Well, you may have over potted the poor things. If they aren't growing, repotting is probably not the problem. So, due to over potting, you may be over watering too. This is a common problem for beginner growers. Killing with over love. :o) The size of pot is difficult to tell without a pic or a description.
Other than that guess, without a pic, I don't have anything else for you.

Mine are tiny bulbs smaller than a pea. They just sit outside next to my garden area where they have been growing about 20+ years. Every summer, they die back and form small round bulb clusters. Yours may be different, as mine only like the cool of fall and spring, and are still growing well into the winter months. Over watering may be the problem, and yes, they can get transplant shock if they are moved a few times. Be sure to choose a high quality soil, and not some of the garbage potting soils they sell out there.

Only 5 hours of sun? Sheesh. It's not much, you know, especially if that sun is a bit wishy-washy with not a lot of warmth in it. And they are probably being overwatered. Be patient. Chives can sometimes be a bit of a slow starter.

I read somewhere that plants do a lot of rejuvinating/growing at night, just like we do. You might want to make sure your plants are watered in the evening -- provided it's not cold at night. Also, chives are a member of the onion family and just may not grow very fast while they're trying to make their itty-bitty bulbs.

thanks for your prompt messages.

I think I may well be falling into the beginner's trap and be killing them with love (and water and re-potting). A new regime is in town now though and its austerity from now on in. 'Spare the rod - spoil the chive' - as my old mum used to say.

The pot is about 12 cm tall.

I'm going to leave them in peace for a while and see how they go. Thanks again.

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They look fine to me! Hard to tell if the brown ones are from old age, over watering or transplant shock. That's a fine pot for them. I think that if it's not over watering, then as Daisy said, they aren't growing great guns because they aren't getting enough sun. Would you be able to give them more sun, or do you need to wait till later in the year? As Daisy said... most herbs, cept for basil, need around 6+ hours of sun to really be happy.

The do look fine. Some stalks are going to get brown and wither away. No problem. A healthy plant will just keep shooting them up.

Oh, in case you missed it, and something that was new to me and I was glad to be given the information....the blooms are edible!!! I used them in cooking this weekend at my father's house. I snipped some from my garden along with regular stalks and rolled them in a damp paper towel (along with rosemary) and off we went!

Yes - I was thinking what exactly is supposed to be wrong with those chives too. Regarding the sun requirement - fear not. Daisy is in Oz, she's used to basking. Chives grow happily in the UK with barely any sun at all on some days days. 5 hours would be a luxury. That is not to say they don't need light, but direct sunshine is not necessary. Also they die down in winter only here, not in summer, so it depends on where you live as to how they will behave for you. Also it looks as if you may have a flower stalk in the middle there. If you squeeze it between finger and thumb it will feel solid whereas the leaves will squash because they're hollow.

Well it seems I've been worrying unnecessarily which is good news! Thanks for all the advice. It was the preponderance of brown stalks that had me fretting, but no more.

The 5 hours of sun is on a good day. Our flat is on the south coast of the UK and our balcony is East and South facing. This means we lose the sun at about 3pm. Just a victim of geography in this respect but the herbs will have to make do (this is all part of the new 'tough love' approach).

I did read about the flowers being edible and I'm keen to get into that - thanks for the tip. I'm hoping to eat through the majority of my herb balcony over the next months. I'll probably leave the pots though.

My winter type chives had a few brownish color leaves left over from the dead of winter, but now that the weather is a bit warmer, they are growing like wild fire. The whole area looks like a bright green mass, and soon will die out from the heat of summer, but before they do, they set out tiny bulb clusters that I replant. Mine has no real flower, but more like a few odd looking protrusions emitting from the small round ball at the end of a thin stiff stalk.

Ksrogers, it doesn't sound to me as if what you have is the classic chives, Allium schoenoprasum. They very definitely flower and produce seeds. They don't produce bulbils on the end of stalks.

