Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 29.6.2025

Lupine and other harmful alien species.

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The topic of this week’s news is the control of lupine and other invasive species. You can even make money from controlling them.

Lupine and other invasive species

![lupine deposit road in the stem.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_2250,w_4000,x_0,y_56/ar_1.777777777777777 7,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1750857805/39-1485884685bf7fe004fa)

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Lupine is beautiful but harmful. Photo: Tarmo Niemi / Yle

Every summer, there is a lot of talk in Finland about invasive alien species.

An alien species is an animal or plant species that is not native to an area and has been introduced by humans, either unintentionally or intentionally.

There are 114 invasive alien species on the European Union list. The most common in Finland are lupine, dog rose, giant balsam, Japanese knotweed, sawgrass and giant pipeweed.

Lupine is a colorful and beautiful plant, especially along the roadside. However, lupine takes up space from many useful meadow plants.

Lupine flowers do not produce nectar. Lupine harms insects that pollinate plants. Lupine spreads efficiently through roots and seeds.

You can earn money by playing Lupin’s fight

A couple from Lapua mows lupines along the roadside for a fee.

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Ellen Ala-Hiiro and Aatu Ylimäki downloaded the Crowdsorsa app and got excited about the game. The young couple has mowed dozens of lupine plants. Photo: Tarmo Niemi / Yle

A mobile game has encouraged young people to combat lupines. The Crowdsorsa app offers rewards for removing invasive species.

The player finds an instance on the app’s map and takes a video of it. Then he removes the alien species and takes a video of it again.

Municipalities pay the fees for the game of defense. Last year, the best players earned thousands of euros.

Ellen Ala-Hiiro and Aatu Ylimäki from Lapua have been removing lupines from roadsides. They got excited about the game on the short video service Tiktok.

Ala-Hiiro and Ylimäki have already earned over 600 euros. The young people are also happy to help nature.

Lupine can be picked if you do it in time

![Leena Laari](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_1080,w_1920,x_0,y_0/ar_1.7777777777777777, c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1592297901/39-6900795ee87def98d2e)

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Some invasive species cause harm to pollinators. They make it difficult for bees and bumblebees, for example, to obtain food. Photo: Kare Lehtonen/Yle

Each of us can influence invasive species by fighting them.

The most important thing is to collect the flowers before the seeds ripen. One lupine can produce up to a hundred seeds.

The plants and roots can be dug up completely. The lupine area can also be destroyed by covering it. The lupines are covered with plastic that does not let in light for 2 years.

Lupins can be picked for a bouquet. The flowers are then placed in mixed waste, which is then burned. The flowers must not be placed in compost.

Plant species should not be imported into Finland from abroad. They should not be purchased from a foreign online store.

It is worth favoring native species in the garden.

Repetition

The topic of the week’s news was the fight against invasive species.

Lupines are blooming right now, which is hindering pollinators.

Lupins take up living space from native plants.

Here was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish - until next Saturday.