Re: (Fwd) Re: sos /delphiniums

HI Lillian

Re the slugs. There is very little you can do outside usual garden 
practice. Slug pellets do work but must be laid regularly when growth 
is young or ready to start. Put a few pellets right on top of the crown 
because delphinium are the favourite food of slugs and thy will not 
leave them for mere slug pellets. Coarse sand mulches help some.

Re varieties to use for the heat. Hybrids generally do better than 
Pacifics and D belladonna bellamossum (a very deep single dainty  
blue) is fairly tollerant. "Connecticut Yankees" are similar and come 
in a mix of blues.

We select our hybrids for heat tollerance (we had 4 months when 
the max temp did not fall below 85 degF last summer) and they seem 
to do better than most. There are a few cultural "tricks" you can use 
to keep them relatively cool eg. growing in an area that gets some  
speckled shade in the heat of the day, mulching. Your main enemy 
in the heat will probably be schlerotinia rolfsii (delphinium blight as it 
is called in California). This colapses plants in the space of a couple 
of days usually at about flowering time. Photos of the disease and 
remedies can be found on our web site at 
http://www.delphinium.co.nz/serv04.htm

Our new season's seed will be available by the end of January.

cheers

Terry Dowdeswell
18 Henderson Ave
Tuakau, New Zealand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Terry@delphinium.co.nz
http://www.delphinium.co.nz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't Worry!!!
Our New Millennium Delphiniums (TM) are year 2000 compliant
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Hi
> Off the subject, but since you mentioned delphiniums, I was wondering if
> someone could suggest a seed strain for my situation.  Delphiniums are one
> of my favorite flowers.  I tried Round Table and they bloomed lovely the
> first year.  The next spring they all got eaten by slugs.  It seemed
> nothing would work keeping the slugs off.  Out of all my plants, these
> were by far the most loved by the slugs.  I then bought some Pacific
> Giants.  We got an exceptionally hot summer 100 degrees F.  last summer
> and all rotted.  Can anyone suggest species or hybrid seed mixed that are
> more slug resistant and will take some summer heat?
> 
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> Thanks
> Lillian
> 


Dowdeswell's Delphiniums
http://www.delphinium.co.nz
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index