Lea Chmelauskas • Weevils can’t fly, so the tanglefoot method will, over time, reduce their numbers. As well, try living with the notching. Weevils rarely kill plants. Bob Costello, retired entomologist • I got all the coffee grounds from a local cafe and spread them under my weevil-infested plants. It appears that weevils don’t like coffee. The plants are all just fine now. Give it a try. • This is a money-saving, as well as environmental, gardening tip. I run all my non-meat food waste
through my blender with lots of water. It becomes a liquid compost that I use everywhere in the garden. Epsom salt is also good on roses. • Make a nitrogen-rich fertilizer by steeping cut-up banana peels in a jar of water. It doesn’t cost you anything and the plants love it. • Not wanting to burst your rhodo bubble, but I’m afraid your victory may be short-lived. My 45-plus years of experience with every imaginable multi-year, non-pesticide root weevil management strategy is that … nothing
really works. I suggest simply accepting the notched leaves and planting a magnificent Yak Rhododendron (R. yakushimanum) instead. Those nasty little adversaries are far too lazy to bother penetrating the woolly, brown, felt-like underside of the Yak’s tough leathery leaves. Barb Arthur • It saddened me to read how you speak so glibly about your use of old-fashioned mouse traps that cause such tremendous suffering to animals, and yet you take great care that no bird or owl gets caught in one. You do not
mention the danger to rats, cats, or even racoons that might get caught in your traps. There are folk among us who do not differentiate between birds, mice or other animals, seeing them all as creatures of the earth deserving of our love, respect and protection. Do you see no hypocrisy in your irrational, discriminatory attitude?
weevils, rhododendron, Yak Rhododendron, tanglefoot method, notched leaves, coffee grounds, liquid compost, banana peel fertilizer, Epsom salt, mouse traps, animal welfare
So basically coffee grounds murder the weevils? I feel like my rhodos already died once and now I’m gonna try this like tomorrow.
I don’t know if the tanglefoot thing actually helps, but “weevils can’t fly” sounds like a convenient excuse. Also notched leaves??? That just sounds like damage.
Mouse traps? Wait I thought this was about rhododendron weevils. If people are using traps that hurt animals, that’s messed up, but also like… cats kill mice anyway so what’s the big deal? The article lost me.
The Yak rhododendron part makes it sound like the only real solution is swapping your plant and then the weevils just get lazy and quit. But aren’t weevils the ones under the ground? Coffee grounds and banana peels in water always feel like those “my grandma said” hacks, so I’m skeptical it’ll last more than a season.