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Who ate the lupins???

landgirl100landgirl100 Posts: 655
in Problem solving

Any ideas? They were lovely bushy plants, bought last week and placed at the back of my deep cold frames.

image

 Although actually, the perp didn't actually eat them, just left them in a pile.

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Posts

  • Stacey DochertyStacey Docherty Posts: 1,759

    Snails or slugs they do it every time!!!! Think they eat the stems and not the leaves. I had a lupin massacre last year but I planted them in copper protected pots and they came back....

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    slugs landgirl, probably attached to the bottom of the pots you bought.

  • landgirl100landgirl100 Posts: 655

    Couldn't find any slugs or snails to blame, no slime in evidence. Rabbits eat lots of stuff in my garden, but I don't think they would jump into the coldframe. Deer, possibly?

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 22,608

    If it's deer that would explain why I never have any lupins! But now part of the garden is fenced perhaps I should try again.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391

    Mice, possibly.  They nipped-off the tops of half of my newly germinated tomatoes a couple of weeks ago and put them in a pile like that.  Now they are ex-mice. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • landgirl100landgirl100 Posts: 655

    I've moved the pots into the greenhouse with some slug pellets and a couple of mouse traps. Hopefully the plants will recover.

  • gardenjeanniegardenjeannie Posts: 360

    Definitely mice, the wee beggars. I can't have anything new without at least a nibble. I once chased one from my strawberries and watched it go to my peas! Now I have lots of traps, and let the kids' pet rats have a run around. I also sprinkle the used bedding around, and that seems to deter them for a while. I used to be humane about getting rid, but now I've had enough. They bite the strawbs off the stems while still white, then don't even eat themimage I wouldn't mind so much if they stole ripe ones and actually ate them! In one night last yr they had every single sweet pea and sunflower seed that I sowed under a mini-tunnel. 120!image So now they get deaded. Sorryimage

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,394

    Mice - slugs wouldn't take the unwanted leaves and put them in a pile.  They are a menace in my GH too.

    My deer leave lupins alone - they are one of the plants i can happily grow in my unfenced bit.

  • Mrs GMrs G Posts: 336

    If you suspect slugs but can't find them, lift the plant out and check the bottom of the plant itself as they often get in the drainage holes and live inside the bottom of the pot during the day.

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