This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Giant Lupin Aphid
Lizzy CJ
Posts: 35
Last year My beautiful Lupins were decimated by the giant Lupin Apid bug, We had gone on holiday and I returned to find they had ravaged them, right down to the root of the plant. Ive never had them before, and couldn't control them. My neighbour 2 doors down was lucky as hers survived. Only difference is, her garden is in full sun and mine in shade due to a hugely overgrown cherry tree, on the council green, that takes ALL the sun from my garden. Could this be the cause? I really love lupins and have a cottage garden theme, can I risk planting them again? I tried to wash them off, and use all manner of safe pest control, but in the end the whole plant had to be destroyed.
0
Posts
The problem is that one or two will fly in then breed. Only when the plant is covered will more winged ones breed. These then fly off for another Lupin. She may have just been lucky. Might be the other way around this year. If you plant them, you take the risk. Im glad you didn't use pesticides on the flowering Lupins.
If the Aphids turn up before the flowers open, you should be fine with a short lived pesticide in small doses. The Aphids get out of control as they are a foreging species and not much has adapted to eat them
Just pot luck I am afraid. Some years I get them on some plants but not on others, some years none at all. Does not seem related to where the plants are located.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks, I don't like using any chemicals in the garden, I do build bug hotels every autumn, in fact they are so posh I think I could call them Hilton Buglifes! We do get lots of ladybirds, hopefully they will help.
I really prefer companion planting to deter them. Is it known if these pests avoid certain plants?
Lupins are not native to the UK, so you have to wonder where the giant lupin greenfly's came from, or ate before they arrived here in the 1800's. Anyway getting back to the question, a hose of water will remove most of them and then use your hand to remove any left. Various sprays also work as does using your hand to pick them off....if you can stomach thousands of them on your fingers.
According to the RHS, the Aphids only made it over in the 1980s. Not much eats them, certainly not ladybirds.
I've never seen them, must have been lucky so far as I've grown lupins for a number of years. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
They look like normal Greenfly but much larger Yviestevie. There are naturalised colonies of Lupins in the countryside here, so I guess they came from them as as far as I can see no one around here grows them. I rather like the foliage and punctuations of colour.
I never knew that they only came to the UK in the 1980's Jimmy!
Sorry to say we had to give up with all lupins due to these horrible huge aphids. Nothing seems to eat them - and let's be honest, would you?? If you won't use chemicals, and we wouldn't either, then it's either trying to wash them off - which I did not find particularly useful, or squashing them which was disgusting! Admire other peoples lupins and grow other things instead.
Apparently African Marigolds attract parisitoidal wasps that then lay eggs in aphids. No idea if they will do that to Luoin Aphids, but i'm willing to give it a go.