Glyphosate, such as is found in Roundup, must come in contact with the actively growing leaves of plants in order to harm them. It is not absorbed from the soil into the root system. However, there are formulations of Roundup (and many other herbicides) that contain other chemicals and it's possible that this is what was used on the field. Most herbicide damage is very distinctive with deformed and twisted new growth on plants. If absorbed from the soil, it may present in other ways. The logical explanation for your problem is poor soil. Heavily farmed soil (unless the grower uses organic methods) is usually severely depleted of many nutrients and the farmer must replenish them each year. A good laboratory soil test is the first order of business to solve your problem. You might also check with your local office of the cooperative extension. They are familiar with the soils and farming practices in your area and might be able to give you some insight into the problem. Good luck. I know how frustrating it is to plant and replant and still not get a crop. Sandy

I know these are babies, need more light, less peat... genus is great for now so I have some idea of the right words to find more pics to compare as they grow. Ty, Ty!!

I agree with Susan's ID of Compass Plant. They grow on the east side of our woodland and I love the flowers. The crotons are hard for me to tell apart, but I do think that's what you have. We have a fuzzier looking croton here that I think is Texas Croton. I am not sure we have woolly croton in our part of the state. If we do, I've never seen it while in bloom. The one in the last photo resembles some weed that pops up in my driveway and looks like a croton but isn't as woolly as the other crotons here so I don't know if it is a croton. Our Texas crotons are not invasive in the clay pastures on our property, but in some parts of our county with extremely sandy soil they are highly invasive and will fight the native grasses and other forbs and take over every square foot of growing space that they can wrestle away from the other plants. Susan, Is there a croton that looks a lot like woolly croton but isn't woolly? Cause I have one in my driveway as I mentioned above that seems like a croton, but has no woolly feature to it. Mia, I've linked the August page from the Biosurvey plant-list-by-bloom-date because it has both Texas Croton and Woolly Croton on it. Just click on the name to see the photos. As for the sunflowers, there are several different native sunflowers here in our state. I don't know that they are economically important, although they are an important food source for native wildlife. They are very tough plants that survive on low moisture and I try to leave them alone on our property and mow around them because the birds and the deer love to eat them. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: August Plant List

@Daninthedirt - I have a couple of Big Beef tomato seedlings in pots right in front of me that say otherwise. Planted seeds at 2" last week & doing fine. The next ones I do will be at 3" and so on. FYI: Co-op Extension often recommends corn be planted at 3" or "down to moisture" in hot dry conditions or sandy oil. Yes I know tomatoes & corn aren't the same animal. Preventing seeds from drying out in drought, hot weather or sandy soils in field conditions calls for planting seeds at maximum possible depth - the question is what is "maximum" depth.