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growing cosmos

sweetpeacheesesweetpeacheese Posts: 9
in Problem solving

Hi

I grow annual cosmos every year,I grow them in small pots and plant out later.I suspect they get eaten by mice as their stem is always snapped when they are 5 cms or so high but the plant is otherwise intact.

I do grow them in pots as well but wondered if anybody knows how to grow them successfully in the ground????help!!

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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109

    Not mice - most likely slugs or snails, or even rabbits if you get them. Mice will only eat the seeds, although  it's usually beans and peas that disappear. There are lots of methods to try to combat molluscs - copper rings, grit , hunting them at night and removing etc - with varying degrees of success .If it's hard to protect them in the open ground, grow them to a decent size in your pots and plant out. A bigger stronger plant can withstand the nibbling more easily!

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • sweetpeacheesesweetpeacheese Posts: 9

    Thanks for that.Platelets have a cage over them so can't be rabbits.Have beer traps in ground and get quite a few slugs but obviously not all.

    Thanks,will pot the rest on and plant out when bigger.

     

  • sweetpeacheesesweetpeacheese Posts: 9

    Also use copper rings but as they are expensive am selective about what I put them around.

     

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    Saw a great tip on here recently, that i will be using - because i agree the copper bands are expensive, but work really well for me.  It was to use the adhesive copper tape stuck on rings made of old lemonade bottles sliced up, and use these as collars round plants instead.

    Can't remember who made the suggestion - but its geniusimage

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,614

    I grow cosmos in 3inch pots and plant out at about 9 inch tall.

    I have a few that cannot go in their space yet, so I have potted them on in 6 inch pots.

    That way they will have a good woody stem when they go out and resist the slugs better.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109

    We know you like 'pinching' Verd - but it's doughnuts as well as plants....imageimage

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • rosemummyrosemummy Posts: 2,010

    my seeds haven't even germinated! planteddwarf variety where i want them to flower, as per packet instructions, 2 sites in a order 1 lot in a pot, planted 3 weeks ago..has it just been too wet?

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109

    image

    Keep me one next time....right? image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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