Destroyer of plants.... The Evil Weevil.

[Bilbo_baggin]

The Weevil, is a tiny beetle that does enormous damage to growing plants and stored grains. There are more than 40,000 known species of weevils. The mouthparts of a typical weevil are formed into a long snout. There is an antenna on each side of the snout. In a number of species, the snout is longer than the body, which seldom grows to half an inch (13 mm) in length.

Is the Weevil really evil? Yes, weevils are evil beetles—as far as gardeners and farmers are concerned. If the ladybird does good by eating other insects, the weevil does harm by eating plants.

Find them and quake, for your prized flower beds and vegetable patches are under potentially a war of attrition, and the weevil, so, evil, often wins...

This one was actually sat n the side of my composting bin, but I took it indoors and used a leaf from a Lily of the Valley plant to let it walk upon. In the first image here, it almost looks dead, but I have 2 more decents shots and in one you can see it is in a different pose.

I suppose it must have climbed out of the compost bin earlier (but as it grew cool tonight, it probably stayed in the place I found it) as it is clearly covered in dried soil. So that means there are probably more of the blighters in the bin too.


C&C as always encouraged.


Exif:

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Image Date: 2009:05:08 22:27:47
Flash Used: Yes (Manual)
Focal Length: 105.0mm
CCD Width: 4.58mm
Exposure Time: 4.000 s
Aperture: f/13.0
ISO equiv: 800
White Balance: Manual
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)











Paul.

[muttleymacclad]

Cracking shots Paul. 1 and 2 are great.

No.1 for the details and no.2 for the colours of the leaf contraasting so well with the weevil.


I hate these little sods, esp vine weevils. Best way to get rid of them that I've found is with nematodes, buy a couple of small bags of them and mix with water and water them in the areas affected. Weevils destroyed one of my Rhodedendrons a couple of years ago but a 6 monthly treatment with their nemesis soon kept them under control.

mml

[ka$h]

Glad I don't do gardening Cracking beastie shots again Paul with the first one as my fave

[peterc4]

1st one for me too, little fooker

[marksup]

Nice shots 1 and 3 for me.
a good way of get shut of weevils is to light a very smoke fire(no flames just smoke) under the tree that they are in .or you can wrap denso tape around the trunk as they will not crawl over it (this may be a myth as I was told it by an old gardener that lived next to me) but it seemed to work on my apple tree.

[russbeer]

fantastic stuff.

Never bothered me before, but after seeing it close up it makes you want to avoid the little bastards while you're in the garden!

[Hogwart]

Find them and quake, for your prized flower beds and vegetable patches are under potentially a war of attrition, and the weevil, so, evil, often wins...

Glad there is none of it in my garden (or wilderness apart from the grassy bit)...