Hi Lil,
Did you sow dwarf or standard Marigolds?
French Dwarf is a good choice when growing in a pot.
Lil, you do realize that Marigolds are annuals?
Annuals are not the easiest plants to grow in pots..Lack of sun, especially in winter is a major problem. They also require fresh air, and since most of us do not have air flows through our house, annuals can easily attract mites.
But it's not impossible..Being annuals, they will not come back yearly, other than reseeding, or resowing seeds.
I wish you the best, Toni

My 8 year old brother grew Marigolds in a pot and has had them return two additional years in a row. He has them in a pot on a windowsill that receives sun all day long and it stays here year-round even when it looks like it's completely dead. He waters all year using a moisture meter to determine when and how much water.

Kristgray, your 8-year brother is brilliant! That gives me new hope. I have a coleus in a southern window and am determined to keep it going as long as possible!

Hello,
I have marigolds growing in with my other plants inside. They are in the ground though. I much rather have bugs going to them then my plants I cherish. It is working, I got the idea off another gardener I know, this is where I got the idea.

Coleus;
I adore these plants for there color.
This one has been growing for gosh a year now. It is in the kitchen, south facing window, very bright light in the mornings. I have two colors in the same pot there.
{{gwi:114702}}
This had to be re potted two times since this pic was taken, it grew like crazy!!

Then It gave off seeds like crazy, so I clipped these off when ready and have another growing in my indoor "grow room", and seedlings taking off, which I put these seedlings growing in different part of the "grow room" in pots.
They do VERY well inside in a pot. I feed the big one in the kitchen and in the grow room once or so a week and water every day. I do not feed the seedlings as I do the big ones.

I mixed the soil with guano, indoor and outdoor plant mix. I do my own mixing. It is working...

Hope is all around :0)

Oh, thanks for the pointers! My plant is composed of two recently rooted cuttings that a co-worker potted and gave to me, so it's still quite small but is putting out new growth like mad.

Krist, your 8-yr-old brother has a green thumb at a young age..Perhaps one day he'll decide to school for horticulture..

MM..It's true Marigolds keep pests away from other plants..My neighbor grows veggies, and on the outter edges of her garden are Marigolds..she doesn't use pesticides and her peppers, etc, grow beautiful.
One thing u said I didn't understand was, "I have Marigolds growing in with my other plants inside. They are in the ground though." LOL..What do u mean?
BTW, your Coleus are still quite colorful this time of year..Hope colors last throughout the winter. Toni

hopefulauthor:
they are french dwarf. they are in a pot outdoors. i had thought they were perennials, so i guess we'll wait for spring to see what happens.

thinking as perennials i didn't bring them in w/ the others which must winter inside so maybe they'll have seeded in time.

thanks everyone for your help. lil.

Hello Toni,
What my Mr. did is when he built me this inside "grow room"
or whatever one wants to call it, he did this with no floor.

This way I can use our rich farm soil we have here mixed in with the soil we bring in. The roots do not get pot bound when planted directly into the ground and have indoor lighting. We have several 1000 watt ballasts, and other lighting going on in there. Expensive hoby I have....

Anyhoo we are surprised that more people have not done this, we get the "you are growing outdoors" all the time. I do have plants potted in pots spread out all over the place too.

I'd love to see photos of your indoor grow room - it sounds wonderful!