Krill - now I know where you are located I can suggest that one slight problem may be that your chives were already growing in late March. This implies that they might have been forced a bit ie kept in a greenhouse before you bought them and therefore not fully prepared for being put straight outdoors. Also maybe your chives are a bit crowded and you could split them up and repot into two or three separate containers. Have you cut any for use yet? You may well find that if you cut some of the stems the plant will grow new greener stronger shoots. If you are right on the seaside you may also have to think about salt winds drying out your herbs and give them a spray with water occasionally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Allium schoenoprasum

hi Flora

I haven't cut any stems yet but maybe I'll do half the pot and see what happens.

Maybe they were forced before I got them (I bought them from a Wyevale Garden centre) but at least the weather has ben pretty good since. I didn't pot them out until early April.

I'd quite happily split them up if they seem crowded - but I've already repotted them once. Do you not think it will give them a shock? Other folk have advised to leave them be.

What do you reckon?

Look pretty good from here!

Now I'm not sure what type of chives I have but they are much bigger in diameter..like a straw and not as fine leaved as yours. They grow to about 15" tall in full sun and usually start coming up in the garden in early March and are harvested from until a hard frost kills them to the ground.
These were seperated from a mother clump last September...

Cut them off level with the surface of the soil and use them, don't just grow them. They will grow back very fast, sometimes like an inch of growth every three days.

Flora,
Yes, I agree they are quite unique The only grow through the cooler weather of fall, winter and spring. If I dig up the growing chives, they have tiny pea sized bulbs in the soil. They look like chives, shaped like chives, smell like chives, act like chives, and I must assume that they are definatly a chive type plant. All the photos shown here just about the same as mine are. My chive greens can grow up to about 20 inches tall if they are more than a year old. I have yet to see them ever be killed off by our harsh winter weather. My dad planted them more than 25 years ago, and I still don't know where he got them from. I also have a walking onion, that has the definiate appearance of shallots. even down to the light purple layers and bronze outer skin. The bulbil stalks grow out of the base of these, and up the outside. This gives them a slightly flattened side to go with the elongated shape. Both are very old unique varieties, and neither have I seen either any place else, nor do I have in any other info regarding them. I do send out some of the walking onion/shallots as well as some of the bulbil balls from the chives, to anyone who asks for some.

My chive story...

A couple of years ago, I got a really good crop of chive flowers. I picked a few and brought them in the house, put them in a vase.

Later that afternoon, I smelled gas. Really strong... I opened all the windows and called the gas company emergency "I-smell-gas" hotline. Within 10 minutes, the truck comes screeching up to my door, this guy runs up with a meter in his hand.

"Do you smell it??!!!" I screech at him.

"Yes I smell it!!!" He screeches back.

The meter, however, registers nothing. Nada. Goes all over my house. No gas leak, says the meter. The gas guy changes
batteries on the meter and tries again. Nothing.

But we both smell it. Really strong, right in the front hallway, far from the gas line.... I'm baffled, he is baffled...

Finally, I notice the little vase of chive flowers sitting on the table in the front hallways. Right were we... smell... the ... gas...

I picked up the vase and smelled the flowers.

Yup. They smelled just like a gas leak.

I felt like an idiot.

The gas guy was very nice about it. He said he learned something that day. So did I.

The odor is 'put into' gas as it is actaully odorless. They use a combination of sulfurm garlic and other extractives to get to that smelly level. When I harvest my walking onion/shallots, and bring a bag to work, you can smell them all the way back to the next building..

Would you guys like to see my winter chive patch as a photo? Right now, they are at their peak of growth.

Sure thing! Let's have a gander at your chives.

(ps - Good gas fact. I like it)

Sure..

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These are just a small portion of them.

KSRogers, those are nice chives. Maybe you guys can help me, cause while I can grow a lot of things, my chives never grow. Once I found a chive plant near a leaky pipe, and it was thriving, blooming like crazy, but I can never get chives to grow, flower, and last fall they died off, never came back. Right now I have them planted in my onion beds in decomposable pots, watered regularly, lots of sun. WHAT is it? And don't even get me started on basil.

