Pest of the Week: Vine weevil

Regardless of this insect's development stage, it can inflict massive damage on your garden-both its adult and larval form cause damage to your plants. Wine weevil larvae hide in your soil and cut the roots of your plants. They also bore into any tubers you may have planted.

They are particularly lethal to container plants. The adult vine weevil is no better-it is nocturnal and feeds on leaves. While the individual vine weevil's potential for damage is quite small, it inflicts huge damage because each female weevil lays around 1000 eggs in the summer. That's a lot of pests!

How to spot vine weevil damage

Be on the lookout for chewed out leaf edges, damaged roots, or suddenly wilting and dying plants.

How to deal with Vine weevils
At nighttime, use a flashlight to pick off adults. To knock out larvae, apply nematodes to your compost in August/early September.

You can try the insecticide route but very few are effective against this pest. The best way to chemically control them is to control the vine weevil's larvae by applying imidacloprid to your compost.