invisible visitor.
By rohima
9 comments
I have three azhaleas growing in pots. The two that are in the back garden are flowering away profusely. The third plant is in the front garden and has not flowered this year.despite looking healthy and having new leaves coming through. It looked to be out growing the pot and i assumed that was the reason for the lack of flowers so i decided to pot it on into a larger container. To my surprise there wasn’t much roots and when i looked closer there was the culprit. Nasty nasty vine weevil grubs. I wasn’t aware that they attack azaelea plants. Gave it a good soaking with pravado vine weevil killer before potting it up. So glad i caught it before the infestation got bad and i lost the plant. Must treat the other plants too as a precaution.
19 May, 2010
3 likes
More blog posts by rohima
Previous post: Weather change.
Next post: Green tomatoes
Comments
Those are horrible aren't they. I'm glad you found them in time.
19 May, 2010
Check any other pots you have. I have had these two years on the trot but in different plants. Echeviria the first year and a grape the second. I now put a layer of grit on the top of the pots. It looks nice and apparently the vine weevil dosent like sticking its bum into the grit to lay its eggs.
19 May, 2010
Goodness ,thanks for the warning,so glad you found out in time.........
19 May, 2010
well the ones in yorkshire still stick their bums through the grit on my pots. nasty little critters.
19 May, 2010
I wonder if there is any thing that could be applied to the outer side of the pot/container to deter the critters from crawling up. Like treesandthings i seem to get them in different plants from year to year. My Hookera are in the border and one of those were affected too.
19 May, 2010
what do they look like and do they attack all plants
20 May, 2010
The adult weevil looks like a beetle greyish black in colour and has a pointed head with antenaes. It is unable to fly but crawls up the side of the pots to lay its eggs in the soil. The larvae look like white c shaped grubs and they eat away at the roots. The plant remains healthy looking until it is too late.
20 May, 2010
Lady bug search vine weevils on here, I have put some pics of the grubs on this site.
20 May, 2010
Featured on
Recent posts by rohima
- Potting up plants
9 Apr, 2011
- Back from the brink.
2 Apr, 2011
- Goodbye to the old and welcome to the new year.
5 Jan, 2011
- Facelift
21 Nov, 2010
- Eating our greens.
2 Nov, 2010
- Jammy bank holiday.
31 Aug, 2010
Nasty nasty are the words rohima! Those little devils took over an old sink I had planted up once & I couldn't understand why everything just fell over dead from the bottom up!! At least they are fairly easy to recognise. Hope you get rid of them ok & your azaleas thrive.
19 May, 2010