Viburnum beetle

Angelicant

I finally gave up on my Viburnum Tinus last spring. It was 35 years old and beautiful but after 5 years of fighting the beetles including chopping it down to ground level twice, I removed it and replaced it with a Ceanothus. My question is would you plant another Viburnum in the garden? 

Lizzie27

No  we have the same problem here.  I'm keeping my big Bush as it,'s on our boundary and gives some privacy to our bedroom window  but sometimes it just looks awful. 

Angelicant

I might risk a small (ie. low cost) one at the other end of the garden. It was right next to the patio and unavoidable and it had barely flowered since the beetle took hold.  

Silver surfer

So very sorry to hear about trouble with Viburnum beetle.
Viburnums are such a varied and interesting group.
I have just planted Viburnum setigerum.....hope beetle stays away.

Lizzie27

That's a very pretty one.

coccinella

Viburnum Leaf Beetle (VLB), Cornell University

This might help in choosing a new viburnum Angelicant. They are gorgeous shrubs.

Silver surfer

coccinella said:

Viburnum Leaf Beetle (VLB), Cornell University

This might help in choosing a new viburnum Angelicant. They are gorgeous shrubs.

Most interesting.
But this is research from USA. Cornell University.
Not sure whether it will apply to Viburnum in UK gardens...where weather and growing conditions will be different.

eg In USA Paulownia tomentosa ..common name Foxglove tree is a pest .
Here it is perfectly well behaved...in UK it is a fabulous tree that does not seed around.

coccinella

Americans say that the beetle was introduced from Europe  I assumed then that it was the same beetle. I have 3 viburnums, plicatum, Lauristinus and opulus compactum. This last one is the weakest of the three, it does attract pests (not the beetle) some leaves get eaten but plant remains healthy albeit small (compactum indeed ). 

Angelicant

Thanks all. I have found that they are unlikely to eat anything else so will probably die out now that it is gone. I can't see that any of the near neighbours have any either. I might leave getting another until next year when I see how last years planting fills out the borders. We have had houses built on the plot behind us (not directly thankfully) where I had a very old Laurel hedge about 6 feet deep but the developers gave us all another metre of garden and put a fence up so the Laurel went. I have done lots of planting but wish I hadn't taken all the Laurel out now as it has felt very exposed through the winter. Hence my question about another Viburnum as there is only so many Ceanothus and Photinia you can have in a small garden. 

Rob Lockwood

After largely getting away with it for a few years, my opulus compactum was stripped in spring last year - quite a few leaves came back later on once the caterpillars had cleared off.

I then spent much of the summer squishing the adult beetles.  These are quite easy to spot, but harder to grab(!), and turn your back and new ones appear!  Got most, can't imagine I got them all, but will perhaps have a look for egg sacs this spring (they lay them in the wood) before the little beggars hatch.

Suspect it's possible to keep on top of a small shrub (mine's about 5ft tall/wide with max of perhaps 6ft) if you can squish enough adults in summer and cut out the eggs , but I'll report back on progress...