A review of vine weevil knowledge in order to design best-practice IPM protocols suitable for implementation in UK horticulture

Vine weevil is one of the most serious pest problems in UK soft fruit and hardy nursery stock crops. The adult damage to leaves can make ornamental plants unmarketable and the root damage caused by larvae in both ornamental and soft fruit crops leads to reduced plant vigour and yields and if damage is severe, plant death. Chemical control of the pest is now difficult on ornamentals due to withdrawal of the most effective persistent products for use in the growing substrate. Chemical control on soft fruit crops is mainly limited to using foliar sprays against adults, which gives unreliable control.

Growers are under pressure to reduce pesticide use and are increasingly adopting biological pest control methods within Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes. Biocontrol methods for vine weevil now available for use on both soft fruit and ornamental crops include insect-pathogenic nematodes and fungi. Growers need more knowledge about the pest biology and the biological methods in order to gain optimum control in their various production systems.

This project will collate relevant current knowledge on vine weevil biology and control and will provide impartial, best practice IPM programmes suitable for commercial adoption. Recommendations for effective knowledge transfer will be given.

 

 

Aims:

The overall aims are to conduct an impartial, comprehensive review of research and knowledge relevant to the control of vine weevil in susceptible protected and outdoor UK crops and to use this knowledge to design ‘best-practice’ Integrated Pest Management (IPM) protocols for control of the pest together with plans for effective communication of the information to growers in all relevant horticultural sectors.

Objectives:

1. Collate current knowledge of vine weevil biology and control and identify key gaps in understanding

2. Identify opportunities for the delivery of existing knowledge to support implementation
3. Design ‘best-practice’ IPM protocols suitable for implementation on susceptible crops in each relevant horticultural sector
4. Provide plans for communicating relevant knowledge and IPM protocols to growers in the relevant sectors

Interdependence of Objectives

The Objectives are all essential for achieving the overall aims of the project and the work plan has been planned logically to meet each Objective. The work in Objectives 1 and 2 will be done concurrently. The work in Objectives 3 and 4 will be guided by the results in Objectives 1 and 2 respectively.