Pea/Bean Weevil

[sandersj89]

Does any one control these blighters? My peas are looking decidedly worse for ware at the moment with approx 50% of their leaf area eaten away!!!!

Shame as the peas looked great before planting out in their guttering. Last year they were not a problem.

Jerry

[Jude]

I always have a problem with the weebles and have found that, unfortunately, the only answer was to spray with insectide. This has been bothering me so much that this year I haven't grown any peas at all, so the little blighters have won, For some reason they don't seem to give so much trouble with French or runner beans.

[Jude]

Why do I never learn to keep my big mouth shut. the little buggers have been at my broad beans while I wasn't looking.....grrrrr

[Johnboy]

Hi Jude and Jerry,
I find Bean Weevils most annoying but I find that they do not seem to actually affect the crop.
I do control them but again I use Nicotine but I suspect that they are so common that as soon as you kill off one lot the next lot move in.
I suspect they make your plants look a little unsightly but that is really about all.

[Jude]

I agree, Johnboy, that they do little real damage to established plants, but if they attack when the seedlings are tiny they can wipe out a whole row in no time at all. That is what happened to my direct sown peas last year so I had to re-sow the lot and then I sprayed the new ones as soon as they emerged which did the trick.

[Johnboy]

Hi Jude,
I guess my previous posting was a tad short sighted.
I agree with what you say. They would eat out the growing point. I always grow my Broad Beans and Peas under protection in the tunnel and they are not transplanted until they have really gone past the point that you mention. It certainly only takes about a day before the buggers are happily notching
so if they were sown in situ they would stand little chance. Even if you cover them they seem to get into anything you use.
This is of course absolutely no solace to you.

[sandersj89]

Thank you both.

I am sadly coming to the view that this row might be past it.

They were started in gutting, to beat the mice, and moved to the plot when about 3" tall. They now resemble torn and ragged plants that are doing little. I will give them another week to see if they move at all but I dont hold out much hope.

They have been treated to derris but all the recent rain washes that away very quickly.

Thanks again

Jerry