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Honesty plants dying?

LeadFarmerLeadFarmer Posts: 1,500
in Plants
Anyone have any suggestions why some of my honesty plants have died off? I grew a few from seed, they are very healthy apart from three which appear to have died off recently with the leaves turning brown. The soil is moist so I don't think they have dried out

They are still in my greenhouse as the border they are going in isn't ready yet, but the rest of the plants are perfectly healthy.



Posts

  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811
    They maybe got burnt or overheated in a green house if they were mine I’d have them out doors in a shaded spot. 
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I never have success with Honesty except direct sown, they have a skinny little root to start with and don't transplant well


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I find the same @nutcutlet . Self sown ones do great, but if I try to grow them in pots or trays, or even transplant the self-sown ones, they struggle.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Thanks for the tip both. I'll remember that one.
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • nigel.pollittnigel.pollitt Posts: 10
    Really interesting to read these comments. I planted out some self-sown honesty and at first, the plants grew very well. During the hot spell, one of them started to ail and has died. The other looked fine and I kept it well hydrated. Then it too got sickly and is pretty much dead now. I wondered whether it was because I had used a great deal of green material for mulch, but now I'm thinking they are just very difficult plants, and I'd never have suspected that from one of the brassicas/crucifers, given how easily so many members of that family are transplanted, or, in the case of perennial kale, grow like crazy from cuttings! I shall try a bit of self-sowing, but generally the moluscs devour small plants. I haven't had the same trouble transplanting self-sown Hesperis matronalis, sweet rocket.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    They really don’t like being sown in pots, and don’t like being transplanted,  they have long tap root. You can plant them in the  ground now and hope for the best,  
    if they do take and you get flowers next year,  just leave the seeds to drop or collect and sprinkle where you want them,  use quite a few as the slugs eat them when they’re small. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LeadFarmerLeadFarmer Posts: 1,500
    edited July 2023
    As an update the ones I planted in my border last year grew well but didn't flower that year, but they flowered really well this April. I understand they will now die off so I have sown some more..




  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    edited July 2023
    I have only bought Honesty seeds once. Some plants in hidden corners I leave to self seed. Others I manage a little more. Once the seed heads have started to dry I just rip them off by the handful, scatter the heads (don't bother separating out the seeds) where I'd like a patch next year and pull out the old plants.

    Very easy and you need never be without honesty once you've established them in your garden. Bit like foxgloves.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • msqingxiaomsqingxiao Posts: 482
    Last summer in June I sowed some Honesty seeds bought from Wilko in modules, repotted to 9cm pots and kept them in a relatively shady area outdoors, and planted to the ground in Aug. They all grew into very big and robust plants and flowered very well this year. 

    Didn't even realise that they are tricky to grow from seed... probably just beginners luck....
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