Black vine weevil, herbaceous perennials

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IPM Scouting in Herbaceous Perennials

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Black vine weevil

Black vine weevil adults do not possess wings, so they cannot fly. The adults are active primarily at night and hide during the day in debris or under plant containers. Adults feed on a wide variety of herbaceous perennials. The larvae, which are located in the growing medium, are white and grub-like and feed on plant roots.

Management: Remove plant and growing medium debris from the area. Contact insecticides with residual activity can be applied to the foliage in the evening. Beneficial nematodes such as Heterorhabditis bacteriophora may be applied as a drench to individual containers. The nematodes attack and kill the larval stage.


The adult is black with patches of fine yellow hairs covering its body.	It has a short, snout-shaped mouth that creates characteristic notches on plant leaves during feeding.

This information was developed from A Pocket Guide for IPM Scouting in Herbaceous Perennials by Jan Byrne and Raymond A. Cloyd. Purchase this in a pocket-sized guide for reference in the orchard from MSU Extension (publication E-2981).

The MSU IPM Program maintains this site as an access point to pest management information at MSU. The IPM Program is administered within the Department of Entomology, fueled by research from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, delivered to citizens through MSU Extension, and proud to be a part of Project GREEEN.
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Updated 8/06/07