Check your delphiniums for caterpillars
BobTheGardener
Posts: 11,391
Hi all, after just checking my delphiniums, I noticed several growing tips had leaves which had been tied into distorted shapes by the silk of small caterpillars of the Delphinium moth, so I recommend you check yours asap. These caterpillars will eat the flower shoots while they are small resulting in no blooms. The easiest way to deal with them is to squash the distorted area between thumb and fingers - if you feel a slight .'pop', that's one caterpillar dealt with! These pests overwinter inside the hollow stems, so best cut those to the ground at the end of the season. Despite doing this last year, they have appeared again so vigilance is probably the best answer. 
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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I shall go and have a look ..................
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Little beggars!!! I only have one delphinium plant - I squidged 3 caterpillars, bdooly hill!!!
Thank you Bob - have one on me
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
A straight glass or a mug, depends on you mother.
Cheers Dove!
What are the brilliant emerald green caterpillars that I have sen this year? Anyone know?
If they are quite large and bright green, then they could be the angle shades moth. I have quite a few around the garden now.
MM, they are quite large (though can't say that I'm a caterpillar afficionado
) Are they ok to have around?
Angle Shades moths are beautiful http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/Insight/?page_id=7404 - we frequently see them in this garden, and just recently I've seen the caterpillars feeding on valerian.
The caterpillars may eat a few leaves and buds but why would anyone kill them - apparently some people do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td4UTq1qyu4
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As Dove says, they are a stunning moth and they do a have a nibble here and there, but they don't cause a problem. I'd leave them be, or if they are on a prize plant, move them to something else, they will eat lots of different plants.