A common garden insect is the vine weevil which can become widespread if you do not control it. The larvae of vine weevils cause the most serious damage as they live in the soil and consume the roots. But what do the larvae look like? And what does a vine weevil look like?
A vine weevil is brown, often with a white or lighter head, a clear snout-like front and can be around 1cm in length.
It can be difficult to spot vine weevils in your garden because of their nocturnal nature. Nevertheless, you may still spot some during the day.
In addition, the adult vine weevils lay eggs in the soil, which are also difficult to detect as they are quite small and blend with the background far too easily – annoyingly!
The adult vine weevils have fused wing cases which means they cannot fly even though if you quickly glance at them it looks as if they have wings. There are different species of vine weevils, most of them causing damage to both plants and vegetation as they follow a varied diet.
How Do You Know If You Have Vine Weevil?
It is not easy to tell that you have vine weevils in your garden as they are nocturnal. This means that the insects come out during the nighttime, which makes it harder to figure out what is eating your plants.
However, one way to tell is to look at the damage caused by vine weevils carefully. It’s worth bearing in mind that there is a difference between the kind of damage caused by adult vine weevils and the larvae too.
The adult vine weevils damage the leaves by eating away at the edges. This gives the plants a very ragged appearance. The adult vine weevil damage is only limited to ragged leaves and rough edges.
You can observe your plants after dark if you wish to know about adult vine weevils in your garden. You will need to take a torch with you, of course, so you can see the vine weevils. You will find that the vine weevils tend to play dead, but you will see them crawling on leaves if you have a closer look.
Adult vine weevils can be found at the beginning of springtime from April through to the beginning of August. The insects are only as long as half an inch.
The damage that larvae cause is done starting from the middle of August to March. Even though the cool winters tend to slow the larvae, they can still cause considerable harm. These grubs are as long as 10mm, white with brown heads shaped like a C.
The first thing you will notice is the irregular cuts on the leaves with respect to your plants. This should alert you that there may be vine weevils in your garden.
Other than this, you should look at the plants to check if they are sick and check to see if their roots have been damaged. You can do this by tugging at the plants or taking them out of the pots to examine them.
What Do Baby Vine Weevils Look Like?
Baby vine weevils appear to be c-shaped, generally small and up to 10mm in length. These larvae have small brown heads. Baby vine weevils cause the worst damage by eating the roots of the plants.
The grubs come out from the middle of August to March. This will cause plants to become weak and suffer from a lack of growth.
What Do Adult Vine Weevils Look Like?
It would help you to learn to recognize the adult vine weevils in your garden. If you recognize these vine weevils, you can take quick action before the infestation can spread and before they have a chance to lay their eggs.
Adult vine weevils are usually found at the surface level as they eat the foliage so you won’t need to go digging around at the roots to discover them.
Adult vine weevils are as long as ¾ inch. They appear to be greyish black, with what appears to be wings, but cannot fly.
Vine weevils have short snouts with bent antennae. These insects come out during the nighttime as they are nocturnal. During the day, adult vine weevils hide in the soil and mulch.
Summary
A vine weevil is an insect that looks much like a beetle. The adult vine weevil appears to be small, of a blackish colour. An adult vine weevil is as long as ¾ inch.
Adult vine weevils will do surface-level damage by mostly feeding on the foliage. It is not easy to track these adults as they are nocturnal and come out during the nighttime.
Baby vine weevils appear to be c-shaped, white with brown heads. These baby vine weevils are as long as 10 mm. Most of the damage caused by the baby vine weevils is at the roots of the plants.
