endlessrarities | Death to the Vine Weevils!!

We had a fairly robust frost last night. The begonia are all looking very sorry for themselves, and I've managed to persuade (or coerce!) another five begonias to throw in the towel for the winter. There have been some minor signs of vine weevil activity, but nothing too drastic - I stewed my begonia corms in hot water as per usual, and a few little white critters came floating to the surface, while the signs of chewing were minimal. This contrasts with yesterday's badly infested begonia, which must have shed about fifty to a hundred of the things.

The vine weevils definitely favour the begonias, and while I obviously haven't eradicated them over the last couple of years, my stewing strategy seems to be controlling their numbers. If anything, the damage they've inflicted so far seems to be less drastic than that I've seen in previous years, and I've seen no signs of them elsewhere in the garden.

I'm loathe to dissuade the critters from laying on my begonias, because they'll just wind up infesting the rest of the garden. At least when the begonias are used as decoys, they're uplifted for the winter and the larvae killed at this stage, rather than being left to mature and continue their rampage of destruction.

And I'm really loathe to resort to nematodes - that smacks of tinkering with nature, and I'd prefer not to go down that road just yet. I'm probably too late for this season, too...

One thing's for sure: the discarded begonia compost will not be used to mulch the rest of the garden, though I'm sure the dunnocks and robins would find a fat wriggly vine weevil grub a delightful alternative to mealworms. I wish the tame blackbird was still here - they'd have made a splendid snack for him!

And you know what's really weird? I've seen no evidence of adult vine weevil damage on the begonia leaves! I really don't know what the adults are eating or where they're hanging out.

Thanks for all your advice, folks! It's much appreciated!!