Author Topic: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!  (Read 3594 times)

Paulines7

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Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« on: April 24, 2017, 10:48:48 »
Our strawberry plants were not coming to anything this year and many had died.  We have them in 6 large growbags on a raised platform so we decided to replace the two worst affected growbags and pot up the strawberry plants that were in them to see if they start growing when the weather improves.  We have also planned to get some new strawberry plants. 

I intended using the old growbag soil, mixed with fertiliser, to pot up my tomatoes so I took the strawberry plants out of the bags and potted them up.  I then noticed a lot of vine weevil maggots and pupa. I put some soil in a tray and looked through it carefully.  I was happy in the thought that I had removed every one of the little critters, so used the soil for my tomato plants. 

After I had done this I realised that weevil eggs would still be in the compost!  How stupid of me.  I now have the choice of re-potting the tomatoes again using fresh compost or waiting a couple of weeks until they need potting on again. They are now in 4" pots. 

I also need to buy some Vine Weevil Killer Nematodes as the remaining four growbags are probably affected too.  Has anyone on the forum used these against vine weevil please and have they been successful?

strawberry1

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2017, 22:12:54 »
I had the same setup of elevated growbags, which also got vine weavil and the whole crop was destroyed. It sent me into a panic as I had 38 large pots and six raised beds all in the same area. This was four years ago and I could have screamed. I think they must have arrived with a sedum plant the year before. A neighbour in a previous house had a magnificent large plant in a pot, which was completely eaten away from underneath so I had seen the damage these evil bugs can do

I used vine weavil nematodes everywhere I could, used it twice and it was pricey. The following year I had no edibles in that garden and had a chemical vine weavil killer at hand, so I used that as a precaution.  This year I have my fingers crossed as I have planted up six strawberry plants that I found lurking in my gravel but I am ever watchful

All four strawberry growbags were removed from situ, I found vine weavil in two and was taking no chances. It was too difficult to effectively water with nematodes through the growbag openings

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2017, 10:32:10 »
Thanks for your reply Strawberry1. I am sorry to hear you had the same problem.  Having read your post, we are now considering what to do. 

If we continue with growbags, we really need to replace them every year and at £5 a bag, that makes the crop more expensive than those we can buy in the shops.  We are thinking now of salvaging those plants we have left and putting them in the ground somewhere.  If we do this, will we  need to wash the roots to ensure that there are no weevil eggs on them? 

Does anyone know of any plants that deter weevils?  We could put them in a bed next to our garlic. 

Do vine weevils fly and would butterfly netting deter them or would the adults bury under it?

It is heart breaking to have lost almost all our crop.  We now just have one growbag where the strawberries appear to be all right.

strawberry1

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2017, 13:31:56 »
yes it is hearbreaking. I spent loads of money on purpose built elevated beds and grobags but ended up getting rid of the lot as the cost was a fraction of what I spent on potted plants and raised beds in my gravel tiered garden. I think they might be ok in the open in normal ground, when preditors can get to them but I found that slugs got to them before me, so I have given up on strawberries, except for the few I found and I hope I don`t live to regret them. Vine weavils scare the heck out of me and I am watching for cutouts on the sides of their leaves, any sign and I will be bagging the whole lot for the tip, including the troughs they are in

I used to have a watering system and weather protection but it was all wasted

The slugged ones were on my allotment
« Last Edit: April 25, 2017, 13:34:32 by strawberry1 »

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2017, 19:59:48 »
The evil weevil doesn't fly, but it moves and hides quite well, so once you have them they will spread beyond your nematode patch, and come back next year.

I check all my potted vines and strawberries twice a year, and rarely find weevil grubs in a pot with a centipede in it, and never in one with 4 or more.

At the moment 90% of the grubs I find are developing legs - they would probably have scurried off next week but I did all my plants in time so I got them all - and cleaned the roots, changed the compost, & replanted (and microwaved the old compost to re-use).

There is a simpler completely reliable solution that will halve or quarter the cost of growbags:

Weevil grubs don't have gills - in water (in vitro) they all drown in a few days, every damned one, so...

Change the growbags, clean and transplant the strawberries this year, then put the old growbags under water for a week - I use an old cold water tank. Yes, they will lose all  their fertiliser (unless its bonemeal), but it can be replaced, and if you do it while they are grubs they will all drown (100% of what's there - so when is important - depends on how warm it is where you are, and there is spring batch of grubs and an autumn batch).

You can then fertilise and re-use the growbags next year, they will usually last 3 or 4 years - peat is best for this (or find some other use for them - spent compost is good for seedlings). The water becomes a weak liquid feed.

Actually, you can even leave the plants in their compost under water, they will survive a week quite happily (100% - I've only tested this in Spring) - but this technique is only really useful with ornamental multi-strawberry pots - it saves having to tear them loose, re-layer the pot and replant them - but you do have to find a big bucket to soak them - plastic house bins are best and cheapest, but those giant rope-handled buckets are useful around the garden.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2017, 11:49:57 »
Thanks for your reply Vinlander.  Fortunately my strawberries are a long way from my main vegetable patch so I am hoping they will not be affected by these evil weevils.

