VINE WEEVIL & LARVAE ATTACK HOSTAS & STRAWBERRIES

The vine weevil is turning out to be a bigger pest in my garden than the slugs and snails ever were.  A few years ago, vine weevil larvae ate the roots off a young, container grown, Japanese maple: Orange Dream.  I was gutted!  The plant cost a bomb!  Yesterday, I discovered that vine weevil larvae have eaten the roots off container grown Alpine Strawberries. 

Vine Weevil Larvae

Since winter, two ivys grown in Long Tom terracotta pots withered up and died after happily growing there for years.  When I went to remove the dead growth last week, guess what!—there were hardly any roots.

Vine Weevil pupa

I've wondered for a while how it is that my container grown hostas, surrounded by sharp gravel, growing in big terracotta pots standing on metal plant trolleys, get their leaves attacked, not badly, but enough to bug me, one might say.   I've always rummaged around, looking for snails or slugs on the plants but found none.  I think the answer is Vine Weevils; the beetle itself is disfiguring the hosta leaves.  I hate these bugs! 





I don't want to be disposing of the compost, so I sometimes pour boiling water onto it.  That cooks the larvae good and proper.  No mercy!  I also have, in the past, used chemical control.  I'm not a fan of chemical pesticides but sometimes you just have to do it.  I use Bayers Provado 500 Vine Weevil Killer2.  It's got the most stupid dispensing system known to mankind, but once you figure it out, I guess it works!  I can only hope.  Today I am going to treat all my containers growing non-edible plants with a good old dose of it.   It's systemic so should work for leaves and roots.  DO NOT use Bayers Provado on edible plants!