black vine weevil on Pitcher Plant Sarracenia
Quick answer
If your Pitcher Plant Sarracenia has black vine weevil, the most likely cause is: The nocturnal Black Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) is the most threatening pest recorded for Sarracenia to date. Adults are not particularly destructive, but their larvae tunnel into the rhizomes and roots and later progress to the leaves, killing plants once the grubs bore into the rhizome tissue. The beetle is roughly 2 centimetres long with an elongated weevil head and short tufts of yellow bristles, and it has been documented attacking Sarracenia in North America.
Start here:
- 1. Quarantine and carefully inspect every new Sarracenia plant before adding it to a collection, since adult weevils cannot fly and must walk from plant to plant.
- 2. Dig grubs out of infested rhizomes by hand if only a few weevils are present and the infestation is still localised.
Why Pitcher Plant Sarracenia gets black vine weevil
Pitcher Plant Sarracenia
The nocturnal Black Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) is the most threatening pest recorded for Sarracenia to date. Adults are not particularly destructive, but their larvae tunnel into the rhizomes and roots and later progress to the leaves, killing plants once the grubs bore into the rhizome tissue. The beetle is roughly 2 centimetres long with an elongated weevil head and short tufts of yellow bristles, and it has been documented attacking Sarracenia in North America.
How to reverse black vine weevil on Pitcher Plant Sarracenia
- 1
Quarantine and carefully inspect every new Sarracenia plant before adding it to a collection, since adult weevils cannot fly and must walk from plant to plant.
- 2
Dig grubs out of infested rhizomes by hand if only a few weevils are present and the infestation is still localised.
- 3
If a chemical insecticide is required, apply it at half strength; even that may damage immature Sarracenia pitchers, and sprays cannot reach grubs hidden inside the rhizome.
- 4
Use so-called 'organic' alternatives such as soapy water, pyrethrins, or a very light dusting of wood ash on the foliage, and hose the plants off afterwards with a fine mist of fresh water.
- 5
Locate any commercial Sarracenia planting outside the natural range of Sarracenia to keep natural Black Vine Weevil pressure off the crop.
Keep black vine weevil off this Pitcher Plant Sarracenia
Buy only cultivated Sarracenia (never wild-collected plants, which often carry the pest), keep new arrivals isolated while you inspect them for adult weevils, and avoid introducing contaminated potting media or rhizome divisions from untrusted sources.