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When do you go vine weevil picking?

dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
in Problem solving
Around dusk? As soon as it's dark? Middle of the night?

Any other tips (aka "hacks") to make it easier?

I admit, I hate this job. I resent them! I have a large infestation outdoors across a 10m.area, maybe more in other plants. I use nematodes which I think might help but there is so much damage so I have to go out an catch them or watch my garden disappear. 
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  • Jess91Jess91 Posts: 159
    Right now, I've just got in from my evening hunt 😄
    Not many tonight though, it's quite windy here so foliage and shadows moving too much to spot them.

    I hate the flipping things, we have loads. Their only redeeming quality is the satisfying crunch they make when you squash them under foot.
    Slowly building a wildlife garden, in a new build in East Yorkshire.
  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Haha yeah, I've developed a sense of satisfaction too I'm afraid. Little feckers!

  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Matt black creatures, difficult to see at night.  I hunt by looking in the compost for thr larvae.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Anyone tried these?
    https://www.greengardener.co.uk/product/nematop-adult-vine-weevil-trap/ 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I don't. I'm asleep before it's dark so that would be pointless. I rarely see them during the day either. If I think a plant has them I'll tip it out and put the grubs out for the birds, but I don't have that many plants that are susceptible- mainly Heucheras, and it's only the potted ones. Mature plants shrug off adult damage so it's just aesthetic.

    I think nematodes are probably your best solution @dangermousie but you'll need to keep using them. They aren't much use here as it's too late in the year before the temps etc suit for using them IME. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Toads eat them. I doubt you can buy toads, though😐
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    I never see many toads, apart from very young, just one at a time.  I presume fat females eat more. Most summers one lives under one of my wheelies, I have to be very carefull moving it.

    In my greenhouse I have several moss/Mind-your-own-business balls in pots.  I get frogs sitting in these and never have any vine weevil trouble with these particular pots.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Yes, I only see them one at a time. Scares the BJs out of me when a dead leaf jumps! They must meet up from time to time to begat,though.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Dovefromabove said:
    Anyone tried these?
    https://www.greengardener.co.uk/product/nematop-adult-vine-weevil-trap/ 
    There is one under this plant as we speak... it might work better in pots. There's nothing in the trap to attract them afaik so a confined space makes more sense. 

  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    I have at least two toads in my "Variegated garden", and there were babies in the pond last year. I use nematodes, but I suspect I missed a key phase in their life cycle earlier this year. I think they lay eggs and have larvae from Spring through to end of Autumn, so I'll keep doing that. It's a large area of my garden rather than pots, so I can't tip anything anywhere :D They love the ivy, but so do I so I'm not getting rid of it. Besides, they'll just destroy something else. If it was one plant in a pot, I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of it and its soil, but I can't get rid of this...


    I just wish they'd leave the slow growing camellia alone! I've put horticultural adhesive barrier around the trunk, which I will replenish as I think that protected the plant for a while. 

    The battle rages on...
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