My mission to destroy weevils continues

[Junebug]

It was about this time last year when my orange trees were nearly defoliated by weevils. The damage seemed to happen overnight and I was particularly mortified when the nasty critters began chewing new blooms from my dendrobiums that were growing nearby.

At the time there was no fruit on the tree as a result of multiple frosts from the previous winter so with no fear of being poisoned I decided to pull out the big guns. Initially I tried spraying the bugs directly with a strong contact bug killer and it didn't phase them. A thorough neem oil treatment didn't work either so I sprayed the entire orange tree with systemic insecticide spray and contact bug killer.

Weevils go through different stages of development. Their eggs are laid on the ground and when they hatch the grubs feed on the roots of the host plant. So with this in mind I treated the entire back yard with a Spectracide product that's guaranteed to kill about everything that crawls. When Spring rolled around and the weather warmed the yard was given a follow-up treatment.

You can imagine my dismay when I spotted a weevil roaming around on my Rhyncostylis Gigantea yesterday afternoon. He hadn't yet begun to chew...probably because the leaves are so thick...but his very presense caused my heart to drop.

The Rhynco was suspended from the same orange tree that was infested last year so I began searching the tree for signs of weevils and notched leaf damage. Sure enough they had returned, so I began blasting them with the remaining dredges of bug killer from a can I'd fetched from the back porch...and just like last year, it had no effect on them. Frustrated, I went to the garage to see if I could find a more effective bug killer. O.K. I'm desperate now so don't laugh at what I came up with. Sitting on the shelf of the garage was a can of Elmer's Craft Spray Adhesive. The thought occured to me that a light spritz of adhesive might freeze those bugs in their tracks and guess what?...It worked!

What I did was spot treat each bug I discovered with a light mist of spray. I don't think treating this way will cause any more devastation to the tree than defoliation caused by weevils. So far I've managed to kill about 5 or 6 dozen from the orange tree and another dozen or so from my passiflora vine.

Hopefully the adhesive will interrupt the weevil's 50 day cycle of growth by destroying the adults before they're able to lay more eggs. The adhesive has not yet caused any apparent damage to the leaves of the tree. Keep in mind that I'm using a minimum of spray in short bursts...just enough to coat a portion of the weevil. That seems to be all it takes to stop them in their tracks. The photo is of a dead adhesive treated Myllocerus undulatus. Enjoy!
http://www.floridagardener.com/critt...Myllocerus.htm

[Eyebabe]

My goodness! You have certainly worked hard at eliminating these pests!
Japanese beetles have a grub stage as well and the lawn must be treated every year to keep these under control in my area.
One thought: Are your neighbors treating their yards?
If your neighbors are close like mine, everyone has to treat or they just hatch out in the "safe yard" and fly up to chew out everyone's plants

[CTB]

Hey Junebug, Have you tried contacting your local Agr Department. They might know what works, better than a hunt and spray routine. Join us at Florida Orchd Lovers.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Eyebabe

My goodness! You have certainly worked hard at eliminating these pests!
Japanese beetles have a grub stage as well and the lawn must be treated every year to keep these under control in my area.
One thought: Are your neighbors treating their yards?
If your neighbors are close like mine, everyone has to treat or they just hatch out in the "safe yard" and fly up to chew out everyone's plants

There are rental homes on two sides and neither one has much vegetation to speak of. The other neighbor only has a few large palms and a swimming pool. It's a certainty that none of them treat their yards, but it probably wouldn't make much difference if they did because weevils are very difficult to destroy. It's kind of a crap shoot with pesticides because most of them don't work and weevils don't appeal to the taste of predators such as birds, frogs, and lizards.

My adhesive spray treatment definitely stops/kills the adult weevils. According to a study, the adult stage lasts about 8 days, so I'll need to do frequent checks and treatments to offset gravid females before they lay eggs. Another method of killing the adults is to shake the affected limbs over an umbrella turned upside down. The umbrella captures them and then you can squish them. This doesn't sound like a promising solution because the nasty things can fly off when they sense a threat.

As grubs emerge to the adult weevil stage they climb up the trunks of their host plant. They can be captured at this stage with reversed wide sticky tape wrapped around the trunk.

Hopefully, with diligent checks and treatments, I can curb next season's hatchlings by killing off the adults before they lay eggs. Some of the victims were already mating and some were smaller versions of the adults.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by CTB

Hey Junebug, Have you tried contacting your local Agr Department. They might know what works, better than a hunt and spray routine. Join us at Florida Orchd Lovers.

If left unchecked this type of weevil can defoliate a citrus tree within a few short days.I tried calling the State of Florida Agricultural Department last year, but no one ever answered or returned my calls. They've posted articles on the internet about treating for weevils but treatment is still in the experimental stages, expensive or not available to the average gardener, and highly poisonous. Citrus trees are a favorite host of weevils and poison ruins the crops. Burning crops was one of their recommendations.

The most recent article I found stated that over a few short years this type of weevil has adapted itself to over 100 host plants...mostly perennials. They are not native, but introduced, and they continue to spread to various counties in the State of Florida. Kinda scarey, huh?