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+--- Thread: Vine weevils (/showthread.php?tid=2116)
Vine weevils - JJB - 18-02-2024
I've never been troubled with vine weevils in all my years of gardening, some 50
of them. I've heard of them, of course, and felt a slight air of schadenfreude. That'll teach me!I've a box of strawberry plants on the patio holding 7 - 9 plants and as I was tidying them up yesterday noticed many plants and runners had no roots. I put it down to woodlice but research yielded that chookypigs don't necessarily eat roots. Anyway replacing the eaten plants with new ones, digging a hole I find curly white grubs with brown heads in varying sizes. Vine weevils!
Any advice? Do the biological drenches work? I'm off to Google.
RE: Vine weevils - Small chilli - 18-02-2024
I’ve never had a lot of trouble with them. But have seen the odd one or 2. I’d probably go down the nematode route as the slug version is so good. But like you I’d attempt a little research first.
RE: Vine weevils - JJB - 18-02-2024
Research indicates that Nemasys is the one and only route for edibles. The nematodes need +5°C soil temperature to survive, so whilst it is unusually mild and higher than 5° now, the temperatures are likely to fall over the next month or so, and I'm assuming that the cold will kill the nematodes. The packet has a very short shelf life, about 2-3 weeks so no point buying it yet. I'm removing the plants, digging over the soil and picking out grubs and potting on new strawberry plants for later planting out. Not a particularly good day.
RE: Vine weevils - toomanytommytoes - 23-02-2024
I gave up growing strawberries in containers because of vine weevils. You could elevate the planter somehow to stop them climbing up since they can't fly. Nematodes will work but in my view they're too expensive to use multiple times a year. Apparently a layer of gravel around the plants can stop them getting to the soil to lay their eggs. I catch adult weevils sometimes when I'm out at night hunting slugs.
RE: Vine weevils - JJB - 23-02-2024
(23-02-2024, 02:58 PM)toomanytommytoes Wrote: I gave up growing strawberries in containers because of vine weevils. You could elevate the planter somehow to stop them climbing up since they can't fly. Nematodes will work but in my view they're too expensive to use multiple times a year. Apparently a layer of gravel around the plants can stop them getting to the soil to lay their eggs. I catch adult weevils sometimes when I'm out at night hunting slugs.
I might follow suit and forego the patio strawberries which will be a shame, in the meantime I'll go grub hunting. I'm annoyed that they've chosen to take up residence here last year when I've escaped for years previously.
RE: Vine weevils - JJB - 25-02-2024
Bah, I've just inspected he overwintered begonia corms. They were looking good and solid and I was thinking how to start them off. Grabbed hold of one to find only a husk! Those darned weevils have got in them. Only two of six are sound. Mutter, mutter, mutter.