The dreaded Vine Weevil

Something has been eating one of my Rhododendrons - I suspect Vine Weevil





If it is Vine Weevil I am planning to buy some Nematodes and applying these early September.

Can anyone confirm that a) it is Vine Weevil and b) that this is the correct time to use Nematodes (I don't want to use chemicals if I can help it)?

Another thought was that I could repot the plant, doing away with the old compost and thoroughly rinsing the roots before putting into fresh compost. Would this work just as well?

Thanks

 

I thought vine weevils ate roots, leaving no sign of damage until the plant suddenly drops dead and you pull it out (remarkably easily) to see if you can work out what it died of, and you find that all of the fine roots have completely gone.

 

go out with a torch just after dusk catch the little monsters , they are sneaky just like lily beetle and hurl themselves off the leaf so you have to be quick , only found a couple this year, as cutting back on what they like to eat also using tuberous begonias in pots to lure them in away from other plants in the borders seems to have worked from last year doing the same thing

Spruce

 

The grubs eat the roots clueless and the adults eat the leaves.

I am not overly bothered about the leaf damage but if they have laid eggs in the compost I want them gone.

 

I thought the nematodes do not survive below certain temps ??? and they have to be used within a certain time of being delivered too (from memory when I bought some years ago). I would dig it up, hose off and pick out the grubs (feed them to the robins in a dish that they can't escape from ) - if left they will kill the plant by eating all roots over the winter. I'd leave the hosed off soil in a bucket of water to make sure any stragglers left behind will be drowned.

Are these in the ground or in pots ? I thought they mostly attacked potted plants - but I have had them in the soil munching on the roots of my hardy geraniums.

Adults hide under pots in dark corners during the day. I have only found one this year which worries me a bit

S

 

The two Rhododendrons affected are both in pots.

From the sound of it I am going to have to get some chemical bug killer to make sure they are gone.

 

Provado being the only one i know but it works

 

I definitely wouldn't be removing any soil from around the roots at this time of the year.

Nematodes are OK if you want to be totally organic, but chemicals are there that can do the job with less hassle and a lot cheaper.

http://www.defenders.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/28

I've bought RSM controls from these in the past and they are very good regarding delivery etc.

 

I had them this spring, found grubs in a pot of strawberries and adult ones wandering around.

Against all my principles I bought Provado (the only help sold at local Wilko's), and must admit it worked a treat. It even kept the greenflies at bay.

Questions: I obviously couldn't use the poison on edible plants so am planning to do nematode round this autumn. Is it waste of money to use nematodes on poisoned containers i.e. will the Provado in the soil kill the nematodes?

Will the soil in the treated containers ever recover from the poison or do I have to brown-bin it to avoid accidentally using it on edible plants?

I have a bit of mixed feelings- as most of my gardening is done in containers weevils are definitely not welcome. Then again, using hard core poisons is not really my thing, but again I must admit that the results for the treated plants were stunning. The annual greenfly attack was minimal this year.

To commit a speciecide or not to commit a speciecide... or, (now this is starting to sound worse and worse), how to commit a speciecide in most humane way?

 

It would be a waste of time and money to treat with nematodes after using Provado. I've had to resort to nematodes as Provado is no longer available here, but the instructions state that no chemicals should have been used within a month, and the compost or soil must be kept moist for at least a further month after applying the nematodes.
If I'd got the option, I'd use Provado every time. Especially in the UK, where September temperatures can drop quite a bit at night.

 

Sadly, nothing really worked here and Algarve is almost devoid of the Canary Palms ... male, female survive. Cycads have not been affected. It has now progressed north and well above Lisbon having invaded the lovely national gardens there.

 

I believe Provado is no longer available for sale in the UK Spruce,
Jenny

 

So what do we use now?
Everything is banned.

And dont say soapy water

 

If that is true, then we're all in the deep doo-doo The nematode treatment just isn't reliable enough to combat the problem. Look how many threads there have been this year alone on the subject of vine-weevil infestation!
I went to a local garden-centre a couple of weeks ago. Although it's the only one round here with a good selection of plants, they all had notched leaves and looked sickly. So it's terribly easy to buy in the problem, but very difficult to get rid of it!

 

still showing on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bayer-Prova...words=provado+ultimate+bug+killer+concentrate