root ball
I loosen the soil and then make a "mud puddle" and jam them
into the mud. This makes
sure that there is complete coating of the roots in the plug
with mud and water. I
also mulch these because the top of the plug sometimes wicks
water out from around
the roots. Ingrid

"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote:

Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything
else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of
weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other
plants
can?




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
et...
"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote in message
et...
Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's
well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything
else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of
weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other
plants
can?


That's strange. Here in upstate NY (Rochester), when all the
other plants
are suffering from drought or floods or high winds, my
marigolds are the
ruffians who laugh it all off.

1) Whenever I've read about marigold culture, sources say the
plants need
nothing special, and in fact may do better with less feeding.
I grow them in
the nastiest soil on my property, and they're robust, year
after year.
Primarily, I grow the "climax" series from Burpee, which are
the big
marigold plants, not the little French/dwarf varieties. There
have been
other odd marigold problems in this newsgroup recently, and I
wonder if the
out-of-control breeders have managed to lose some of the
marigold family's
bulletproof characteristics.

2) The meaning of "partial shade" varies from one yard to the
next, so it's
hard to know the real situation. Some of my marigolds grow on
the West side
of the house, and see no sun until mid-afternoon, at which
point they are
roasted until sundown. They seem identical in quality to the
ones which get
sun all day. If your version of "partial shade" means dappled
sunlight most
of the time and full sun hardly ever, you should see lesser
results, but
certainly not plant death.

3) You say you've had the same problem year after year. Are
you growing the
same (named) variety each year? Or, same general category? If
so, you might
want to try a more robust variety. If you bought these as
plants, I'd
contact the nursery and ask if they've had complaints about
the variety.

-Doug



Interesting thing is that some types (I don't remember the
names) grow well, some don't. The ones that grow well, have big
round yellow flowers. Other types with smaller reddish flowers
don't survive. I'll take some pix tomorrow, put them on the web
and post a link here. May be someone will be able to figure out
something from the pictures.

"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote in message
. ..

Interesting thing is that some types (I don't remember the
names) grow well, some don't. The ones that grow well, have big
round yellow flowers. Other types with smaller reddish flowers
don't survive. I'll take some pix tomorrow, put them on the web
and post a link here. May be someone will be able to figure out
something from the pictures.



Well, remember that the list of qualities plant breeders look for may not
always include vigor. With regard to marigolds, they *may* assume that
certain seeds will only be sold to professional growers, who will do all the
right things before selling the resulting plants. But, if those plants end
up being managed by retail knuckleheads like Wal Mart and many supermarkets,
they may be crippled by the time you buy them. Even some nurseries don't
take very good care of their stock.

For $100 (shop lights, collapsible saw horses, plywood to make a temporary
table), you could be raising your own stuff from seed. It'll pay for itself
quickly not just in terms of cost, but also a wider universe of seed
choices, and total control over how the plants are handled. Combine this
setup with a healthy addiction to Burpee seeds, and you'll be a happy guy.

I grew three Marigolds from seed, a mix of common dwarfs in the
vegeatables, a Queen Sophia(red, also dwarf size), and a tall french
vanillla. The first two came up like champs, no problems, germinated
outside (100%) within a week. The tall French Vanilla--0% success. I
seeded it twice now and still nothing. I'm not sure why this one
variety has been so absymmal for me either. The growing conditions are
pretty much identical.

Sunds like only certian strains of your marigolds are the issues.
Maybe that variety has something to it.



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

What brands of seeds did you use?

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
I grew three Marigolds from seed, a mix of common dwarfs in the
vegeatables, a Queen Sophia(red, also dwarf size), and a tall french
vanillla. The first two came up like champs, no problems, germinated
outside (100%) within a week. The tall French Vanilla--0% success. I
seeded it twice now and still nothing. I'm not sure why this one
variety has been so absymmal for me either. The growing conditions are
pretty much identical.

Sunds like only certian strains of your marigolds are the issues.
Maybe that variety has something to it.



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Last year, when I planted my tomatoes, I planted marigolds around
them. I was told that marigolds repelled some of the nastier
insects/bugs/creepy crawlies from the tomatoes. Well, my tomatoes did
ok in my poor soil (just moved in, didn't enrich the soil). Within a
couple weeks of planting, the marigolds were stripped of all their
leaves by something and were dead. I thought it was rather ironic that
the marigolds had problems where the tomatoes (although they were
undersized from the poor soil) survived. I didn't plant any marigolds
this year.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message . net...
"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote in message
et...
Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other plants
can?


That's strange. Here in upstate NY (Rochester), when all the other plants
are suffering from drought or floods or high winds, my marigolds are the
ruffians who laugh it all off.

