Grubby thing

Hi,
I found a few of these critters when I harvested my compost bin.
Any idea what they are?
Do they harm the plants?
I've fished out the ones I could find but bet a few have made it into pots/baskets.

Cheers
D

 

Is there a picture?

 

Having just come in from 4 hours gardening I was taking the title of this thread rather personally.

But it's probably just about vine weevils. If it's 1 cm long, an obvious c-shape, creamy white with a brown head, kill it quick. Have there been living plants/roots in the bin, because that's what they eats?

 

Hi,
Dunno what's up with the site today, it is taking more than 5mins to load each page on pc. I have tried all day to post a pic but it won't have it, I can't even get it to accept a reply so am sending this from my mobile. it appears to be the GC site as all other forums and web pages are as speedy as usual. Will post as soon as the computer/site behaves long enough.
Cheers
D (v frustrated)

 

Sorry to hear that, working ok from this end, have you tried clearing cookies?

 

Thanks for the advice, tried cookies, internet history, reeboot and system scan. Never had this before and anything else I look at seems fine, so dunno what's going on.
Have looked up vine weevel grubs, yup thems the beggars.
I take it I need nematodes?
Will watering them into the compost bin help?
Hate to think now I finally seem to have made reasonable compost I can't use it. Bad news is I have already used it in pots/baskets and one bed.
Feckfeckertyfeckfeck, that's my considered opinion.

D

 

I think if you kept the compost a while you could use it.
The weevils feed on plant roots so if it is well-rotted compost there will not be any roots there, unless a few weeds have been growing in it. (Do VWs eat weeds? It's usually an expensive exotic they go for.)
If you could spread the compost out in a tray before using it, for birds to peck at, that'd be good. If going on the ground it'll be spread out anyway so you can pick off any visible grubs.
They will hatch out into adults eventually and will probably not lay eggs in bare compost, it'll be your newly planted hanging baskets they'll fancy.
You could try chemical killers for the places you have already used the compost, or control measures such as sticky traps etc.

 

Ok thanks, was wondering about the nematode treatment, am considering it for my sandy lawn that seems to be one big ants nest, not good for the kids.
Nematodes not cheap but its fine if it works anyone had any experience of them?

Cheers
D

 

I thought they were only for slugs will have a closer look.

 

Sell em on amazon, mixed reviews.

 

I get a lot of these weevil grubs - actually found a weevil beetle today and destroyed it - they go crack when you stand on them - You will need to treat the compost bin as these will hatch into beetles and lay eggs (at night) in your baskets and pots as has been said, and if any are in the baskets already they will eat the roots - they like fuchsias, geraniums, busy lizzie, strawberries, to name but a few. Never found them in petunia/lobelia pots though (yet). Provado is cheaper than the nematodes - and is OK for non-edibles but again with mixed results imo.

Such is my battle with these that personally I would remove the plants from the baskets/pots if newly planted, inspect them (and the compost) and start again with fresh compost - but that's just me.

When I know I have them in a pot I pick them out for the birds and then soak the earth in a bucket of water for a few weeks to drown any stragglers I have missed. After that I throw the whole bucket under the conifers - never in my compost bin just in case.

Good luck

S