Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: vron on April 23, 2014, 16:25
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Hi everyone,
I was out tarting up the strawberry hanging baskets yesterday, the compost was full of vine weevil grubs.
The strawberry plants were rotted at the roots and the grubs plainly visible within.
The strawberry plants were planted through weed suppressing membrane.
I have thrown the plants away and sifted through the compost by hand to remove the blighters.
Is there any treatment that I can put in the compost to make sure they are all destroyed.
I have provado vine weevil treatment spray but its for ornamentals only.
I know that someone out there will have an answer for me.
Thank you once again, without this site I would be lost.
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Have a look for nematodes - I think these are safe for edible plants. Not overly cheap but pretty effective now that the soil is warming up.
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I have a similar problem most years as 95% of my strawberries are grown in containers, and the nematodes are the only thing i've found that a) you can use on food, and b) actually work!
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New compost maybe cheaper if the baskets are not too deep.
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New compost maybe cheaper if the baskets are not too deep.
I think there's a strong likelihood of transferring VW eggs or critters across with the plants :(
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New compost maybe cheaper if the baskets are not too deep.
I think there's a strong likelihood of transferring VW eggs or critters across with the plants :(
Have replaced compost in many this year as i've changed the potting "method", but am paranoid that some of the nasty little critters will remain hidden, so for insurance I still use the nematodes... worth it when you have close to 200 plants in containers.