I didn't know that centipedes fed on vine weevil grubs.  I have the long thin skinny ones which are about 4" long and the regular ones which are about one inch or so long.  There are plenty of them around my garden so I will collect a few and place them in what appears to be the only growbag where the strawberries seem to be doing all right.  I could also place them in the growbag compost that I have looked through and removed the grubs.  I have the soil from that in a plastic dustbin.  Alternatively, when the bin is a bit more full, I could put water in it for a few days and then drain it off.   I will repot the strawberry plants from the other 5 growbags into new compost. 

I only have a small microwave and 5 growbags full would be a bit of a mammoth job but I like your idea of soaking the compost.

I have a lot to think about now and I will discuss with my husband the best plan of action. Thank you once again.

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2017, 12:40:59 »
Hi Pauline,

I wouldn't like to guarantee the centipede thing, but I'm convinced enough to transfer any I find to pots at risk - especially around and after laying time.

I got so bound up in describing my method for dealing with vine weevil that I forgot about prevention.

The weevils crawl and climb well, but I don't think they can swim or jump very far.

For some time I've been planning to raise my strawberries to waist height tables with dripfeed like the big growers do (illness took a year out of that plan and many others - I'm still in catch-up).

I wanted to keep the buggers out completely, so I would put sticky grease/bands on the table legs (and feed tubes), or possibly have the feet in pots of water/jeyes (but how wide?).

Pasting tables are cheap (£10 for 1.7m Wilko) and easily reinforced with laths (especially the bracing and the top to stop dishing, and do whatever else you can to stop water collecting on them, drill drainage holes, strong layer of plastic over it & under bags etc.).

My other, even cheaper idea was to string a mesh hammock (or a stretcher) between two trees - if they were fruit trees then they'd already have a timetable of grease bands - less to remember!

Both systems can be made for much less than regular Nemasys.

Hope this helps. Either way you are going to have to live with them until all your neighbours use Nemasys too - it makes sense to go for long-term convenience.

Oh, and they say a (cm or 2) layer of gravel will put off the egg layers (sorry).

Cheers.

PS. The adult weevils cause minor damage to many types of leaves, but they lay their eggs where the very damaging grubs will find edible roots. That's why they love berries (rose family) and vines. There are lots of plants that never seem to suffer at all from grubs. I've never had any problem with toms and peppers even in pots (nightshade family - no surprise), but I can't  think of any veg in the ground either... doesn't mean there aren't any.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2017, 14:15:12 »
Vinlander, I think it might be worth trying the centipedes; we have nothing to lose.

Our strawberries are on a waist high structure about 15-18 feet long.  My husband constructed it with breeze blocks at each end and as a support in the middle.  He then laid some L shaped long metal bars from the ends to the centre and put wooden cross slats on them.  The 6 growbags then rest on these.  We had some plastic poles from an old gazebo with several joint pieces and we constructed a frame that goes around the whole contraption.  We put netting over it and, using clothes pegs, we clip the net to the metal poles.  It is then easy to undo the pegs to get to the fruit.  I don't think it would be possible to put grease bands around the breeze blocks. 

Fortunately our neighbours are not right on top of us as our garden is 1½ acres. 

It's interesting what you say about gravel putting the weevils off. 

John is thinking of dismantling the strawberry structure and planting them in a raised bed where predators can get to the grubs.

Here is a photo taken today which shows part of the structure.


strawberry1

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2017, 14:54:24 »
I only have aggregate in my back garden, four different levels. The strawberries were elevated over gravel. The stand had slim legs and the bags were supported on wire mesh. No other plant touched the system, yet vine weavils took over and they also took over another bed containing sedums, on a different gravelled level. I believe they also love primulas and many other plants, so there is always a big risk of importing it either in a plant or in compost

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2017, 10:10:14 »
My experience is that weevils love to put their eggs in raised beds and the grubs go crazy in there (I lost all my arctic reaspberries :BangHead:) - they're giant pots and they presumably give the grubs some protection from something that normally holds the pest back - but only a little.

Since I never get grubs in my bog beds around the pond I think it all goes back to waterlogging - it will drown them but raised areas and pots reduce the risk. The bugs may be very very dim but evolution isn't!

Unfortunately, though they prefer raised areas it doesn't stop them laying in ordinary soil - I find them everywhere except the bog - they just don't become such a plague in open ground.

Unless you cover the ground with with plastic of course... maybe the birds are our real friends here - I might try taking the plastic off 80% off the top of the grow bags after the fruit has finished - the dripfeed can easily compensate for the drying effect.

I don't think any predators are 100% effective - but trapping them in a pot/bag with the grubs can tip the balance.

