Why do Turk's Caps grow so slowly? I have been fertilizing them. Could it be the wrong soil. It's well draining potting soil with peatmoss, bark, perlite, etc. Here's a picture that gives you an idea. These are in one gallon pots so that will give you some idea of scale.
here's another...
The large size of the pot relative to the size of the plant could be contributing--it's probably spending its energy trying to fill up the container with roots rather than spending time on top growth. That's one of the reasons it's generally better to start in smaller pots and pot up one size at a time rather than right away going into a large pot (the other reason is it makes it a lot easier to overwater when you have a tiny plant in a large pot)
I should also add that if you have this outdoors, you may not notice a ton of growth during the summer months regardless of what you do, you live in a climate with very hot summers and plants tend to do most of their growing in cooler months.
Yes, they did go from peat pots into one-gallon containers.
They have been outdoors so I expected more growth. This is a native plant to the area. They grow along streams and riverbeds so I figured they wouldn't mind a little extra water.
Even if they can handle the extra water from being in too big a pot, the root growth vs top growth factor will still be there, as will the slower degree of growth during the summer. Also, while annuals will typically grow pretty fast because they know they only have a year to live, perennials and shrubs often take things a little slower, so especially if you're starting them from seed, you have to realize that they're not going to shoot up overnight (or if they do, they're probably invasive and you don't want them!). So when I'm growing things, as long as they look healthy I try not to worry about how fast they are growing, they'll come along in time. If they don't look healthy then it's definitely time to intervene and figure out what's going on, but if they are healthy and just aren't growing as fast as you hoped, chances are it's perfectly normal and all that's needed is time.
ecrane, thanks I guess I was just wandering how the growers for the nurseries do it. They seem to sale them so cheaply and here I was tempted to buy some the otherday. I look forward to the humming birds feeding on them.
