Coleus from seed- grew to 1cm tall then stopped! Why?

[miljee]

I planted up a seed tray with coleus (from B&Q). They mainly germinated (they were and are outside but were under the plastic lid whilst germinating) but they appear to have stopped in their tracks at perhaps less than 1cm tall. They look healthy enough but I thought that after 3 weeks they'd be tall enough (and inch?) to transplant into pots which is what I believe you're supposed to do. The 'love in a mist' seeds I planted simultaneously at the behest of my DS, 5, are going great guns.

DO you suppose the coleus need more heat?

have the roots got enough space to grow have they got too much water with all the bad weather wve been having! sorry if thats no help beginner gardner and buy plants that are pretty!

Never grew coleus from seed but bought a few small ones last year. Planted them in a big container and fed them. They looked miserable and looked stunted in growth for absolutely ages. Towards July or so they went completely beserk and grew and grew. No idea why it was such a dodgy start but they were fine in the end.

they might be feeling the cold, or sulking because it's not as warm as it was. If the weather gets warmer again they should get going, but if it doesn/t bring them in to a windowsill (not in full sun) for a few days and see if that gets them going again.

Elsie is right too - they don't want to be soggy and they do need at least an inch of compost to get their feet into

Thanks! I hadn't considered the water-logging- I guess I thought they'd fall over and LOOK ill, whereas they look fine, just VERY SMALL! I may well bring them in for a few days since it's 10 degrees out there! What happened to my summer?!

Last year I bough a few 3" tall coleus and, like jalopy's, once they got into their stride, they were off! Had to tip-prune them practically daily!