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Hi there! I have never had a home or garden until about 6 months ago, and have been delighted by a little cumquat tree I got from bunnings the week we moved in. It went from flowers to an abundance of fruit for its 3 tiny branches - but recently started looking a bit sadder and leaves were spotted with yellow. I decided to repot it (finally) and got some citrus potting mix.
When I took it out of the original pot I discovered 4 fat curl grubs munching away on the roots! I was horrified - but after checking there were no more, continued to put it into the new pot and soil. I later read on google that maybe I should have rinsed the roots to make sure there was none of the 'infected' soil left attached, and discarded the original soil. Is that right?
TLDR: Curl worms discovered when repotting - should I chuck the whole lot out now and get new soil?!
Community manager's note: Check out How to control curl grubs and army worms for expert advice.
Would love your help with this!
Hi @Nat2,
Thank you for the update about your curl grubs, it is great news you haven't seen any more come up. I'll tag @MitchellMc to notify him of your success. Amazing that your finger lime has new growth and the flowers are starting to bud! Would love to see a photo of it in full bloom.
Katie
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @JD2. It's marvellous to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about curl grubs.
There's been a bit of information shared in this thread. If you could please identify the advice you're enquiring about, I'd be happy to confirm whether it also applies to a Japanese maple.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Annette6. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for adding to the discussion.
Thanks for clarifying that for our members. I'd agree; that's the most likely scenario when encountering larvae in pots.
We look forward to hearing all about your projects and plans around the home and garden. Please feel free to reach out anytime you need assistance or have something to share with the community.
Mitchell
I agree with Annette and have observed quite a bit of misinformation going back and forth in this post, which is disappointing.
The community appears to want to
know to eradicate curl grubs from their pots. This includes the eggs and adults. The larvae were very unlikely to have crawled across the ground and into the OP’s cumquat pot. More likely, there were eggs in her potting mix that hatched after they potted up their tree.
If anyone is still battling with curl grubs, try applying Nematodes (not sold by Bunnings) in October. The larvae are feeding now (early Spring) but the soil is too cold for the nematodes so dig out what you can by hand and by all means try a neem oil drench, then anything left in the pot will be taken care of by the nematodes in October when your soil temperature is 16°c or higher. A quick google search will lead you in the right direction to order them. Watch out for the adult beetles in December wanting to lay eggs and perhaps add more Nematodes then. Get rid of any backyard solar lights which attract the beetles. Good luck!
