What's eating my lupine?

Lupine aphids (Macrosiphum albifrons) are the most serious threat — huge pale green colonies can collapse a plant within weeks. Slugs and snails devour young seedlings and emerging shoots in spring. Lupin botrytis and powdery mildew can follow aphid damage. Pea and bean weevils notch leaf margins. Rabbits browse lupines hard where populations are high, so physical barriers may be needed.

Very large pale green aphid colonies, often hundreds strong, coating stems and leaves; severe wilting, leaf drop, and plant death if untreated. Spray firmly with insecticidal soap or pyrethrin, covering all stem surfaces. Repeat weekly. Remove badly infested shoots by cutting out and binning. Encourage parasitic wasps.

Seedlings eaten at soil level; irregular holes in new spring foliage; worst in cool, wet spring conditions. Apply iron phosphate pellets as soon as seedlings emerge. Use grit mulch around the crown. Remove debris that shelters slugs.

Distinctive U-shaped notches cut around leaf margins by adults in spring; larvae feed on nitrogen-fixing root nodules underground. Damage is usually cosmetic; healthy plants tolerate it. Apply a contact insecticide to foliage in early spring if leaf scalloping is severe.

Young growth cleanly nipped off at browse height; entire plant may be reduced to a stub in areas with high rabbit pressure. Protect young plants with wire mesh cloches. A low wire perimeter fence (buried 6 in underground) keeps rabbits out of the border.