my asters won't grow

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CRice Scotch Plains, NJ Jul 01, 2008

I have started a number of perennials from seed indoors and transplanted them to my garden. It's a new experience for me. Most of them are doing well but I put out several kinds of perennial asters several weeks ago (6 weeks or so) and they are just not doing anything. They are still alive but hardly larger than when they started, and bugs are starting to turn them to lace. They have some new leaves but they are tiny. By contrast the coreopsis I put in at the same time were about the same size as the asters but now they are several times larger. Can anyone tell me what is wrong, and how I can fix it? I am in central NJ and it is pretty hot and humid, and the garden gets strong sun. Could it be too hot for them? I water the garden a couple of times a week, should I do more?

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 01, 2008

I suspect the bugs are contributing, that is stressful for a plant if it's being constantly eaten, and if its leaves are in shreds then the plant probably can't photosynthesize as well as a plant that has all its leaves in good shape. On a large well established plant a few holes in the leaves generally won't hurt anything, but on a tiny baby plant that hardly has any leaves in the first place, it needs all the ones it has. So I'd try getting rid of the bugs and see if that helps.

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CRice Scotch Plains, NJ Jul 01, 2008

Well perhaps that is true that the bugs are part of the problem, but I think it is more than that. I don't appear to have a big bug problem in that most of the other plants have a few little notches but are doing fine. The asters didn't get eaten right away either, it just seems like they have done so little growing that they are not keeping up with the bugs. But I can try a pesticide and see if that helps. I am just puzzled since I have read that asters are easy plants (actually I have only tried easy plants!) but they are having a harder time than the other plants I have in: coreopsis, daylilies (well they are huge and don't really count), echinacea, rudbeckia, salvia, and veronica. The others have made a good go of it but the asters are not thriving. I will try bug spray though, can't hurt.

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