Delphinium leaves curling

anna.bracegirdle

Delphiniums are just budding now but their leaves have started to curl and not looking healthy. Can’t see any bugs on the leaves. They have lots of healthy looking flower buds on them (for now!) Any ideas what this is and what I can do to help them?

daisym

I am sorry I don't know. Going from the look of them I would be giving them a good watering, but perhaps your soil has already been watered.

b.mortimer1

I have the same problem ....my delphiniums look exactly like the picture and I too have plenty of flowers.  Any ideas what this could be and if I can do anything about it or do I have to take them out and start again?

anna.bracegirdle

I never found out I’m afraid. Mine are still flowering but leaves progressively more wilted 🙁 I wonder if it might be crown rot? Going to wait til flowering over and then have a better look at the base 🤷‍♀️

gondor

Lots of water. I don't remember what happened to my delphs last year, but I suspect they were one of the perennials that suffered powdery mildew due to drought. No doubt the Ancient Ones will be along soon to put us all in our place.

Fairygirl

They do best with plenty of rainfall, as that gets through the foliage, but if you don't have that, and there's a lot of other planting around, or they're in a tight space where there isn't a good amount of soil for them to access enough moisture when they have a lot of top growth, the ground could be quite dry there. Water doesn't always get in well enough to the base where it's needed, hence the wilting. 
It might be worth taking a look at the base to see how dry or wet it is. Poke a finger in and see what it's like.  

b.mortimer1

Thanks for the helpful insights and suggestions.  My delphiniums are in a very sunny spot and lots of them together which looks wonderful but I suspect the really hot summer we had in 2020 may have set them off.  I will try watering more.