Your strawberry tables are my dream system - apart from the breeze blocks.

Surely it must be easier to bang in metal poles/pipes deeply either side and slide a plank under and across the poles so you can take the blocks out? A bit of bracing & wire and you're done - 15 minutes the lot?

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2017, 11:07:17 »
Vinlander, I don't think metal poles/pipes would hold up the L shaped iron bars, slats and growbags and the whole thing would become unsteady with the weight.  Everything that we used to make the structure, we already had, so it didn't cost us anything, apart from the bags.  We have decided to take it down eventually and make a raised bed where the birds can get at any grubs. 

We will use the net frame over our gooseberries and then have a net over the strawberries when they begin to ripen.   

Thanks to you and Strawberry1 for your help in this matter.  I now know more about vine weevils than I did before starting this thread.  Thank you.

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2017, 11:30:30 »
Vinlander, I don't think metal poles/pipes would hold up the L shaped iron bars, slats and growbags and the whole thing would become unsteady with the weight.  Everything that we used to make the structure, we already had, so it didn't cost us anything, apart from the bags.

Hi Pauline.

Sorry I was a bit vague on this - I've never bought a metal stake or pipe for my plot - some come from skips and most from what inexperienced plotholders throw away (they must be crazy).

All my metal stakes are rebar, and all my best pipes are old cast iron gas or hot-water pipes - these are far stronger and only rust on the surface (good camouflage - they look better against the plot than the green or shiny rubbish the garden centres will try to sell you) I've never had one rust away in 30 years. For real strength you have to use the stonehenge method - hammer them in so only 3/4 or less is visible. I also have a few scaffold pole offcuts I can call upon.

To support the table and stabilise the top I might use cast iron and buy a few heavy duty T clamps - they are quite cheap if you avoid garden suppliers, but...
I'd probably use the method of drilling holes 2 inches through the thickest width of an 4inch plus joist so it fits neatly over the uprights. Modern stuff is better for this because it's pressure preserved - easily available from skips at a loft conversion near you

I like to think I can do battleship style, though I normally prefer to use proper bracing for equal strength with less resources.

Cheers.

With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

brownthumb2

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2017, 09:06:36 »
I've been reading this thread with interest as I found vine weevil's as I was tipping out compost from  my  wall pots containing  geraniums and lobelia last year  What plants do they go for  ? by the way  I shifted the compost fed the horrible things to the fish they loved them and the spent compost was scattered very thinly over the flower  beds where the resident tame robin cleared up any I missed

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2017, 09:55:33 »
I fed the grubs I found to the chickens and they really enjoyed them!  It's easy to collect the grubs as they don't try to climb out of anything.  I put them in an old ice cream container.

Good luck with building your structure, Vinlander.  It sounds as though you have plenty of skips around you.  With less than 70 houses in our village and a lot of the houses being listed, I can't recall ever seeing a skip here in the 19 years that we have lived here! 

We found plenty of stuff in our garden when we moved here as we have a disused poultry unit.  A lot of it has been useful though and anything else, we take to the recycling depot.

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2017, 08:32:25 »
With less than 70 houses in our village and a lot of the houses being listed, I can't recall ever seeing a skip here in the 19 years that we have lived here! 
Your village must be very genteel! Everyone I know who lives outside the cities has it easier - they know a guy, who knows a guy etc. etc. whose barn or 'wild patch' is full of "useful" stuff - either from a previous use of the land or they just collect it - sometimes to order...

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Paulines7

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #15 on: May 08, 2017, 09:50:06 »
Vinlander, you are quite right when you say: "Your village must be very genteel!"

There are only a few people in the village that grow vegetables.  The rest have their gardens landscaped and employ gardeners to do the maintenance.  We are one of the few villagers that maintain their own garden.  It's not easy with 1½ acres either but we can't afford to have someone in besides which, we enjoy gardening.  It certainly gives me exercise. 

We did get offered a fruit cage free of charge 20 years ago as the people that owned it did not want to grow any fruit or veg.  Unfortunately the snow of 2010 accumulated on the netting and the weight bent all the poles.  Other than that, there is not normally anything else being thrown away.

Vinlander

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Re: Weevils have eaten our strawberry plants!
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2017, 10:48:44 »
It's not easy with 1½ acres either but we can't afford to have someone in besides which, we enjoy gardening.  It certainly gives me exercise. 
The garden sounds like heaven, but the neighbours maybe 60% further down the road to the other place (there's a special holding pen for people who use broomsticks as internal stiffeners instead of pouring whisky in the top end).

Exercise is the key to everything - we have a guy on our plot who is 95 and was still digging two plots until last year when he finally had to give one up - we're all hoping he can keep going to 100 for the publicity.

It's more all-round than the gym (as is dancing) - hits some muscles that nothing else finds - nobody on our plot has developed a bad back (after they settled in of course), some people have improved.

There's so much wisdom in the little phrase "Use it or lose it"...

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

 

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