Barstarding vine weevil grubs

[Mykittensmittens]

Doing a bit of routine tidying. I’d planted up a huge shallow galvanised trough with succulents and alpine gravel in May. It cost a fortune and was the pride and joy of my patio, being something I wanted to keep going for years. Though some of the plants looked a bit jaded but put it down to the time of year and set about with a little trim…the whole thing came up in my hand. Then the next one, and the next one, till my trough of 15 plants+ was empty. Then I noticed the little fat white bastards and the penny dropped.

So I’ve started to look about now - and realised my pot of sweet Williams was also looking a bit manky. Quick gentle pull and the whole lot comes away. Yep. Bastards in there too.

I can’t see any other pots suffering. But some have leaf damage which I’m now worried about. I have this spectacular dahlia about to flower and if the bastards are in there I will wail even louder….

I’ve emptied out the pots and hosed out, but seriously I have 10 geranium pots, 4 cordyline, 6 dahlias and about 8 roses all in pots. The soil is wet so I can’t check easily - I have checked one dahlia which was next to the eaten succulents as that was dry so easy to pull out and look at the roots but all seemed well. However the two affected pots were some metres apart with other pots in between.

I also have a small potted fig tree which was a gift.
UGGHHH.

What do I do? Nematodes? Will that be enough? Is there anything else I should do?

Nematodes, definitely. I order mine from eBay and they kill the fat little bastards in a week or two, once they're gone i just do it every spring.

Thank you. Any? I see there are different brands. Got nemysys in my Amazon basket at the moment.

It might be a bit late in the year for nematodes, but this stuff works and is much cheaper. It is a systemic, and also works against other bugs (I use it on my cacti against mealybugs).

Thanks. I can’t use that on my fig tree which is potted though, or can I?

Maybe I should do nematodes on the fig and hardcore on the flowers?

I second the vine weevil killer stuff. You will need to water plants in the ground as well as the ones in pots. The leaf damage the adult weevils cause is very distinctive, so look that up and then search all over your garden to see how widespread the problem is.

It is rather unusual for them to be so at home with succulents and others planted into soil containing a lot of gravel. So I suspect that they were already present in the soil of one or more of the plants you bought, and which came home with you. Some garden centres are notorious for it, unfortunately.

One more thing - are you sure they are vine weevil larvae and not chafer grubs?

They’re white with a brown head. Or were. Quite wriggly fat white things. I’ve compared chafer grubs and vine weevil grubs and I am 99.99% sure they are vine weevils.

Could they have been in one of the succulent pots then - i potted it end of May/June? The gravel was a couple of cm top with soil underneath. I had hens and chicks sempivivum (sp), various sedums, and aubretia. All with no roots left at all.

The trough is the size of a shallow tin bath - maybe a metre long by 60cm wide and 20cm deep. I wasn’t precise but I saw at least 30 in there clearing it out.

The sweet William was potted up later and is about 15ft away. A week ago it looked fine and I was rooting about doing nightly slug patrols. Today I barely touched it and the whole lot came away in my hand.

My geraniums have been appalling this year. Now I’m thinking is this why?

Attached is a photo of my imminent dahlia which does have some leaf damage. You can zoom in. Thoughts?

Your dahlia leaves do look as though they’ve been nibbled by vine weevils - quite distinctive notches on the leaf edges. They may well have been in the succulent pots, but that’s not much consolation now.

Okay full on warfare then!

I’ve used nematodes and the bug clear stuff. I’ve just treated my pots with the Bug Clear.
When I take out my bedding plants from the pots I go through the compost and put the grubs on the bird feeder.

Thanks everyone.

I’ve got the hardcore stuff coming from Amazon today and the nematodes coming weds. I’ll nuke al the pots - my dahlias all seem to have leaf gnaw but I’ve lifted one out of its pot and the root system looks healthy and no sign of grubs. I’ll still treat them all and be vigilant with any bedding I empty.

I was going to overwinter my geraniums in the greenhouse in their pots - I’m wondering if I should risk that now.

Also, maybe a stupid question but presumably if they are coming into the environment in purchases, is it just a case of thorough examination? We’ve got a big garden and we are filling it so bringing in plants is par for the course. I know where the succulents came from and won’t use that garden centre again.

And another one down - found 6 of the little bastards in the pot.

I’m probably being dense here but I’m still confused. If I kill the larvae in the pots but there is still adult weevils marching about and noshing away on the leaves, how does that solve anything? Surely the adults will just lay more eggs and the cycle goes on? How does just killing the larvae and not the adults resolve anything?

Also - would it be prudent to de-pot my fig and have a look for signs of larvae now? It was a gift and it’s the one plant I would be really upset to die.

You could remove your geraniums from their pots and clean the roots and then repot them before winter storage.
I did this with my Auriculas, after growing them from seed I wasn’t going to lose them.
I think the Bug Clear also kills the adults.

You could also repot your Aeonium in gritty compost, keep it indoors and see if it re roots.

Yes, if you cut the Aeonium a couple of inches below the rosette, you should be able to root it in gritty compost.

Oh thanks!! That too was a gift - so I’ll have a go. Poor thing! Glad I didn’t throw that bit in the bin!

I put the nematodes down twice a year - autumn and spring. That breaks the cycle and any new ones brought in don't get time to do any real damage.

They are little bastards and can be in the ground too.

Another vote for nematodes autumn and spring .Really easy to use ,just water them on .

Please tell garden centre ,they should want to know .

oh ,and big sympathy - it's really distressing I know!

I cried when I found vine weevils in my pots. Genuinely sobbed as I cremated a japanese maple, a load of hostas and an entire herb collection. I hate them with a vengeance, even more than wasps at an August barbecue.

I've moved house (not to avoid the vine weevils, but I did consider it ) and if they arrive here I'm not fecking around with nematodes, I'm going to zap them with the strongest most environmentally damaging chemical I can find. Much of my new tiny garden is pots, I'm not taking any prisoners, I will nuke the bastards if I have to.

By the way, small children can be paid to catch the adults by torchlight (along with slugs).

By the way, bergenias are wonderful early warning signs for vine weevil. I have a few dotted around now to act as sentinels as the leaves show immediately if the adults are chewing.