What causing my impatiens to stunt growth.?

i bought a six packs of impatiens in march and they are still not growing they have gotten a little bigger but in some areas they are big. what am i doing wrong? do they like water everyday or just water them when real dry. i live in north florida and its hot. even though my plants are in the shade if idont water them every other day they droop till 8 or 9 pm. even though i dont give them water. they do get a little sun for some short timebut its been the mid 90's this month. should i give them some more fertilizer or what. would it kill them if i give them miracle grow every week or 2 times a week. i also have a problem with these yellow black grasshoppers my husband calls them georgia thumpers and some of them are big. do they cause harm on plants. i mean i dont mind if they are my flowers if they are not killing them. what causes the leaves to fall the impatiens? some of hte stalks dont have leaves on them. is there such thing as an mini impatien?

What causing my impatiens to stunt growth.?
They can't take direct sunlight...the leaves turn yellow and don't fertilize more than once a month. Insects like grasshoppers do harm plants by eating the leaves. I assume you planted them in potting soil. Try removing the bottom leaves to encourage new growth. Water them only when the soil is dry. Keep the soil lose and not packed down. Pinch off old blooms. Pinch back the stem of the really long ones to make the plant bush out.
Reply:Simply sounds like they need more root space to grow.

Replant them in larger containers of if they are in the ground, move to deeper soil.
Reply:You still have them in the six pack? I would plant them in a container. The six packs dry out too fast in the heat. Keep them in the shade but, if they get a little bit of sun it isn't going to hurt them.

With the heat it could be them drying out too fast or they could be getting too much water.
Reply:Impatients are shade plants and to get them to grow you need to pinch off old growth. Do not water them too much as then they will get mold underneath on the leaves. Give them a scant shaking of fertilizer.
Reply:This happened to me. My impatiens had shade, water, and the appropriate fertile soil. They looked stunted, curly, and short. Our greenhouse person (I work at a technology center) told me it was either a fungal disease or a pest. I don't like to use pesticides or chemicals, so I discarded them. This website http://www.bonide.com/solutions/flowers/... lists some common problems with impatiens.
Reply:probably bugs, pull them out and clean the soil with epsum salts and then start to feed the soil with seaweed mixture and whatever else you have on hand, you need to leave it for at least 3 months and then add some new good soil which has lots of additives from the nursery

then start again, but remember that impatients will always attract bugs, its the nature of the beast,