I started 3 basil pots from seeds. I accidentially knocked over one pot, snapping its 7 inch log basil plant close to the soil level. I shoved the stem into the soil and its been doing fine, almost as if it were never broken. Its even triggered branching too. I think in a few more weeks it will be ready to transplant outside.

As to chives, mine are a winter growing type and die out in the heat of summer. Before they do, they send up a stiff stalk with a little ball of tiny bulbs and a few very small light pinkish flowers. After the flowers are gone the bulbils can be plucked off and crumbled between your fingers and thumb, and replanted. I do nothing but pluck these every summer (early) and they strat to show new greesn about mod October again, and grow just fine through the winter months in my Z6. A very unusual chive to say the least. The brownish tips usually dissappear after it starts to warm up in a few weeks, but if I want to get the harvest the greens, it needs to be done before they start to dry out and die about the middle to late June. The biggest ones measure a little over an eigth of an inch in diameter, a few can go to three sixteenths of an inch. The length is usually about a foot or a little more. I do get the seeds/tiny bulbs to form and can collect a few to send out if anyone wants some. The mature chive plants have a pea sized bulb in soil.

Hi Ksrogers,

It sounds like you might have a native Allium, Allium canadense, which is quite edible and has an oniony aroma and taste. There are white flowered forms, pink flowered forms and forms with red bulbils. It is a variable species, with some specimens forming only bulbils, some forming bulbils and a few flowers and others forming more flowers than bulbils. Here is a pic of flowers and bulbils.

Here is a pic of the tiny bulbs and grass-like leaves.

Are the leaves of your plant flattened rather than hollow and round like common garden chives? If so, then I think you've got Allium canadense.

Regards,
Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Allium canadense

You have almost hit the nail on the head. No, mine are hollow and tubular leaves, and the tiny pea sized bulbs look like your photo above. They are light tan color as the bulbil cluster, and have just a couple of tiny white flowers, similar to your purple variety but light tan color. Needless to say, my dad planted these a long time ago and they have survived every winter for well over 25 years now. They seem to love very cool weather and die out in the heat of summer, only to return after it gets cooler again. I've given away many of these small bulb clusters to anyone who asks for some. I plan to use some soon in a batch of Chinese food. Nearby, I also grow a garlic chive with a flat leaf about 1/4 inch wide. These also have a small cluster of white flowers that form black seeds later on, which also plant themselves and grow in small clusters.

An update..

The chives are now showing signs of dieing out for the hot summer months. They have started to send up a thin stiff stalk that has a tan color bud at the tip of each. Later on, they expand and pop open to show the small round cluster of tiny bulbs. These will grow through the summer heat and then they start to die back as well. This is when I will pick off each cluster and crumble them between my fingers and replant in the same location. If anyone would like some of these wild onion/chives for a nice winter herb, please let me know and I will send some out..

I hope this isn't too off-topic. What do you do with chives, besides put them on baked potatos? I have basil, rosemary, etc., but when I see chives at the nursery I think "Hmm, they sound good, but what would I do with them?"

Christine

Because they are a mild onion and much smaller, I like adding them to many Asian dishes. I also added some to a recent batch of crab rangoon, and actually put in some real crab meat! They are great when eaten fresh in potatoes, but you can also chop them up and sprinkle them as a garnish on most any other vegetable. Also good in salads. I have also added them to gravies and in some fresh sausages made with ground pork, chicken, and turkey. Added to cooked rice they also have a nice taste.

Thanks, ks. I don't know why I couldn't think of anything; half of what I make is Asian.

They are not as strong flavored as a green onion or scallion, but I like them in some Japanese sushi rolls, the kinds that are not raw fish, which are commonly known as California rolls. I also make spring rolls using the 10 inch diameter rice wafers. These are soaked a a couple of minutes in water and are rolled up with fresh vegatables that have been julienned. I even have this huge bag of wood ears (black fungus) that I rehydrate in a beef broth, and also slice thin, and add to fillings for the spring rolls. Suggest that if you want more recipes or uses, you post a question on the HARVEST forum too.