Nematodes & late night hunting...

TheGreenMan

Anyone with a container garden and a fear of the dreaded Vine Weevil will understand why I'm out here at 23:30 for the seventh night running.

Head torch; little pot; squashing/crunching device; fear; loathing. I think I can hear them falling onto the concrete some nights. I thought I was free of them but I don't think container gardens ever are. I have been looking most nights since the start of Spring. Didn't find any of the little destroyers until last Wednesday. I would find four/five per night last year after my hydrangea succumbed to the maggoty offspring; so far this year just one or two. 

My nematodes arrived today so I'll send them into battle tomorrow. My nerves are slightly frayed and each one pinches at what's left of my last few.
 

Wish me luck, friends. 

Anyone who's been at war with the weevils knows my anguish.

K67

Had one on the patio door in broad daylight the other day!

Posy

I know your anguish: not weevils, slugs! I have triumphed and wish you equal success.

TheGreenMan

K67 said:

Had one on the patio door in broad daylight the other day!

Yeah I've seen a few during the day; normally walking up a wall.  I wish there was a way to trap them with a certain scent or something.  Hideous things.

TheGreenMan

Posy said:

I know your anguish: not weevils, slugs! I have triumphed and wish you equal success.

I managed to get on top of the slugs this year with the organic pellets.  Once you have weevils, though, slugs don't seem so bad! 

wild edges

I do a weevil hunt almost every night. Last year I was killing up to 20 a night at times and this year it's more like 5 or 6 on average. I can't cover the whole garden though so I must be missing plenty and they're not just coming from containers. In some ways though I like doing it. I see a lot of nocturnal wildife that I'd otherwise miss and it can be nice just to spend time in the garden when it's so quiet. Watching the slugs and snails at night also shows me which ones are causing damage and which are the benefical ones.

TheGreenMan

wild edges said:

I do a weevil hunt almost every night. Last year I was killing up to 20 a night at times and this year it's more like 5 or 6 on average. I can't cover the whole garden though so I must be missing plenty and they're not just coming from containers. In some ways though I like doing it. I see a lot of nocturnal wildife that I'd otherwise miss and it can be nice just to spend time in the garden when it's so quiet. Watching the slugs and snails at night also shows me which ones are causing damage and which are the benefical ones.

I love this. I secretly enjoy it too and for many of the same reasons. I've seen moths pollinating flowers; moths laying eggs; a spider catch a fly with no web and wrapping it up; a mouse; shooting stars; and silence. It goes so quiet at about half eleven that I can locate the slugs and snails by sound (when they're rasping). 

Posy

I agree 100% Wild edges. When I'm in the garden at night I see and hear all sorts of things not noticed in the day. In particular,  I enjoy the scents of flowers and shrubs that come into their own at night.

Jacquimcmahon

Oh I so understand the nightly battle. This year I have had munched Lilly flowers and almost no leaves left on my climbing rose thanks to the evil weevils. Going out at night is the only way to keep them at least partly under control. The slugs have developed a passion for the flowers of the verbena, oh yeh and the Lilly Beatles have had a go at the Lilly leaves, but for some reason also one of my variegated dishes!

keep up the fight.

TheGreenMan

Jacquimcmahon said:

Oh I so understand the nightly battle. This year I have had munched Lilly flowers and almost no leaves left on my climbing rose thanks to the evil weevils. Going out at night is the only way to keep them at least partly under control. The slugs have developed a passion for the flowers of the verbena, oh yeh and the Lilly Beatles have had a go at the Lilly leaves, but for some reason also one of my variegated dishes!

keep up the fight.

Thank you.  You too.  It's all worth it

K67

Your post inspired me to go out each night on the hunt. I think I have found over 60 so far and the last couple of days some have been out in daylight on the walls.
Last few nights I have had good success with shaking some plants over an upturned umbrella but am worried it's becoming a bit of an obsession!
I am remodelling a lot of the garden in the autumn so will be searching for the larvae as I move plants.