thats not very warm ... especially on a plant that comes up pretty late.. after the soil warms in my z5 garden ....

but more importantly ... are they under supplemental light..

or are you playing near an ice cold window [in a cold house].. hoping for sun on a regular basis in mid winter???

also... i dont understand your media replacement system ... i would probably near bare root them ... not just a bigger pot.. with more media in the bottom ... that is how i avoided salt build up ...

also.. the flushing may have saturated them too much ... and cold air.. plus cold wet roots isnt great either ....

so long story short.. i think you have temp/heat and light issues ...

you started them awful early,.. did you save any seed, in case of failure.. if so.. why not start a few more ....???

finally .. as a perennial.. i probably would have winter sowed them outdoors ... or straight into the soil in fall ... rather than trying to mess with growing perennials from seed indoors .... have you done such before????

ken

Thank you for your response Ken.

Sorry I wasn't clear about what I did when I shifted them. I lifted the original root "balls" (not tightly packed) out of the old pots and put them into new pots filled with Pro-Mix, then flushed the new pots in hopes of removing the remaining salts or whatever. When I was devising my plan, I did worry about too much moisture and too large of pots, so I downsized the new pots a bit. The old pots and media are sitting out in the hoop house while I debate whether it's safer to dump the potting mix in the garden or in the alley. I'm thinking the alley, lol.

It's interesting that Bleeding Hearts come up late in your area. One of the main causes of failure in Cheyenne (6,000'+) is they come up way too early (maybe April or so) and get hit with fairly hard frosts, often through the middle of May, sometimes through the first of June. Mine are on the north side of the house and don't wake up nearly as early as some people's do. Even so, they get flattened every few years. Our nighttime temps aren't reliably above 50 degrees until July or August (though the day temps do average 80-ish then), which is why I was wondering if I might need to give the seedlings a chilling.

I do like to winter sow many of the perennials I want for my own yard. Much less work! For our spring plant sale, though, I start a variety of perennials in the fall or winter. The foliage tends to stay pretty low. I'm supposing it doesn't get leggy in the short winter days (no supplemental light for these guys) because the temps are low, too. The roots, on the other hand, seem to grow really well. Potting things up as the roots start showing out the bottom (not on stuff like Mirabilis multiflora or Callirhoe involucrata - yeesh!) keeps me busy. If we get any warmth in April, the foliage usually catches up to the roots in time for the sale.

Oh, nope, no extra seed. I collected it in 2011 or 2012 and promptly forgot about it. I didn't have much hope they'd even come up, and figured I had nothing to lose :)

Depending on the weather, my projects are either in the east-facing patio we enclose in the winter (sun from the north, east and some south) or in the west-facing sun room (sun from the south, west and north). When it's 20-something below zero at night, the patio is 20-something below, too, lol. The coldest I've seen the sun room this year was 7 degrees above zero. I bring things like geranium and dahlia seedlings in pretty much every night. The hardier perennials may or may not come in if the weather is supposed to be mild.

So, long story short :), it sounds like if we ever get some warmer weather, the Bleeding Hearts might wake up and get back to growing :) Thanks again!