[Eblana]

Hi All,

I went up to the plot today to try to sort out the Strawberry Plants in my Poly tunnel as I had noticed that the leaves on them were all dead.  When I started to take off the dead leaves the whole plants started to come away in my hand and I discovered that they had a tan coloured dust on the stems and there were hole with little white maggots in the stems.  I dug them all out (about 60 plants) and found that there were only about 10 that weren't like this and that there were loads of the little maggots/grubs in the soil as well.  They are about the size of a grain of rice but a little fatter and have a brown spot on one end,  I am assuming they are vine weevil or something like that.  I have now cleared the bed and put the plants into a spare compost bin I had as I was afraid I would infest the compost heap but don't know what to do now.  Do I need to remove the soil or can I treat it in some way?  Can I put the debris into the compost or should I dispose of it?

Any advice would be much appreciated

[Auntiemogs]

You have my deepest sympathies Eblana, I have weevils this year too and they love strawberry plants. 

I would suggest binning the compost you've dug out as the eggs are very small and difficult to see and there are probably loads in there.

Nemasys do a nematode treatment for vine weevils which will need watering in at least twice a year (spring and autumn) and should kill the grubs off.  You'll have to wait until the weather warms up a little bit though (5C) or the nematodes will die.  I also suggest watering into any pots you have edibles in (they prefer pots to open ground) and topping up with shingle/pea gravel afterwards as they apparently don't like to burrow through gravel.

For non-edibles there is a chemical control (did my pots this afternoon).

Good luck out there!

Mags

[AnnieB]

Sound exactly like vine weevil grubs.
The treatment is chemical something like Provado Vine Weevil killer although the idea of that is to soak the pot until it runs out the base, if you have a bed not sure how it operates.

I would guess that as it is in a poly tunnel you are making a "safe" area for Vine Weevils, sort of warmer (no frost) and no birds to eat them if you dig the bed over. As the adults are not restricted to the bed they could well have spread and so may have infested elsewhere.

I wonder therefore if you need a more agricultural solution rather then the small scale solution that something like the Provado product is intended for as you may need to treat the soil in the poly tunnel.

[Auntiemogs]

This may be useful (response from Bayer re.aquestion I sent them about the evil weevil)...

"Unfortunately there is nothing on the gardening market that has approval for use on edible plants to control the root feeding vine weevil larvae.  Our Provado Vine Weevil Killer 2 is approved for pots and containers only of ornamental plants.  I am sorry to hear that you have such a problem with vine weevil as they are not usually a notable pest in veg plots but having said that they can turn up anywhere in the garden if conditions and situation is suitable.  The only alternative available to you is to employ the services of nematodes but these will not be of any use until the soil temp. warms up to about 15 0c.  There are several companies advertising on line selling biological forms of pest control for example marshalls (the seed people), Defenders (based in Kent) and a company called Nemasays which often advertise in garden centres. "

[Eblana]

Thanks everyone, I have just ordered a bulk lot of nematodes and will treat all the beds in the PT.  The supplier I have ordered off sends them out in 4 separate deliveries over the growing year so that you are reminded when you need to reapply them which is very helpful.