Vine weevil!

[smallblueplanet]

Just killed another one - crawling up the lounge wall....where are they coming from? (Got no houseplants) Is there an organic control?

[nick the grief]

There is but it won't work on your walls & carpet

[Nicos]

sbp - have you got a cat that might be bringing them in on it's coat after sitting under a rhododendron or something? Just a thought.

[smallblueplanet]

Its okay the carpet will get 'em on its own!

[sewer rat]

I have seen a couple in our kitchen but I know they came in from the primroses and primulas outside the kitchen door - they're easy meat when they're on a lino floor !!

[smallblueplanet]

sbp - have you got a cat that might be bringing them in on it's coat after sitting under a rhododendron or something? Just a thought.

No, our old cat (she was 20) never made it to this house - the lounge wall has patio doors that I occassionally open to chase the squirrel, or wave my arms wildly at the starlings!

Next door have a pieris nearby, but theres only our hostas & olive trees & a few pots of stuff otherwise.

[smallblueplanet]

....they're easy meat when they're on a lino floor !!

Ours are learning to swim round the 'bowl'!

[Bugeyes]

They make a lovely crunching noise if you tread on them (apologies to vegetarians) but make sure you are wearing shoes as it hurts otherwise!

[Green Great]

You can buy nematodes for vineweevil and ive heard they work pretty efficiently, not in your house ofcourse, but they do work and will soon stop the little blights from scurrying of after just eating all your primulas and destroying all our rhoddies.

[JennieAtkinson]

I've only seen the grubs, have never actually seen the vine weevil itself. The area of the polytunnel was so bad I used the vine weevil nematode and it worked great.

[nick the grief]

Apparently you can use Armillatox to control Vine weevil (or you could) the instruction are below

Vine Weevil Dilution 500:1
We are pleased to announce that Armillatox has now been approved by the Pesticides Safety Directorate to protect against vine weevil.

The trials were carried out by University Horticultural Services, Bangor and the recommended application rate is a fraction of the price of other approved controls on vine weevil.

To control vine weevil, we target the egg, which unlike the larvae and the weevil does not move.

Armillatox is made from an extract of British Coal (originally plant material) emulsified in the finest castor oil soap - it contains no organochlorine or organophosphates and is therefore totally biodegradable.

The eggs are very small, less that 1mm in diameter; the weevil has a short ovipositor laying her eggs on the compost or soil surface very close to the stem of the plant.

To sterilise the egg it is recommended that a 500 to 1 solution should be applied as a compost surface spray - this should be undertaken fortnightly mid March to October and monthly from November to mid March (10mls in 5 Litres water).

If that don't get em, the smell will Mind you I quite like the smell of Arrmillotox & ***** & it's cheaper than Paco Raban

[herbivore]

I have to admit that they're evil in potted primulas. They don't seem to be a problem in my garden grown primulas - perhaps because predators can access them more easily? Did you know that they're all female? Does that make them clones? I've found larvae half way between grub and adult and they do like something from Alien...