Vine weevil killer

[rary]

I have a small raised bed in the garden filled mainly with compost I lifted a heucera out of it and have discovered Vine weevil grubs I also have some strawberry plants in the bed, should I treat with bug clear or should I use nematodes? Should also add I will be planting lettuce in this bed in the spring

[Aberdeenplotter]

I suspect nematodes may well need some heat in the ground so maybe check that first. Slug nematodes certainly need that.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Vine weevil grubs are very fond of strawberry plants !! Also some vine weevil treatments can't be used where edible crops will be grown.

[ameno]

Neither, sadly.
Bug clear can't be used on edibles (so that precludes the strawberries), and nematodes need warmer soil to live, so won't work until at least April.

Your only solution right now is to dig everything out, and then paw through the soil removing or squashing as many larvae as you can find.

[nickdub]

My feeling would be to lift the strawberry plants - wash the soil off the roots in a bucket of water and pot them up for the winter in fresh compost, with a view to replanting next Spring.

As for the bed - birds like grubs, so forking over the soil lightly will give the local robins a pre-Xmas treat.

[DannyK]

You can also strike the heuchera. Yesterday I potted up six heuchera Black Pearl from one plant that vine weevils had taken off at soil level. Very easy in gritty compost.

[rary]

Can anyone tell me how long you would need to avoid growing edible crops on ground that has been treated with bug clear or equivalent

[ameno]

Can anyone tell me how long you would need to avoid growing edible crops on ground that has been treated with bug clear or equivalent

No idea.
I would advise checking what the specific chemical in it is, and then looking up what the half-life of that chemical is.

Most modern pesticides half short half-lives in the soil, so my gut instinct would be that if you applied now, you'd be fine by the spring (although the strawberries would have to come out in the intervening time, to be replanted in spring, as vine weevil killers are systemic, so the plants would retain the pesticide). You'll definitely want to check to make sure, though.

[toomanytommytoes]

Bug Clear Ultra/Ultra Vine Weevil Killer both contain acetamiprid, which is perhaps something to be careful with as it is highly toxic to earthworms and birds. It does have a short half-life so isn't very persistent in soil.

More info on the chemical here - https://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/Reports/11.htm