picture by Donald Hope
Bug Alert
In poly tunnels
Watch out for vine weevil grubs that have gone through the winter.
Photo's taken in late March; within a week or two these would be adults laying eggs. They are usually 'C' shaped in the compost. The adult is shown on the right to the same scale.
Picture of adult vine weevil courtesy of
Biowise, Biological Pest Control (see links page)
Over winter Vine Weevil damage in a strawberry patch.
A warm winter has resulted in 2/3 of the plants being killed
(This is in a poly tunnel in a peaty soil)
Check plants in pots of peaty compost, especially (but not exclusively) Primula & Cyclamen
Each 'junior' you kill would have 'hatched' into a beetle which could have laid 1000 eggs by the autumn. Just think of the damage and worse, if a quarter of those survive, those 250 could each lay 1000 eggs! so you could have ................
Act now!
New Zealand Flat Worms
Don't touch them They may give you a serious rash These eat earth worms and therefore reduce the fertility of the soil. They coil up and reduce themselves to (about 50 mm), 1/10th of their length and only move when they are warm. They are sort of triangular with a different coloured edge. Not easily squashed better killed with boiling water or fire.
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