Specialty Gardening: Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #10, 1 by Illoquin

Illoquin wrote:
They are Delphinium nudicaule 'Redcap'

I sowed them on Feb 23, and they duly came up, not all at once, but eventually most came up. And they sat there, and sat there and sat there. I finally asked here on the list, and Tuink said I should transplant them and see if that would stir them into some growth.

When I dug them out, this is what I found: They HAD grown, they had formed a crown down beneath the soil and had sent up more leaves (the leaves just hadn't broken ground yet) If you look atthe picture, the green part of the stem was above ground, the red part of the stem(most of it) was belfow ground. Those 2 little emerging leaves were well below ground. They have since expanded since this photo ws taken, and they are true leaves, but I have another seedling that has 3 cotyledons! They are not true leaves at all.

I have never seen this kind of growth on a seedling before...usually the new leave scome up between the cotyledons and the stem extends up from that point. That point, then, is the crown of the plant.

The question is, how far down do I plant that node? 2" deep as it was growing? or at the surface?

Does this make sense? :)

Suzy