How to identify and treat root weevil

Do you have mysterious holes in the leaves of your garden or ornamental plants, but you never can quite catch the culprit in the act? You may be dealing with the ultra-sneaky root weevils!

Root weevils are night-time nibblers, putting notches and holes in the leaves of your plants. It can often look like someone took a hole puncher to your plants in the middle of the night!

But they are far sneakier than that! Not only are the adults damaging the top half of the plant, but their larvae are probably chowing down on the bottom half of your plant underground!

Root weevil larvae feed on the roots of plants, causing them to wilt and yellow. Fortunately, severe dieback is rare for your landscape plants, but root weevils aren’t controlled; they can put pressure on your plants and stress them out.

You can identify root weevils by looking for beetles with long snouts and pear-shaped bodies. Since they are nocturnal, you won’t be able to spot them during the day. Signs of their handiwork include leaves with notches along the margin. If you have plants that are wilting but won’t recover with watering or fertilizer, you might have damage in the roots. The larvae are small white grubs with orange head capsules.

How big are root weevils?

Root weevils grow to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long as adults.

What other pests look like a root weevil?

Root weevils are very distinct in their appearance, but their damage to leaves can be confused with other insect damage, like Japanese beetles, sawflies, slugs, or leafcutter bee damage.

There are many species of root weevils that feed on over 100 different plants. Root weevils can be found throughout the United States in yards and gardens. Sometimes, they can wander inside the home by accident, but they don’t cause structural damage.

Removing root weevils can be tricky since they only come out at night. If you notice a lot of damage on your favorite plants, you can use a sticky substance like Tanglefoot on a plant guard around the stem of plants. Since root weevils can only crawl and hide at the base of plants during the day, they will get stuck and die.

If root weevils manage to get inside your home, you can just vacuum them up and dispose of them away from your home. Sealing up cracks and gaps around doors and windows will help keep them from coming inside.

Additionally, you can use a perimeter spray around your home to prevent weevils from wandering inside. Check out Pestie’s DIY, pro-grade plan for affordable pest control that is customized to your location.