Vine weevil
Two quite different kinds of damage from one insect. The adults cut characteristic notches from leaf margins, which is unsightly and rarely serious; the grubs eat the roots underground, which kills the plant without any warning above ground until it collapses. Container plants are far more affected than open ground.
Caused by: Otiorhynchus sulcatus · also called black vine weevil
Described view
Strawberry foliage showing two kinds of damage in one frame: large irregular holes rasped through the leaf blade with a silvery slime trail still visible across the leaf, and separately the neat semicircular notches bitten inward from the leaf margin that are the signature of adult vine weevil
What brings it on
Container-grown plants in peat-free or soilless compost, and any plant left undisturbed in a pot for a season or more. The adults are flightless, nocturnal and all female, so a population builds locally and steadily.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Vine weevil
Checked 2026-08-13
Usually seen: April, May, June, July, August, September, October
Preventing it
Ordered by how much difference each measure actually makes, not by how often it is repeated.
- Check the compost of new container plants before adding them to a collection, and inspect the root ball of anything repotted. The grubs are creamy-white, about 1 cm long, with a brown head and no legs — the absence of legs distinguishes them from other grubs.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Vine weevil
Checked 2026-08-13
Dealing with it once it is there
- Pathogenic nematodes watered into the compost are the effective home control for the grubs, applied when the compost is above about 5 °C — typically late summer or early autumn, which is when the young grubs are present and vulnerable. Notched leaves alone need no treatment.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Vine weevil — biological control
Checked 2026-08-13
What it affects
On sprays and treatments
GrowingHQ does not tell anyone what to apply, at what rate, or how often. Pesticide approvals differ by country, change without notice, and the product label is legally binding — it is also the document you are holding. What is described here is cultural and physical control, which is what a home grower can act on without a label in front of them.
Plant-specific guides
Where this is one of several causes that look alike on a particular plant, GrowingHQ publishes the differential rather than the general answer.