Just FYI, those are not swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. They feed on parsley, fennel, carrot family plants, not tomatoes and should not be killed. They do very little damage and the butterflies are having a hard time right now. The caterpillars you have look more like a tomato hornworm (they are very destructive). Hand picking is probably easiest. I recall someone saying that using a black light at night makes them glow and easy to find. But Dipel will also work. Good luck, Bellatrix

The bumps on the backs of the leaves could be any number of things, possibly scale... I can't really tell from the photo. You may want to Google scale and see what they look like up close, just to make sure that's not what you have... if it is, you may want to find out how to get rid of them. I think you can use rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab, but I'm not sure how strong you'd want the alcohol. I agree with Cindee on the babies/offsets... the little ones are perfectly fine remaining with Mama, but if you want to divide them, just be sure the baby has its own root system so it can support itself. The group of bulbs that are misshaping the pot can either be left together as a cluster and simply re-potted into a larger pot so they have more room... or, you can divide the cluster into singles, doubles, or how ever many you'd like to plant together. If you leave them all together, they'll eventually flower as a group, and the effect will be stunning! Again, if you divide them, be sure each one has a decent root system.

Hi all, Well, the leaf curling started to happen when they were in a south facing kitchen window which gets really good sun for most of the day. The other advantage of that window is the humidity of the kitchen, which keeps off red spider mite. I certainly do know how hard it is to look after them indoors, which is why I started them off in my south facing bathroom window, which also gets great light and humidity. I moved them because I thought the leaf curling might be an objection to the fluctuating heat you get in both locations, and also because they were doing so well that they outgrew the window sills. Now the bathroom window is full of courgette and green bean seedlings and the kitchen is loaded up with tomatoes:-) In case you're wondering, sadly a greenhouse is not an option - but I do have some south facing patio doors, so I think I'll move them there. As for putting them outside, they will of course go out there as soon as possible. Karyn, we get plenty of sunny days here in London (although not this last week) but in March it's often only warm in the middle of the day so there's a lot of shifting in and out of doors to do. I've got to do that anyway, though, and it occurs to me that moving them to the patio doors would make that hardening off much easier, so I'll definitely go for that. As for outgrowing their pots, Tom, I mentioned before that I potted them on only a few weeks ago and I check their roots and water levels every day. They're certainly not drying out between waterings, but it's possible that the compost I potted them into is not free draining enough. I know they don't like to have waterlogged roots. I'm also a bit suspicious of that compost because the leaves started curling around the same time that they went into it. I don't think there's much I can do about that right now that wouldn't be even more stressful, though. If that's the problem then they're just going to have to tough it out for the moment - at least until it's time to pot them on again. I certainly hope you're both right, not least because if you are then they'll grow out of it and also because the alternative is looking like broad mite. I'm not entirely convinced of that though, because although the leaves are curling they're not discoloured or dropping off wood> - yet! Oops! I may have just jinxed myself. Thanks so much for your help, I'll let you know how things go. Sara

The clematis that I have received from Jerome over at Koi Gardens were in 2 1/2 inch pots but they had much larger root systems than I've received in the same size pot from other vendors..the roots were grown so much out of the bottom of the pot that I had to take a pair of scissors to cut the pot away..thank God those black pots were thin and I could..I then tease apart the roots at the bottom and planted them about 2 inches deeper at a slight angle towards what I wanted them to grow on and put about half a handful of bonemeal in the hole...I've planted those baby clematis that have smaller root systems into my gardens this time of the year BUT...I am anal about daily sticking my finger in the soil to check the moisture and water as neccessary...it's so important that clematis stay moist during their acclimation period..I also hard prune all my pruning group 2's clematis the following year and then I treat them like pruning group 2's after that...I've found in doing so not only do they grow stronger root systems and get established but RARELY have I had a 2 to suffer from wilt....Hope this helps...Jeanne