Weevil problem

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Hi,
I’m looking for some advice on what we believe is a weevil problem.

We had a bush that was being attacked by something and after some research and going out at night o look at it we easily saw lots of weevils on it - which agreed with the leaf damage we were seeing.

we treated it with a spray on the bush and separately with a solution into the soil around the roots. However, after another month or so it has got worse so we are thinking that probably the grubs have attacked the roots too much and the plant is dying.

I suppose my main question is should we dig up the bush now, remove the roots and dispose of as many weevil grubs in the soil as we can find before they might move along to the next plant? Once removed we could also treat the area with nematode worms to kill larvae.

In the photos it is the tall bush on a small trunk and the bush to the immediate left of that which have been attacked initially.

Any advice/knowledge appreciated,
Tom
 

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Tetters

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Welcome to the forums @tombuck :)

Vine Weevil is a very common problem that we all have to live with these days. When working at the nursery 25 years ago we added a chemical to the compost that kept this horrible pest at bay, but then it was banned and now the perishing things are all over the place chomping through our gardens.
In your case, although the pictures are not really close up enough, I can tell you that I don`t think it will be weevils that are killing your shrubs. Although the adult beetle chomps around the leaves and the nasty grubs chew through the roots, they seldom kill plants as big and robust as yours, and I think this could be through another cause.

1620830322176.png
This is vine weevil evidence.

Are you sure that nothing in the way of weed killers or similar has leaked around that area? Do you have an unfriendly neighbour?
Have you seen evidence of any fungus near those shrubs? I will post a link for you..... https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=180
 
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Hi @Tetters
Thanks for the reply. I did take a few pics of the leaves. The pic with the leaf with my hand in and the zoomed out pic is the main damaged bush, the other pic of a leaf is a neighbouring Laurel.

We have checked in the day and can see nothing but at night it was easy to spot weevil-like bugs - perhaps I can try and get a picture of one later. That’s why we went down that avenue but I accept it is a well developed bush for them to kill.

We do have a neighbour there who is far from keen on us but I don’t want to believe they would stoop to that! It did cross my mind though.
 

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Tetters

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I think that might be caterpillar damage, although there might be weevils around too. Vine weevil only really kills plants though when the grubs chew all the roots off. The plants look great until you touch them and they fall over because there`s no root to hold them down. Something else is causing the leaves to brown though. Did you check out the link?
 

cpp gardener

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If you can gat ahold of Imidacloprid, a systemic insecticide, it will control weevil and caterpillars and almost any other plant-eating insect.
 

Tetters

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If you can gat ahold of Imidacloprid, a systemic insecticide, it will control weevil and caterpillars and almost any other plant-eating insect.
Is this chemical an ingredient of 'Suscon green' @cpp gardener? If so, that would be what was banned here years ago (when I was young) :sorry: I believe it can still be obtained in Australia though. It is one of those chemicals, I understand that is responsible for killing off good insects that we need to help - like bees.
 

cpp gardener

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No, that was pulled from the market here too. Imidacloprid is usually branded Merit and is available in Bayer systemic products.
 

Tetters

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Thanks - found it! It seems that it is still thought to be harmful to bees though. It also appears to be used to kill fleas and such on dogs. I think it is Fiprinol (or something like that) in the spot on stuff I use for my dogs?
 

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