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Black Vine Weevil and other weevils

© Carla Goodloe

Adults are about a quarter inch long and black, with yellow blotches. They are shaped like a beetle with long antennae in the front. They lay their eggs in the soil. These hatch into white or pink tinted larvae with brown heads. Larvae overwinter in earthen cells in the soil and pupate in the spring.

Larvae feed on roots. Adults chew notches in the leaves of your plants kinda like a grasshopper would. Adults usually hide in the daytime and feed at night.

Their diet consists berry bush leaves, yews, astilbe, hydrangeas, azalea, rhododendron, spruce, and other evergreens.

They are very naughty and troublesome to gardens. The damage done is largely cosmetic and plants usually survive. Root damage from larvae, however, can kill or stunt plants.

In order to control these buggers, first confirm that the notching is really caused by the weevil. Inspect plants with flashlight after dusk to catch them in the act. You can place a sheet under plants and shake the plants a little to get the bugs to fall down. If you don't have many pests, you can handpick the adults. The weevils stick to your fingers like glue.

For severe infestations, try foliar spray products containing Beauvaria bassiana, a natural fungus that kills the adults. Repeat applications since new ones will emerge beginning in the spring.

For the grub stage, drench the soil with a parasitic nematode product or BT formula made for this particular pest. Birds and other predators love to eat these insects so provide houses, baths. and feeders for them. Tanglefoot on some form of paper or plastic wound around tree trunks can keep adults from reaching foliage since adults don't fly. Also, be sure to till the soil in fall as well as in spring to unbury many of the eggs and larvae so they have less chance of growing to a ripe old age. Some say that tilling is bad for soil, so use a garden weasle or other hand cultivator to turn the soil over instead of tilling.

Have you ever found weevils in your flour or cornmeal? They get into pasta boxes, bread bags, etc. They are similar to this. Toss anything out that you find weevils or weevils skins in. Keep your stuff in plastic containers or the refrigerator. I have no room in mine for things because I keep pancake mix, flour, cornmeal, and oatmeal in the freezer.

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