I did not grow them well at first and lost many. It has been a learning curve. The best advice I learned came from Dee and that was to mulch with composted steer manure every year. They really go crazy then. Spraying for thrips also improved my success.
There are factors that can make it difficult to grow JIs. The pH of the soil is one as they require an acidic soil. Also, the pH of the water. My city adds sodium hydroxide to the water supply to adjust the pH to 8.5 making it alkaline. My established JIs seem to handle it OK but I think that is because the carbon dioxide in the air neutralizes it fairly quickly. But for my seedlings I use either bottled water or I let water sit out for a couple of days before using it. That also gets rid of the free chlorine.
