These little swines

These little swines turned up this morning... Vine Weevil... is it too early in the year to treat them to a good dose of Provado?

Hello Tony. Squished about 10 of the bloody things today. Tomorrow Im treating all the trees that I'm not repotting this year.

will baddeley wrote:Hello Tony. Squished about 10 of the bloody things today. Tomorrow Im treating all the trees that I'm not repotting this year.

My wife's patio pots get absolutely infested and I've always thought vine weevil and their larva preferred the juicier pickings on pelargoniums etc. rather than the relatively tough and fibrous tree roots and leaves.

That being said and although I've never seen in any of my trees, I always treat with Provado in March and August.

Also, I have the bottom of the garden , some 50 feet from the patio, so maybe the sods can't be bothered to make the hike from the patio for the meagre pickings in bonsai corner at t'other end.

best of Luck

TimR

I've found the adults in my attic, three floors up! So I doubt they would find the distance to the bottom of the garden an issue. They overwinter as relatively inactive larvae and get going on roots as the temperatures rise. That's why the chemicals are not effective outside certain temperature limits. Read the packet for best advice.

tony wrote:These little swines turned up this morning... Vine Weevil... is it too early in the year to treat them to a good dose of Provado?

Where were they Tony? Was this in a pot?

Mike

Kev Bailey wrote:I've found the adults in my attic, three floors up! So I doubt they would find the distance to the bottom of the garden an issue. They overwinter as relatively inactive larvae and get going on roots as the temperatures rise. That's why the chemicals are not effective outside certain temperature limits. Read the packet for best advice.

Hi Kev,

Good point. We find the beetles in the house as well.

I HAVE had a few suspicious tree deaths the last few years including a Harry Harrington original- all in the March -May period.

In all cases rootage was poor (just the tough ones left). I suspected a combination of too fine a soil mix (all mame/shohin size), cold weather and water sitting in the pots. (I tilt all my pots a tad now embracing the "stand a wet sponge on its end and watch even more water flood out" theory)

Maybe I'll look a bit closer during re-potting this season and swipe the wife's Provado a bit sooner than usual.



thks

TimR

Hi Mike they were on the surface of the soil under a thick layer of Sphagnum Moss... the cunning blighters!

tony wrote:Hi Mike they were on the surface of the soil under a thick layer of Sphagnum Moss... the cunning blighters!

Thanks Tony that is interesting. I use Japanese and Sphagnum on top of Satsuki's and usually always on top of soil for collected trees for 6-8 weeks.

I've not ever noticed VW's before and strangely last years growth patterns were erratic at best. I have not come across any despite a few repots already, but with a Mountain Maple and a Nagasaki I was shocked at how little root was there when I removed both. The Nagasaki CA grew OK last year but the Maple did not, petering out round about late June early July. I figured it was two-fold, bad wind burn and the fact it desperately needed repotting.

I did bot last week and my first thought with the MM was ... where have all the roots gone? The Crab was similar. I was expecting a beard of roots in the Maple but alas no. I put it down to the really cold weather and the fact the roots would have had only a wall of pot to protect them; hence I concluded they were frozen solid for to long.

Despite extensive examination I found no trace of any VW's; might they have moved on? I have very little experience with VW's I'm delighted to say.

Any thoughts.

Mike

The grobs turn into adults and emerge from the soil well after repotting. I too have found adults all over the house in the Summer. One year, before Provado, I went out with a torch every night in the Summer and squished over 200 adults. When you think they are all female and can aparently lay up to 600 eggs each. Provado and Intercept has made life a lot easier. And they're all females.

Hi Will

I see it is avatar change season as well:-) As you have probably experimented with treatments appertaining to VW's, with existing grubs have you found a treatment 'better' that others apart from 'todes? I fully appreciate how Nematodes function and warmer weather is actually preferred; it is however for pots that may contain VW that are not going to be repotted for quite some weeks that I wish to treat ... in case they are resident.

Mike

Hello Mike. I have never used Nematodes as they're a bit hit and miss. I can't afford to take the risk.