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This little bug(er) has been eating one of my nice houseplants. The plant will recover - but the bug will not.

However, what IS the bug? Around 12mm long.

We find one around the window ledges every month or so. Not a pretty bug like the Rosemary beetle, indeed it looks rather sinister - and was relatively agile and difficult to photograph once I turned a light on it.

Snod

It's a Vine Weevil, kills plants by eating roots. Quite slow moving.

Muzzy beat me to it This is the little bugger that killed off some of my plants ages ago - I'm free of them now thankfully *touch wood*

Click for info on the little blighter

Right - no mucking around it is time for the chemicals. Well, an ex-chemist would say that! No pets or whatever to worry about.

Snod

It's the larvae that do the damage and they love pot plants. I find them every year and go through the top six inches of compost in big pots winkling out the little so-an-sos when I change the plants. Even if the plants appear to be OK there are usually some to be found which are dispatched immediately, as are any adults which are spotted trundling about.

Never used to have this problem years ago but I believe they are introduced on pot grown bedding plants from garden centres. However, because they tend to hide right under the stem/root junction they are impossible to find unless you knock off all the compost around the root system.

if youve bought plants from along leasowe road they will have come in with them.

rostherne nursery along there seems clear of the pesky blighters

Most of my plants are (like me) somewhat historic and there have not been any 'imports' for a while - BUT they do get repotted and I wonder if they beasties could have come from the compost. Most compost I buy BUT I do have 2 very active compost bins of my own that use up the kitchen refuse and some garden stuff. Normally my home made compost goes into tubs outside but I cannot guarantee that happens every time. It is my orchids I fear for. They have big root systems although relatively little compost (mostly chipped bark).

Snod

id check through your compost and see if they are in there.

you can get a product called "suscon green" which you applied to the soil to create a barrier to the larvae around plants, it was never 100% effective but if you mixed it with the compost evenly it should sort the problem out

http://www.ats.co.nz/shop/Agricultural+Chemical/Suscon+Green+15kg.html