By Andrea
Yorkshire,
United Kingdom 
Vine Weevil....I have quite a few tubs that I plant up each summer in the garden and some of them have been struggling, so I emptied them completely today and found the dreaded vine weevil!.....fed them to the birds. But my question is, amongst the soil were what looked liked greenish/brown tiny round seeds, but when squished they cracked like an egg, are these the eggs of the vine weevil?
And there were also some tiny round worm like things, could these also be vine weevils at an earlier stage than the fully developed white grub?
What does everyone do with their compost from pots that has had vine weevil in it and can anyone recommend anything that I could water into the pots to kill these beasties? Thank you
14 May, 2017
Answers
Thank you that is really informative :-)
14 May, 2017
I've had vine weevils attack potted plants too. Now I cover each pot with a thick layer of grit. Seems to work.
15 May, 2017
Vine weevil eggs are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
When they hatch they are exactly the same as when you see them, only smaller. They change to the shape of the adult, but still white when they are fully grown.
The eggs will be the remains of slow release fertiliser pellets.
Not sure what the worm like things could be, possibly the larval stage of fungus gnats.
Nematodes are the safest thing to use to kill the Vine weevil grubs.
I usually put the contaminated compost in the ordinary bin. Once upon a time when I was more active I used to use a steam wallpaper stripper to sterilise the compost. Then I did it with a flame gun. Both work, but time pressure makes it not worth my while.
14 May, 2017