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vine weevils?
Cloggie
Posts: 1,457
I've just emptied a pot and found what I think are vine weevil larvae. The pot had chives in it and the chives came out rootless so I'm pretty sure the brown-headed, maggot-like things that I've now put in a plastic bag and in the bin with all the compost were VWs.
However, as I was clearing them, there were also at least two caterpillars. Quite big, with the same colouration but definitely caterpillars.
Anyone seen this before?
0
Posts
Sounds like cutworms rather than Vine weevils. Cannot say that I have ever found V.w. on any of the Onion family and I grow a few of them. However I have seen click beetle larva on them.
Hope it was not v..w. I would hate to lose my collection of rare Alliums.
Did you manage to take a photo of the offenders?
No, I was freaked out and threw them and the rest of the contents of the container in the bin in a sealed bag (bin day tomorrow) then I bleached the pot and boiling watered it to get rid of any eggs.
They looked exactly like what you get if you Google vine weevil larvae. What threw me were the caterpillars but i have since found a site that says everything that transforms through a pupal stage has a caterpillar stage.
http://www.gardenersworld.com/blogs/gardeners-musings/vine-weevils-again/3038.html
Vine weevil larva go from the stage you see in the compost to a white version of the adult. So if you see a bleached Vine weevil it is the pre-adult stage. They do not have a stage where they look like caterpillars.
What did I kill then?
Indian meal moth larvae?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Indianmeal+moth+larvae&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwienJ7a167SAhXrJsAKHQZQBKAQ_AUICCgB&biw=1745&bih=885