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Vine Weevil's tend to eat lots of small notches into leaves. My Cercis and Acers had lots of larger, rounded holes that I thought was Vine Weevil. I sprayed with Provado then noticed a few weeks later that it was leaf cutter Bees. So do not automatically reach for the bottle. Make sure you do have Vine Weevil before using insecticide.
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 ....
Sorry Verdun but I'll pass on that as I'm vegetarian and I don't think they would be one of the best things to tempt me to eat meat again
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
Florence and Symphony strawberries are said to be resistant to vine weevils. I'm overun with the things but results are good so far.
Gosh! Overrun! I nearly get a nervous breakdown if I find one! When I was first learing to gtarden I had a whole row of small perennials that keeled over and proved to have not roots and I was so disappointed that I've been neurotic about grubs in the soil ever since. Actually, I think those particular plants were eaten by the grubs of Daddy Long Legs, leatherjackets. I've since discovered that you can test for their presence by putting a piece of black plastic on the ground overnight and killing the grubs that have risen to the surface under it in the morning. no help for vine weevil grubs, though. I have clematis in pots and this year I am going to put parcel tape around them in a wide band and smear it with insect barrier glue (available on Amazon) since this is supposed to keep vine weevils away.
I always top dress my pots with gravel as it looks better/stops dehydration etc so maybe that's why I don't seem to get probs with them.
Perhaps a stir fry is the way to go Verd? They'd be a good sub for prawns..
Do you mean stir fry?
I stick with prawns Verd...I'm not that daft!!
Off to work now, catch up later
