strawberries attacked by vine weevil

[pepper]

I have 2 three tiered planters which are full of strawberry plants, noticed yesterday alot of the plants are not looking good. Had a look in the compost and it is full of vine weevils, not sure what to do with them now or if they could be saved.

[quark1]

Oh dear Pepper - don't what the solution is but I'm sure someone more in the know than me will be along soon!

Just wanted to sympathise as I lost a lot to something horrid of this kind a few years back - virtual total loss - very disappointing.

[divvy]

I found these in mine too . I have strawberry plants in 1/2 circle wall planters and when I tipped them out this spring to tidy them up they were all in the compost . I just cleaned the plants off and repotted them with fresh compost and so far they have been fine . They have really grown and are full of flower .

[pepper]

I have completely emptied them, washed the soil off the roots, went and got new compost. Some of them had no roots left at all so I have replanted the ones that still had roots but I have lost over half of them. I hope the ones I have replanted recover. I was digging the grubs out of the stems with the end of a trowel, they had burrowed right into the plants. I have also ordered Nemasys Vine Weevil Control so I will water that on when I get it. Is it too late to plant more strawberries.

[quark1]

Could I just recommend that you don't compost any of the diseased material and dispose of it in general rubbish or burn.

[pepper]

I have put the compost into old compost bags and will put them in the general waste

[divvy]

I am not sure if what I had was vine weevel or the larvae of daddy long legs . They were large , about 1 in long and white. I have found these in the garden before and thought they were the daddy longlegs .

[Alison Adams]

1 inch long does sound big for vine weevils, mine were more like 1cm, and I thought leatherjackets (daddy long legs) were quite different ? I rescued my strawbs from a be-weevilled planter this year. Most survived after transplanting into a soil bed but some look like they wont fruit this year. I am surprised at how common these weevils are in planters, ther should be a warning to use VW nematodes regularly when you buy one !

[gojiberry]

I had a complete raised bed decimated by vine weevils, didn't manage to save any plants at all. Have replaced the compost and replanted with fresh plants.
Leather jackets are bigger than vine weevils and are a browny/grey colour more like a catapillar. Vine weevils are less than half an inch long, cream coloured with a brown head, although at this time of the year when they are changing to adults they can be cream all over but you would then see the shape of the adult emerging. Leather jacket tend to go for grass roots more than any other plants.

Ian

[Spiderling]

Hi everyone. Vine Weevils are absolute horrors. I had similar experience with my strawberries too this year. I had them in tubs last year and this spring we have moved them all into big buckets. Whilst cleaning the over-wintered plants up, I found lots of vw grubs amongst the roots. I winkled every one out and squished them, disposed of the old compost and re-planted them in their new buckets. Once the soil had warmed up enough I applied Nemasys. So far, so good! The plants are all thriving, flowering profusely and there are a few berries too. I shall be extremely vigilant with the plants this year. Watch out for adult weevils. They are mainly nocturnal but look out for irregular notches in leaves, a sure sign that the beasties are around. I have 15 buckets with 4 plants each. They are on trestles away from other plants and the walls. I intend to use Nemasys again in the Autumn too. Look up Vine weevil on Google....if they weren't such awful beasties I could almost admire them- they're remarkable creatures. I've never had a problem with them before and am assuming they came in with plants from a nursery...having said that, according to my research, they can walk 3 miles!!! Good luck folks! This is war...our strawberry jam is at stake here! Cheers.

[pepper]

sorry to hear others are having the same problem. The plants i managed to save seem to be doing ok. I have watered on the Nemasys today, so if there are any left this should sort them out. I have also used in on all my other containers. I think I will order more to use in the autumn as well. I have also ordered more strawberry plants and they are not going to get these ones.

[Paulottie]

I am not sure if what I had was vine weevel or the larvae of daddy long legs . They were large , about 1 in long and white. I have found these in the garden before and thought they were the daddy longlegs .

They are probably chaffer grubs, the young of the Maybug, They eat away at your plant roots much like vine weevils and look similar white with brown head but even uglier and smell like sewage inside. Most commonly found in newly broken land. I feed them to the blackbirds (and vine weevil larvae too) I just leave them on a concrete path/slab.

leatherjackets (daddylonglegs or cranefly) are brown and rubbery