1) Whenever I've read about marigold culture, sources say the plants need
nothing special, and in fact may do better with less feeding. I grow them in
the nastiest soil on my property, and they're robust, year after year.
Primarily, I grow the "climax" series from Burpee, which are the big
marigold plants, not the little French/dwarf varieties. There have been
other odd marigold problems in this newsgroup recently, and I wonder if the
out-of-control breeders have managed to lose some of the marigold family's
bulletproof characteristics.

2) The meaning of "partial shade" varies from one yard to the next, so it's
hard to know the real situation. Some of my marigolds grow on the West side
of the house, and see no sun until mid-afternoon, at which point they are
roasted until sundown. They seem identical in quality to the ones which get
sun all day. If your version of "partial shade" means dappled sunlight most
of the time and full sun hardly ever, you should see lesser results, but
certainly not plant death.

3) You say you've had the same problem year after year. Are you growing the
same (named) variety each year? Or, same general category? If so, you might
want to try a more robust variety. If you bought these as plants, I'd
contact the nursery and ask if they've had complaints about the variety.

-Doug

"tmtresh" wrote in message
m...
Last year, when I planted my tomatoes, I planted marigolds around
them. I was told that marigolds repelled some of the nastier
insects/bugs/creepy crawlies from the tomatoes. Well, my tomatoes did
ok in my poor soil (just moved in, didn't enrich the soil). Within a
couple weeks of planting, the marigolds were stripped of all their
leaves by something and were dead. I thought it was rather ironic that
the marigolds had problems where the tomatoes (although they were
undersized from the poor soil) survived. I didn't plant any marigolds
this year.


These marigold problems sound more bizarre with every telling of the story.
In almost 30 years of gardening, I've never had a single problem with
marigolds.

Try growing your own from seed. The seeds are large enough to handle easily,
and if you buy good seed, almost all will germinate. I've had nothing but
success growing the big marigold "Golden Climax", from Burpee. There are
other colors in the climax series, but that's what I've grown. I've
occasionally grown the smaller ones, but since they don't thrill me much, I
don't remember the specific names.

For nematode protection, Burpee has a variety which it found contained more
of whatever substance it is in marigolds that repels nasty creatures. It has
flowers, but not very showy ones. It was bred for its stench. I've grown it,
and it was also trouble free.

I'm going to sound like a shill for Burpee, but over many years, I've had
far better results from their products than from any other. In some years, I
was growing seedlings not just for myself, but also for a few family
members, and because I'd sometimes forget to buy enough Burpee seeds, I'd
end up trying Harris or other brands next to the Burpee-planted trays. The
differences were obvious and impressive.

"Doug Kanter" wrote:

What brands of seeds did you use?

the problem ones were Thompson & Morgan.
The other two were Johnny's Seeds.

I used T&M for 7-10 different seeds. Two of them have just not come up
for me...the French Vanilla and the Sanvitalia.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Common Mistruth! The real truth, marigolds DO NOT repel insects, they
just attract them and not to your tomatoes. Marigolds are one of the
biggest bug and disease magnets in the garden. They are also very finicky
about the soil pH, they prefer it being fairly high. We apply liquid
limestone when they start to show the bronze leaf effect from to low of a
pH.

Also for the white marigolds. The seed breeders had a difficult time
getting this one and actually Burpee had a contest to see if someone could
breed one several years ago. I think that the first one to come out was
Snowball or something like that and it was breed in someone's backyard. So
vigor and growth were not a fact in breeding the white marigold, only color
was important. Now that they have the color they can start tiring to
improve the plant. Try it again in a few years!

Davy

"tmtresh" wrote in message
m...
Last year, when I planted my tomatoes, I planted marigolds around
them. I was told that marigolds repelled some of the nastier
insects/bugs/creepy crawlies from the tomatoes. Well, my tomatoes did
ok in my poor soil (just moved in, didn't enrich the soil). Within a
couple weeks of planting, the marigolds were stripped of all their
leaves by something and were dead. I thought it was rather ironic that
the marigolds had problems where the tomatoes (although they were
undersized from the poor soil) survived. I didn't plant any marigolds
this year.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
. net...
"Boris Nogoodnik" wrote in message
et...
Year after year I am having probem with Marigolds. It's well
prepared flowerbed with compost and perlight and everything else
glows fine, but the Marigolds. They just dying couple of weeks
after I plant them. It's in partial shade. Location is New
Jersey. Do they need something specific? And are there any
known conditions that they cannot tolerate, while other plants
can?


That's strange. Here in upstate NY (Rochester), when all the other
plants
are suffering from drought or floods or high winds, my marigolds are the
ruffians who laugh it all off.

