Cosmos

[Utterlyconfusednow]

I’ve planted several pots of different cosmos and most are coming up well except for 2 pots (which contain my favourite 😕). Psyche white, grown many times before with no problem and they were beautiful and abundant. They’re leggy, thinned out and sparse, I don’t understand it. Checked on google and the main reason is overwatering. I water them all the same, a good watering.

Could it be that I just got some crappy seeds? Always buy Fothergills for these particular ones.

So disappointed, I was looking forward to a whole summer of their pretty bobbing flowers.

How strange, were all the seeds from the same supplier or just these ones?

Still, you are lucky to have any cosmos, the slugs have absolutely destroyed all of mine,mits the first year I haven't had any survive at all. Not one single one.

I'm the opposite, this is the first year mine HAVE survived. But I bought chunky plants (from Lidl!!)

Aah no, that’s so sad. Stinky slugs! I grow everything in pots (got a good collection of huge pots now) as my soil here is useless. Can you try a few in pots next year? No slug problem, too lazy to slither up the pots.

Yes, from the same place I always get them. Will try plugs next year for the psyche white.

That’s good! Enjoy! I get cosmos blooming right up until the beginning of October normally, cheers everything up.

I’ve just googled again, apparently it isn’t too late to plant out cosmos plugs now. I’m going to order some, hopefully you can try too?

We grew ours from seed this year and the main problem we had was lack of warmth/light. That’s usually what causes them to go leggy, we had a cold spell a while back and that is when we lost most of ours.

I notice the ones in small pots do very badly; the ones in huge pots or in the border do very well.

In my experience the leggy ones never really recover. This year is the best year I’ve had - we had 40 seedlings to start with and now have about 10 reasonably good plants.

it has been a really interesting experiment!

@Caramelty

Yet mine have had the opposite, lots of warmth and sunshine. It’s very strange. No, I can’t see mine recovering either so I’ve just ordered some plug plants…it will not beat me!

Thank you! I did consider it, but decided against it in the end. My zinnias and scabious are going well so that is compensation!

It's going to be slug Armageddon next year though!

My cosmos are rubbish this year, and my foxgloves and hollyhocks are half the size they normally are, too. I've assumed it's because it's been so dry.

Nematodes! Good luck.

Yes. I gave up using them because I've got a big garden and it was just such a major hassle. But I now realise getting them down early in the year, when more soil is exposed and it's still damp, is vital.

Just updating as I’ve discovered the cause of my psyche cosmos problem this morning. Felt down to check if there was any water-logging and quite the opposite, the soil is bone dry. Worst, it’s utterly crap soil! It’s like sand, no substance to it. I remember ordering 5 bags from a certain seller on Amazon (I’ll give the name at the end) and used those bags for these cosmos as they were the first I planted and used other soil I had for the rest. I’m bloody fuming.

Have ordered manure etc., to try to save but replanting is going to be a nightmare because they’re in 2 large trellis planters and I don’t have anything else big enough to transplant them to.

The soil is Laeto. And the Seller goes by that name. Caveat Emptor.

Any suggestions on how to transfer, please let me know.

This year has been my Cosmos year. First time of growing them from seeds on the cover of my gardening magazine. They've come up well and I did what a cosmos expert on YouTube recommended which is to pinch them out so they grow nice and bushy.

im fortunate to have a large compost heap and leaf pile which see me through the entire spring and summer months. This year, due to the drought, the mulch has made a huge difference to water retention on my borders and digging it in before planting the seedlings has enriched the soil.

Cosmos are loving the sunny warm and calm conditions. I only planted them out a week or so ago so they aren't anywhere near flowering yet, but I'll take some photos in a few weeks when they're camera ready 😊

Lovely! I’m going to take your advice and have a go at pinching them out. I need replant them first though! And I’m going to sort some mulch out. I’ve ordered some perlite to get them through this summer.