Delph's from seed

[landimad]

As with others, I too have been able to grow these lovely plants from seed and overwintered them to a point that they can now be put into their final position.
Is there any tips out there on how to keep them from being yaffled by the dreaded slugs and snails or is it chance to grow them and see?
Also is there any companion planting that could be used to effect with these, so as the companion plant gets eaten and not the Delph's?

[landimad]

[Bugloss2009]

i used to grow them on in reasonably large pots, and plant them out when they were starting to grow quite strongly

[landimad]

Mine are in 4"pots at the moment and are putting on good growth as they have been outside all winter.
Is this big enough to plant out or do you think they should be potted on again into 6" pots?
I would like them to be as good as I can get them before they have been raided by the stealth brigade of slime. ;D

[Bugloss2009]

the problem i had was the soil was heavy wet clay, and things took an age to get started in the Spring, so the slugs got them. I probably did use 6in pots, but i used home made compost to keep the cost down

[valmarg]

I'm not the biggest fan myself, but I think round the early growth of young delphinium plants, the only solution is the dreaded slug pellets.  My dad always used to joke that the young growth of delphiniums was the asparagus of the slug world. ;D ;D

valmarg

[Alex133]

I too love delphiniums but have never been able to grow successfully in open ground as will only use organic slug stuff and it's just not good enough.  Now grow them in large (patio size) pots which are easier to protect.

[landimad]

I too have to grow on heavy clay with a lot of muck and sawdust and sand added for drainage. The ones in the pots are on the sleepers at present and do not get touched by the slugs and snails as they do not like to go over the tar.
I am going to cover these with board so as they do not coat my trousers though.
All the same I am just trialing these for a while to see what I can grow and what I fail at.
All part of learning to grow stuff. Just like school again really. ???

[small]

Have you had delphiniums eaten by slugs before? I ask because they never touch mine, though the snails strip the laburnum next to them, and I can't grow lupins for love nor money - are there local tastes for the slimy beasts maybe?

[landimad]

Small,
Not had any slug damage, but I do get the odd slug in the garden.
They have had a go at a lot of other stuff and will be getting the thrushes visit to control the numbers hopefully.
Have had good luck with the Lupins too, they are up and hope that some can be sold again this year.

[landimad]

Here are the few that took and managed to get into the garden for a small display.
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad68/landimad/garden/09%2005%202011/bluedelphinium.jpg
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad68/landimad/garden/09%2005%202011/lightbluedelphinium.jpg
I just hope they can do better in the ground than in the pot.

[Digitalis]

Very easy to grow from seed, I find. I've not had any trouble with slugs so far in my garden- even the hostas are untouched.