Beginner Gardening: What happened to my delphinium???, 0 by 2zeus

2zeus wrote:
Hmm, very interesting, since I do none of the above, and have had excellent results with Pacific Giants - the tallest in this photo, was close to eight feet!

They were grown from seed, never staked, fertilised once in spring and again in fall with a balanced fertiliser used on the entire garden, and I let them go to seed as much as they like. Also, they are grown in a very heavy clay soil.

I think when it comes to delphiniums, less is more - it's the too much fertiliser that results in fast growth and skinny stems. And I've never cut off a single flower stalk. These plants were dug up from our last place and moved over, and plunked in, with no special soil amendment.

If you do grow them from seed, give them 2/3 weeks cold treatment in the fridge first.