I've been growing Celosia, the giant 48-inch tall cockscomb variety, in the
house for about the past 10 weeks. They are in front of a window where they get
full sun for about 4 to 5 hours per day. The vast majority of them still don't
seem hardy enough to plant outside. I slowly placed one tray of them outside,
about 20 minutes per day, building up to about 5 hours per day. They were fine
until I reached about 5 hours exposure but then started to appear burned and
about half of them died. I never had that happen before. Usually that's a slow
enough exposure they do fine outside. So I decided to keep the remaining ones
inside until they got a bit bigger.

Now several of the remaining plants, the ones that have never been outside,
seem to be withering and appear in serious trouble. Some have died. They appear
healthy, about 2 to 3 inches high with at least two sets of leafs, then
suddenly wither and die. I keep them pretty dry since I've heard they are very
vulnerable to damp over and like it very dry. I water them by spray misting
them most of the time. Sometimes I use a small dipper and water them a little
heavier but not often. Increasing the water to any plant that starts to wilt
never seems to help.

I had about 68 plants and am now down to about 40 and still have none planted
outside. (It's been unseasonably cold and rainy here and likely not suitable
outside yet for these plants.) I love these plants but only get about 14 to 20
every year that make it to full size.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for doing better with giant celosia?