Description
Blue Lupins are a legume crop primarily grown for its soil fertility-restoring capability along with being a feed for livestock. The plant has slender stems with narrow leaves, and it produces clusters of blue or purple flowers in the spring and summer. It is a deep-rooted (up to 2.5m) annual legume that has an erect growing pattern with strong stems. It can grow up to 1.6m in height.
Blue Lupins are typically autumn sown between March and May, although they will self-regenerate. When grown for seed, the crop can be harvested early to mid-summer, once the pods have dried down and turned brown and the seeds have hardened. A consideration for livestock is that the stems and seeds are bitter, containing alkaloids.