I live in Lowestoft on the east coast of Suffolk, and i found vine weevil grubs in the old compost of some pots i was clearing earlier this month, my heart sunk, as i have had problems before with vine weevils at my previous place! I didn't bring any plants with me purely for the reason i didn't want to contaminate my new garden, but it looks like "here we go again!"...
I agree with Blairs, leaf cutter bees cut leafs in the same way as vine weevils do, so make sure first!
I think leaf-cutter bees tend to chew the edges of leaves in a semi-circular way. Vine weevils tend to have smaller, more squared sorts of notches on the edges.
In any event, spraying the leaves will have no impact on the dreaded VWs - the adults (active in warmer months) come out at night. The damage to the leaves is unsightly, but has little impact on the overall health of the plant. But - the grubs do the real damage, chomping at the roots of the plants. They can be undetected until the plant collapses. For that reason, the best advice is to apply a soil drench.
And if you've found the grubs in old compost, then I'm afraid as if you do have the problem again. But - spread the compost out on a hard surface and let the birds clean it for you. They relish the grubs - robins especially!
Exactly what I do S. Violet. Last year I even managed to tame a robin to come and feed from my hand using these grubs. I had tried tempting him with lots of different foods but it wasn't until I tried the grubs that I succeeded. They say that every cloud has a silver lining ....
My dad always grew a lot of fuchsias, and now I do the same, when I tipped his out of the pots a year or two ago, They all had weevils in, so last year when I did them, I bought the nematodes and now, tipping them out, there is not one to be seen. I used it on all my tubs and baskets last year, and will do again this year.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
I live in Lowestoft on the east coast of Suffolk, and i found vine weevil grubs in the old compost of some pots i was clearing earlier this month, my heart sunk, as i have had problems before with vine weevils at my previous place! I didn't bring any plants with me purely for the reason i didn't want to contaminate my new garden, but it looks like "here we go again!"...
I agree with Blairs, leaf cutter bees cut leafs in the same way as vine weevils do, so make sure first!
I think leaf-cutter bees tend to chew the edges of leaves in a semi-circular way. Vine weevils tend to have smaller, more squared sorts of notches on the edges.
In any event, spraying the leaves will have no impact on the dreaded VWs - the adults (active in warmer months) come out at night. The damage to the leaves is unsightly, but has little impact on the overall health of the plant. But - the grubs do the real damage, chomping at the roots of the plants. They can be undetected until the plant collapses. For that reason, the best advice is to apply a soil drench.
And if you've found the grubs in old compost, then I'm afraid as if you do have the problem again. But - spread the compost out on a hard surface and let the birds clean it for you. They relish the grubs - robins especially!
Exactly what I do S. Violet. Last year I even managed to tame a robin to come and feed from my hand using these grubs. I had tried tempting him with lots of different foods but it wasn't until I tried the grubs that I succeeded.
They say that every cloud has a silver lining ....
My dad always grew a lot of fuchsias, and now I do the same, when I tipped his out of the pots a year or two ago, They all had weevils in, so last year when I did them, I bought the nematodes and now, tipping them out, there is not one to be seen. I used it on all my tubs and baskets last year, and will do again this year.
hi Verdun.
Any other suggestions for their use?
strawberries in planters always have a tonne, but fuchsias seem to be like crack to the blighters!
But Verdun - you look very pale and unhealthy in your avatar picture
