Don't be fooled by appearances!

oooooerrrr !

Nooooooooo.....but then, yeeeees! Rescued in the nick of time! :)) I found one of those white perils in the border the other day. Did the same as you...fed to the birds. Good luck with the babies. I'm sure all will be well. X great blog...very helpful. :)

Brilliant blog. Thank you for taking the time to explain exactly what vine weevils are and the damage they do. I would love to copy this blog on to the Suntrap website as it is so important to id and deal with these pests.

Oh no! Its scary......., my poor plants will be getting a regular tug thanks for the warning!

Well captured in more ways than one :O) so pleased you got to the bottom of it. It should do well now. Great blog thank you :O)

Great blog Scottish......little blighters!

Oh goodness me thats not nice but well done on getting it sorted and the birds fed so quickly, I'm going out in a few mins for a tug and poke about, I lost a beauty a couple of weeks back, never occurred to me to check below the plant for some nasty creatures, I blamed my dogs, thought they were the culprits and that it had been widdled on,( oops ) wondered at the time how come they'd picked on this particular plant when it had been ok all summer..
Great blog, thanks Scottish....

I had a big problem with these I my Heucheras last year, but now I cover every pot surface with a good thick mulch of grit, and I'm sure that this discourages the weevils from laying their eggs in the compost. They seem to favour pots, but you do find them in the ground as well.

Horrid arn't they? we have not yet established whether they come in the compost?
Have just drenched all our pots, and then found two plants on our sedum roof, eaten away, so they certainly came in with the plants,that has been been drenched also.
They are certainly getting worse, because we are finding more, and more, getting to be a problem. Thanks for the blog.

Thanks everyone - I'm glad it was of use. Personally I've never found these in any of my pots (yet) and it's the first for a couple of years I've found any Heuchera damaged. My standard Rhododendron suffered and never recovered
I think the drench works but not recommended for the ground. There was a discussion on here a few weeks ago on the question page as to why. It seems that it runs a risk of getting into the water coarse.
Obviously these pests affect a wide variety of plants and often the first sign we see is when they are blowing around the garden like tumble weed!
Thanks for all your comments - all add to make the blog more useful.

Brilliant blog.

Horrible things - thank you for all the photos. And what a lucky robin!

I just hate them....and their young.

Rescued in the nick of time Scottish hope they all make healthy plants for you.

I hate these pesky creatures and find it harder and harder o find them, they are so sneaky, I have just changed the soil in the pots of my lilies and still the leaves have been nibbled! Great blog Scottie.

check your primulas too I did :o(

Well I've never seen vine weevils attack something in the ground before. I suppose they do though.
Hateful things !
I'm glad you were able to save your plant :o)

They do Hywel. When I used to open the garden the local gardeners gave me plants to sell, dug up from their own gardens. I learned then to wash roots before potting up for sale because of these intruders. Primulas were particularly vulnerable. I have heard of shrubs being attacked by them. You can get a drench to put on them but the soil has to be at a specific temperature for it to work.

Just an hour ago i was emptying pots to use for my succulents when i found a couple of the little horrors, they are on the shed roof, or not, maybe ate by now. Just want to say, i find heuchera do pull easily anyway so dont panic folks it might not be Larvea :)))

Great informative blog Scottish - I have only seen Vine Weevil on a Forsythia shrub at the back of the garden - I spread an old white sheet beneath the shrub and shook it until about a dozen of the critters fell off. Ugly looking things too! I have just divided up a Heuchera ... simply because it was so large and am hoping the divisions will re-grow ... didn't manage to get much root on some of them ... :o(

After reading Seaburngirls comment yesterday - the Primula have all been checked - nothing obvious.
They are very fond of Rhododendrons too!
Shirley - they tend not to need much root to get going again. Good luck with them.

I am glad that I have read this blog! I found some of those ugly magot-like creatures the other day in some plants (I think it was Rhododendron or Wild Primula) I was busy digging up my plants out of the border for re-potting. Little did I know that it was the nest of Vine Weevil! I never knew this was an insect and even thought that the 'maggots' were slug babies!!! Gosh, I now have to check my plants periodically for this pest and will know how to identify them now that I have this useful information right on my finger tips! Thank you Scottish.

Glad it has help Gorgeousmamaraindow. They do far more damage to plants in containers than in the borders usually. I've found that I tend to get lots of damage every few years rather than regularly each year.
Encouraging natural predators into the garden, will of course help.

Thanks Scottish - the 'babies' are now potted up and in the GH to help them along ... forgot to say that a tiny 'froglet' hopped out of one of them! :o(

I hate these, I found them in my potted jap. peonies. And I suspect by the look of my chewed leaves on rhododendrons I have bunch more I have not found.
I think they come out at night.
Thanks for the blog to remind me to check again.

The first question I asked on GOY was about epidemic levels of weevils in most of the hedges in my daughter's garden and the surrounding estate. The cure was going to be very expensive - using nematodes, as it looked like a massive infestation. The local council couldn't have been less interested. She has since moved.

That is such a shame Cammomile - The do attack quite a few shrubs which can, for reasons as you've stated, be devastating. A shame the council couldn't care less. Mind you - is there much local councils care for nowadays?!