For years I dabbled with a small plot of delphinium without much success. The harvests weren't super productive and the stems weren't terribly tall. I considered cutting them from the plan all together but two simple changes suddenly made a world of difference.
Delphinium is a sought after spring flower due to its unusual baby blue and deep colors. It pops against a pastel palate and its tall spires are perfect for meadow arrangements. But it's difficult to start from seed, taking almost 2 weeks to germinate and it prefers cool temperatures and long-day lengths: a combination not easily found in warm growing climates. Since it prefers to grow in a cooler environment, we always plant ours in autumn.
The first change I made was ordering plugs from Farmer Bailey. Like lisianthus, delphinium took far too long in the seed tray and the quality of the seedling was not great. If you want a quality cut flower and a plant that gives you lots of blooms, a healthy seedling is imperative. Many farmers overlook the health of their seedlings and it haunts them later on in the season with a less than impressive harvest.
The second change I made was in variety. I had been growing Magic Fountains but that variety required more vernalization (cold temps) and longer-day lengths than we typically have over the winter. Now I grow Guardian which doesn't need long day-lengths or cold. This means it starts to bloom much earlier in the Spring, when the weather is more suitable for quality flowers. If it's too hot then the blooms can shatter. It starts to bloom mid-March into April which means more flowers and better flowers. We had a warm spell where it hit 90F in February so we did have to put up shade cloth over them for a week to keep the plant from shutting down. Thankfully the weather cooled and they bounced back.
Delphinium aren't particularly difficult to grow once you have a healthy seedling in the ground. We only covered them once when the temps hit low 20's. Otherwise, they can handle a freeze and that's really nice. They require support netting and some extra fertilization (cue the bunny pooh). I spaced them at 6 inches in the field but it was a very wet year so we did have to spend some extra time clearing away moldy leaves from the bottom of the plant to keep disease in check. A dry winter is predicted this year and I don't think we'll have to worry about that extra labor. Without the labor of covering and uncovering all winter - this crop lends itself to a nice profit. We can't quite get the stem length offered by the wholesaler but our stems aren't beat up in transit and they are fresher for a longer vase life so this makes them attractive to our florist clients. We don't pinch: after the first big harvest we get nice secondary shoots that we're able to sell for a little bit less than the first big cut. They don't perennialize here, our summer is too hot for the plant to survive so I plant fresh plugs every autumn.
This year I'm planting some delphinium in the high tunnel instead of the field to see if I can get harvests even earlier. I also planted white since I don't have to worry about the rain bruising the bloom. I'll update y'all next year on the results. :)
Happy Growing!
Sarah Jo
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