How can I stop lupin seeds rotting before ripening?

Sazz101 · September 2023

Hello! I love the Westcountry Lupins but they are expensive and don’t survive the winter. My plan this year was to collect seeds and grow the hybrids next year. I left the ugly spikes to develop the pods, but they have this grey mould on them. All of the pods are impacted to some degree. A) is there anything I can do to save them?

how can I stop this happening next year?

Thanks in advance

Dovefromabove · September 2023

That’s not grey mould … that’s just how lupin pods look as they’re ripening.

If they’re not dry and brittle when the damp autumn weather comes my grandmother used to cut the stems and tie them in a bunch and hang them in a dry sunny porch … when the pods were so dry they popped open when squeezed between finger and thumb she would sit me down at the kitchen table and she and I would pop the pods so the seeds fell onto a tea tray. Then grandma would put them all in a brown paper bag and store them in grandpa’s bureau. I was just three and a half years old when we did that. 😊

Sazz101 · September 2023

Thanks @Dovefromabove! Takes a lot of sense. Then I must blame slugs for all the empty pods

NormandyLiz · September 2023

Sazz101 said:

Thanks @Dovefromabove! Takes a lot of sense. Then I must blame slugs for all the empty pods

Or mice. The mice strip my lupins of seed as soon as it appears.

punkdoc · September 2023

I am sure you are aware, but they do not come true from seed, so you could get any colour at all.

bédé · September 2023

Sazz101 said:

Hello! I love the Westcountry Lupins but they are expensive and don’t survive the winter.

They may grow easlily from seed, but they still need a lot of tending. Try overwintering in pots under cover.

Or buy a stable seed strain from one of the reputable seed-houses.

plant pauper · September 2023

As @punkdoc says they won't come true and you will probably get a lot of purples. Best to buy a packet of seeds of the colour you want or even mixed in a chosen palette of colours. The seedlings will need babying for the first Winter as bédé said.
I have to say I've never known lupins to be sissy in Winter weather once established. I wonder why yours seem susceptible...

Fairygirl · September 2023

I'd have thought it's more likely they're being eaten as they emerge @plant pauper . It's one reason I don't grow them - just another free meal for slugs!

It's not likely to be slugs eating the seed pods though. Are you sure they aren't just opening and dispersing the seed and you've not noticed @Sazz101?

plant pauper · September 2023

The slugs wouldn't have dared go near mine @Fairygirl! They were big brutes. Unfortunately they eventually rotted away so looks like I'll have to look for something to replace them. 😍

Dovefromabove · September 2023

If the pods are empty watch out for seedlings around your plant, both now and in the spring.

It’ll be worth lifting them carefully and potting them up and growing them on somewhere you can at least try to keep the slugs away from them.

wild edges · September 2023

I get problems with root rot in the winter if I'm not careful and of course the dreaded vine weevils will do their best to aid root destruction. Lupins are pretty easy to propagate from root or shoot cuttings though so you should be able to preserve some of the stock with a bit of work.

Edit- I should say this is for plants kept in pots.

How can I stop lupin seeds rotting before ripening?

Posts