Talkback: Vine weevils again - Page 2

Yes Kate, I know where you're coming from. It's all about accepting a wee bit of plant damage and acheiving a balance between predator and prey. Earlier this summer I was panicking about earwigs eating my dahlia flowers but I let them be and now I'm delighted to see hedgehog droppings around the garden, with bits of earwig exoskeleton in them! I've created a simple, wildlife dinner plate in the garden - just a paving slab where I pop (literally!) slugs, snails and their eggs! They're all gone in the morning. We'll be moving house next year and a wildlife pond is top of our wish list. Who needs artificial pest control when you've got lots of "critters" in your garden?

That's brilliant Christine. I love the idea of a paving slab dinner plate. Kate

I decided it was time to take in my potted begonias and when I did this I found there were no corms on the stems as they were been demolished by vine weevel grubs. I binned the plants and poured two kettles of boiling water on each of the pots. The grubs floated to the top and have been eated by the birds. In the past I have gone through the compost and manually squashed the grubs but this was a cleaner and quicker method of disposal.

Kate, this is the first blog of yours that I've actually taken the time to read properly. I'm really sorry I haven't done it before, but I wanted to say that it's excellent. Your writing is ace, with a really friendly, relaxed tone that is a pleasure to read. GW are lucky to have you. As for vine weevils - if you've got a happy equilibrium, I'd stick with it for now.

Kate, don't under estimate the harm that vine weavil can do in a garden.I have over twenty years experience of battle with these creatures. With the help of nature, sprays, and nematodes it is only possible to contain them. Take every oppurtunity to rid your garden of these pests. The outer shell ot the Adult is very hard and this makes it difficult for predators to penetrate. Also the Adult feeds mostly at night so get out after dark and manually pick them off your plants in Summer.

Last year was the first year I had experience of vice weEvil when individuals attacked my pot grown camelia. I discovered they favour acid loving plants, of which I have quite a few, such as rhododendron, azalia, pieris etc and they also like polyanthus and fuschia. I treated the pots with Provado for vine weevil, which is taken up by the plant and can give up to three months protection. The plants in pots seem to be fine. However I bought a photinia and planted it in the ground and in no time leaves were eaten before full development. I do have a 'wild' pond and there are frogs and toads in the garden so I think they are working hard as, so far, I have not lost any plants. However, I think it is necessary to treat plants in pots where it is more difficult for frogs and birds keep them under control. Sometimes nature needs a little help.

Kevin - You are very sweet, thank you. XX robd - Thank you, but I'm taking my chances on this one. I've not lost any plants and my frogs are very fat. I'll keep an eye on the situation but won't be taking any action in the forseeable future. roslynelliot - Interesting that you have found vine weevils prefer acid-loving plants. Has anyone else found this to be the case? It could be that the peat-based ericacous compost acid-loving plants are usually grown in is just easier for the vine weevil adults to penetrate to lay their eggs. I can't agree that nature needs a little help from pesticides. There is growing evidence to suggest that vine weevil sprays - which contain a pesticide called imidacloprid - have a lasting effect on bees. As you say, the pesticide is taken up through plants' roots and remains in the plant for up to three months. The pesticide isn't just taken up by the stems and roots of the plant, but by its flowers, and, crucially, its nectar and pollen too. When this is collected by bees in large doses it is thought it can mess with their brains, causing them to forage less and produce fewer offspring. You can read more about that here: http://www.buglife.org.uk/conservation/campaigns Kate

Kate and Roslynelliott, I found that they seem to chomp through anything, they ate my entire crop of strawberry plants that were in pots of general multi-purpose compost and in the vegatable garden as well, absolute nightmare!

I hate vine weevils, because they decimate my heucheras, polyanthus and damage many other plants. I sift through the compost, (before discarding it) to collect the larvae and feed them to the birds. Although I generally leave all other insects unharmed, i have no qualms about squashing the beetles, (CRUNCHING in closer to the effect than "squishing", and I find it a very satisfying revenge for all the lost plants. show no mercy to this evil pest, or it will decimate your garden

I am a new gardner and only found out how bad vine weevils are last night after I told my father-in-law that I found these horrible grubs on the surface of a plant pot that also had stagnant water in it( I forgot to drill holes in it in the summer and had to rescue the strawberry plants that were drowning- they seem to have survived being transplanted) Anyway . I tipped the soil and weevils onto an empty space in the flower bed and left it all to dry out. A week later I planted bulbs and pansies in that pot( having drilled holes in the borrom) and used some of the soil that the weevils were in. I avoided putting any of the big grubs in the pot but will there be eggs in the soil and although I have gone out and found some grubs and squashed them it wasn't all of them. What do you think will my potted plants be ok and do weevils drown in stagnant water anyway since I found them in stagnant water and completely saturated soil?

I had recently bought a rhubarb plant from a local country market stall, it started to grow well and then wandered why it was dying when i took it out of the pot i found a vine weevil happily munching away inside the crown which i put in the incinerator bin to make sure it had gone with the compost.

Vine weevils again! In my last garden I had a plague of vine weevils and tried sprays, nemetodes (only enough for the tub plants, and that cost enough ordering online!), but nothing touched them. I didn't lose any plants but some looked a bit sick. Since moving house and starting a brand new garden I had some respite from the brutes, but this summer they have found me probably via some bought-in plant. I hate to see the notched leaves and know they are there, especially on the viburnum and syringia shrubs. I have only caught (and squashed) one in the act so that isn't an option for control. Seems to be an unstoppable plague..

I hate vine weEVILs & squish on sight, then investigate the pots for the grubs. The only good thing to come out of this is an ever-growing collection of heucheras! They don't thrive in my garden soil but are fine in pots - until the VW gets them.... Once evident, I sieve through the soil/rinse the (remaining) roots & plant out the remnnants as separate pieces/cuttings.