1) Whenever I've read about marigold culture, sources say the plants
need
nothing special, and in fact may do better with less feeding. I grow
them in
the nastiest soil on my property, and they're robust, year after year.
Primarily, I grow the "climax" series from Burpee, which are the big
marigold plants, not the little French/dwarf varieties. There have been
other odd marigold problems in this newsgroup recently, and I wonder if
the
out-of-control breeders have managed to lose some of the marigold
family's
bulletproof characteristics.

2) The meaning of "partial shade" varies from one yard to the next, so
it's
hard to know the real situation. Some of my marigolds grow on the West
side
of the house, and see no sun until mid-afternoon, at which point they
are
roasted until sundown. They seem identical in quality to the ones which
get
sun all day. If your version of "partial shade" means dappled sunlight
most
of the time and full sun hardly ever, you should see lesser results, but
certainly not plant death.

3) You say you've had the same problem year after year. Are you growing
the
same (named) variety each year? Or, same general category? If so, you
might
want to try a more robust variety. If you bought these as plants, I'd
contact the nursery and ask if they've had complaints about the variety.

-Doug

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
"Doug Kanter" wrote:

What brands of seeds did you use?

the problem ones were Thompson & Morgan.
The other two were Johnny's Seeds.

I used T&M for 7-10 different seeds. Two of them have just not come up
for me...the French Vanilla and the Sanvitalia.


Based only on my experience, T&M, Johnny's, Harris and Cook's Garden seeds
have been of marginal quality. Except for Harris, the other three companies
still have a purpose. They carry unusual things you won't find elsewhere.
But, you may have to use quite a bit more seed to adjust for very poor
germination rates.

Since marigolds are not in the category of "unusual things", I'd suggest you
give Burpee a try next time. You'll probably be amazed. I have no idea why -
it's just based on lots of experience with their products. Even with
riskier, difficult-to-sow seeds, like impatiens, carrots, wax begonia etc,
the success rates are very high.

"None" wrote in message
...
Common Mistruth! The real truth, marigolds DO NOT repel insects, they
just attract them and not to your tomatoes. Marigolds are one of the
biggest bug and disease magnets in the garden. They are also very finicky
about the soil pH, they prefer it being fairly high. We apply liquid
limestone when they start to show the bronze leaf effect from to low of a
pH.

Weird! What part of the country do you garden in? And, which marigold
varieties have you found to be insect and disease magnets?

As far as "not repelling", this judgement may be due to the fact that many
garden writers generalize about the ability of marigolds to protect from all
sorts of bugs. The *only* proven claim I'm aware of is that marigolds will
repel certain types of nematodes, which damage root crops. This makes them
useful when planted near beets, carrots, potatoes, etc.

Here's a link to read.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC2216.htm

This Google search will provide many other links on the subject:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...h+marigolds+ne
matodes&btnG=Google+Search

"Doug Kanter" wrote:

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
.. .
"Doug Kanter" wrote:

What brands of seeds did you use?

the problem ones were Thompson & Morgan.
The other two were Johnny's Seeds.

I used T&M for 7-10 different seeds. Two of them have just not come up
for me...the French Vanilla and the Sanvitalia.


Based only on my experience, T&M, Johnny's, Harris and Cook's Garden seeds
have been of marginal quality. Except for Harris, the other three companies
still have a purpose. They carry unusual things you won't find elsewhere.
But, you may have to use quite a bit more seed to adjust for very poor
germination rates.
I found the them because they had unusuals and price. Johnny's had
smaller seed amounts, cheaper. This is my first year gardening and I
wanted to try a LOT of different things(50-60 varieties) in a small
garden. Hundreds of one seed may be cheaper in the long run...but I
didn't know if I would be doing this in the long run. I also wanted to
grow a few and see what I really liked...what they were like small and
full grown in late summer, get a feel for how much fruit they produce,
blooming times, length.

I also bought from Burpee (VERY happy with the tomato plants) and one
or two from Henry fields. Johnny seeds have been good for me. They and
Burpee also provide the most complete information on the seed packet.
Most have germinated well..even outdoors with this wet and cold
spring. Some 100%. I do soak most of the seeds in weak tea before
planting-which had a positive effect.

I would buy from Johnny's next year. T&M less so. Next year I'll be
sowing things earlier indoors so I'll have a chance to rebuy from a
different vendor to compare.

Since marigolds are not in the category of "unusual things", I'd suggest you
give Burpee a try next time. You'll probably be amazed. I have no idea why -
it's just based on lots of experience with their products. Even with
riskier, difficult-to-sow seeds, like impatiens, carrots, wax begonia etc,
the success rates are very high.
Burpee does have a similar/same marigold... Snowball. Burpee & T&M
carrots were all less than 50%. My violas were very slow...but I
planted them outdoors which is NOT recommended. My petunias the same.
I can't blame the seed quality on those. The petunias I soaked, grew.
The ones I didn't never came up.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)