Screening/identifying seed weevils/Methods & Results

[DallasPalms]

I started collecting seeds recently since I move around town alot I couldn't help it! I started learning pretty quickly about weevils. I sewed a few batches of Trachycarpus in the summer and most did well but 3 batches ended up doing poorly, one with just a single sprout from 200 fresh seeds and the other two batches threw a goose egg! Expensive seeds too!

Recently I came up with a method for ridding of the pests in sabal seeds. I found that by just moving them around I could get activity but now I have a method for screening so that the spread is minimal to nil. I do not want to share bugs especially since they can get into other parts of a collection and reak havoc.

I saw the beetle looking guys at first crawling on the soil where I sewed Trachy seeds. They make little mounds above their feeding sites. I am just now treating the dead batches with azadirachtin but I'm not sure how effective that will be.

Here is the method for Sabal screening.

I use a 5 gallon bucket and do my first screen, separating broken seeds, dried fruits (in a wet harvest) and discarding seeds with any evidence i.e. a perfect hole. I drop the seeds to the bottom enough to cause an impact sound.  Shake them up  good and then store them in a sealed container. After a day or two some that are living inside of seemingly healthy seeds will chew a hole. They are not dangerous for a day I'm not sure how quickly they mate. The key is to rid them before they can lay more eggs! Repeat two or three times over a week or more and that SHOULD get most of them.

I finally caught one crawling out as seen in the photos. They can pop out of perfectly healthy looking seeds but happen most likely on dried fruits which should be de fruited and stored separately or discarded and never traded or sold. The dry seeds you can test. Open them remove fruit and then squish them. If they smash at all any softness, discard them. 

Please share your experiences and methods.

Edited November 21, 2020 by DallasPalms