Vine Weevil

We have these  pesky things in our Strawberry troughs and were wondering if we could put some carrots, parsnips or leeks in there instead as none of the info we have found mentions them eating vegetables.  Please does anyone know? 

Hi Tracey, vine weevils do love strawberries! There's no guarantee the grubs won't eat the immature roots of your veg, but it might deter them (I've never heard of vine weevils eating carrots, parsnips and leeks). It's a good idea to lay a thick layer of gravel over the soil surface to prevent the adult beetle laying eggs in the compost, but I wouldn't recommend this when soing seed! Alternatively, you could use nematodes (http://bit.ly/HkZ1BA) to safely kill the vine weevil grubs. Apply this to your trough twice a year and you'll still be able to grow strawberries.

Hope this helps

Kate

I have sown 3 rows of carrots this spring (in East Bristol). They are up & were looking great but now I notice that 4-5 inch stretches in several places along the rows are being eaten and the tops (around 1-11/2" long just lying on the ground, cropped off at the base of the leaves. On searching through the soil I find white crescent shaped grubs with orange heads (vine weevil) so am faced with abandoning carrots in this bed and need to eradicate the pests before re-sowing/planting anything there but what is the best way to achieve this? I don't want to use chemicals as I am growing veg.