:'(pea leaves decimated by pea weevil what can i do ? this is the first year am trying to grow peas any advice would be grateful
snoppers - any chance of a pic to compare with my rather straggly first short row of peas.
the later sowings seem ok, but the first lot have been got by something (maybe even the cold - who knows?).
I've regularly had the leaves reduced to sieves in the early stages, not by weevil, buit by flea beetle. They've always recovered without problems. Last year I managed to avoid it simply by putting them under cloches.
Small slugs or evil weevils they usually grow up and out of it ...
???
sorry dont have digital camera , but doesnt pea weevil kill of the root system?
never mind snoppers. i shall have a closer inspection of mine at the weekend. there are certainly some survivors but a few have bitten the dust.
good job i've got some spare almost ready to go in.
;D
Flea Beetle leaves the leaves looking like they've bit shot with a million tiny pellets ie the leaf is full of tiny holes whilst the Pea/Bean Weevil leaves the leaves looking like something has chomped little mouthfuls all around the circumference of the leaf. Have had some minor success using Derris Dust on Flea Beetle but cloches and healthy growth means they soon rise above the little blighters :)
definetly been munched around the sides , like u - shaped chunks been taken out, bloke at the garden centre saig he had never heard of anyone
having pea/bean weevil before and reckoned just some normal bug killer would sort it out , anyway brought it but no time to use it yet , but not to hopeful!
There are two postings about this problem and there is an arguement about the cause. Weevils have grubs about 1 cm long, about the size of a bluebottle maggot but stumpier and more round, and white. They cannot crawl up plants, and live in the soil, eating roots. Flea beetles feed on leaves and usually leave punched out holes the size of woodworm holes in leaves.
Whatever is eating the edges of broad beans and peas is a leaf-eating creature and not the grub of a weevil. I am convinced that it is a type of flea beetle, see my comments and photo on
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_Broad_Beans.html
Definitely Bean Weevil - Quote
Pea and Bean weevil â€" Sitona lineatus Images
Pea and bean weevil is a grey brown weevil with characteristic snout. It feeds on leaves, producing u shaped notches but it is its larvae that produce most of the yield reductions in beans. Eggs are laid on the soil and the larvae hatch, burying into the soil to feed on the roots. Pea and bean weevil can dramatically reduce root nodule formation and thus nitrogen fixation.
cheers liverpool thats exactly what my peas look like, however i have nt seen any flea beetles anywhere this year, last year they was all over my swedes.
All my peas and beans have the "u"s eaten out of the edges... After a bit of exploration they are the dreaded pea and bean weevils.
A quick look in my gardening book tells me that some now banned, cancer causing chemical is the only thing to kill them. Thankfully things have moved on in the last 50 years and B&Q are selling Bayer Crop Science's "Ultimate Bug Killer". Spray it max of two times per season and it should keep them sorted and healthy to eat. Fingers crossed, but there goes my idea of an organic plot. >:(