[belto]

I have been growing impatiens for years, old seed and new.
This year I have had complete failure.
Planting in seed compost from B&Q.
I thought it might be the seed compost, but I have germinated dahlias & African marigold in the same compost.
Any ideas on my problem and is too late to try again

[richyrich7]

Have you done anything different this year ?? not been killed by damping off or similar ?
Funny I had no sweetpeas last year as my whole lot failed, done exactly the same this and they have all came up  :roll:

[peapod]

Could it simply be a bad batch of seed?

[belto]

Have you done anything different this year ?? not been killed by damping off or similar ?

What is damping off?

I have tried my old seed also other seed manufactures, both indoors & in greenhouse with and without glass covering, not covering seed all sorts of combinations, wet dry & damp compost

[corndolly]

I have had the same problem with tomatoes this year , I am putting it down to the cold temperatures this year.
Keep trying and when the warmer weather comes they will appear and still be OK for planting out when the danger of frost is eventually over !Not too much watering though in the colder weather as the seedlings do not take up much in the cooler weather , over watering can cause damping off when little seedlings fall over and rot !

[Trillium]

Damping off is actually a fungus that appears on the soil surface, often like a greyish fuzz. Appears when soil is too damp and cool. Young seedlings are susceptible to it and will rot off at the stem's soil point.
As corndolly suggests, go easy on seedling watering as it can happen at any point, and don't let soil of seedlings get too cool. Once the seedling stems are thicker, they're better able to deal with cold, etc. If you do get the damping off fungus, use a specific damp off spray or use a cooled, strongly brewed chamomile tea spray over the whole area (trays included).

[richyrich7]

or you can use Cheshunt compound when you first water them