Hi to you, too, fellow gardener :)

Do a search for the thread Marcia started, dated June 24, 2010, called "Delphinium Question".

You may find your answer there.

There is such thing called a delphinium worm - it curls up into the growing tip of a delphinium plant and eats away at the buds and young leaves. If you get it early enough, the plant will recover (and bloom). I just check my plants in the Spring and early summer and squish them when I find them. I used to tell my daughter they were jelly bugs...

Thank you nutsaboutflowers and Donna .... and to Marcia for bumping up the old thread!

I did go out the other night and while still not seeing any bugs/larvae/worms, I did cut off all of the damaged portions of my Delphs - now it will just be the waiting game ;)

Thanks again!

Is there anything I spray on these bugs as they curl up the leafs n they die. Looks like a worm dalphieums I am talking about sorry

Yes, there is stuff you can buy. I keep a close eye on mine every year and as soon as I see leaves starting to turn in, I get out the sprayer. Some years, I have to spray once a week until they bloom (problem seems to go away by then). Some years, I only need to spray once or twice to keep the aphids off. I can't remember what products I use, but read the bottles and pick that way, or ask someone at a gardening store which product to use. Buy something that can be diluted in water in a bigger sprayer, as it might get expensive if you're buying the little single application spray bottles.

One year, I saw an article about making your own concoction out of rhubarb leaves, which are poisonous. I followed the instructions for cooking them up, etc., and used them that year. Seemed to work great, but I'm lazy and went back to the commercial products the next year. I have too many delphiniums, anyways; I don't think I could keep up with cutting off all my rhubarb leaves just for this.

HI thank you I did some research and found that this bug comes from the root so a person is to make sure no bark around it and to cut it down and throw all of it n it's to grow back n it shouldn't have any more worms or what ever. Thank u very much

Yes, I read somewhere to, every spring, once the delphiniums reach about 10 inches, cut off about six inches off all the new branches. That is supposed to help, but I find that hard to do. So, I only do it if I see a problem starting up already. Which I did on some of them this year, but not all. They are all about 3-4 feet tall now and were looking really healthy until yesterday. I don't see any bugs yet, but some of the leaves are curling in. That's the first sign of problems. So, I'll be spraying them today.

I do use bark mulch in my flower beds, but try to keep it minimal under these bushes.

This photo of them in bloom is from a previous year and is a photo of a photo in a picture frame, simply because my laptop was taken over by one of those tricksters who capture your windows login and demand money to get it back. I refused and haven't got my laptop to a professional to fix it yet. So I've lost all previous photos taken of my yards, unless they're on my tablet.

This photo was before I expanded the bed to include shorter plants in front of the delphiniums so I could have color and beautiful plants all through the summer.

has anyone had problems with fire ants eating their delphinium from the inside out inside the stock because that's what happened to mine last year so I just bought a new one today but I'm scared that's going to happen again if I plant it in the ground again