Thank you for your response, Joe. 1. I identified it myself, using this http://bugguide.net/node/view/63680 site and found that the black vine weevil fit the description of those in my yard. I have not taken my own photo as my camera is not good enough to capture details on insects well enough for identification purposes. 2. Okay, so why are they only in MY yard? What exactly am I providing that they can't find in the twenty-five other yards with similar plants and conditions? 3. Do I have to "apply" the nematodes several times for control or is one application sufficient? 4. Yes, I have read that ground beetles can provide control. I am a wholly organic gardener, so there is no spraying in my yard. However, I cannot say what or how often my neighbors may spray and so far I have very few ground beetles to speak of. Do you know if there are any suppliers and how good of a biological control they provide? For the past two years, my nightly hunts have turned out hundreds of the adults PER NIGHT. My yard is pretty much infested and so I'm not sure ground beetles would make a dent in the population.

If these are really black vine weevils, you have my sympathy. I've been battling them for a very long time, and, no, have not had much luck. I've tried nematodes, maybe 3 or 4 times. Timing is critical, as is maintaining the right moisture level after application. Not sure if this treatment didn't work for me because of something like too much or too little water after I applied the nematodes, or if they just aren't that fast to work, or ... what. Two years ago I did a comparison, with one shrub treated with nematodes and one with Bayer. I couldn't really see any difference, and these are two identical old rhodies growing on opposite sides of the front entrance to my house, in literally identical situations. The recommended "hand control" method is to lay folded burlap under the shrubs (or, I guess, between strawberry rows) and carefully remove it in the early morning when the buggers have gone back to sleep. They're night-feeders, and hang around in their PJs in the daylight hours in the leaf duff under the plants. I admit that I've never figured out how to do this, so I don't know if it works. The most horrid thing about them is not that they notch the leaves of their targets, but that the youngsters feed on the roots before they morph into adults. Even with a large, healthy rhodie, the results are yellowing leaves and overall loss of vigor. If your were going to toss your strawberries because they've stopped fruiting, the weevils may be the cause of the problem. I'd pull the plants now, if I were you. The eggs will not be on the plants, they'll be in the soil, and will be impossible to get rid of. Next year you may find notches on yews, rhodies, willows, and who knows what else. Removing the berry foliage may at least disrupt the life cycle before the adults have a chance to lay those eggs. There are some very good fact sheets on these devils, on several university web sites. The more I learn about them, the less confident I am that I'll outlive them.

first thing to do is ID the eggs .... if the size of pin top ... and clearish like fish eggs .... then you might have a slug problem. .. which would be much different that a weevil problem ... i dont understand your logic of what if any effect an insecticide or molluscicide would have on a maple tree .... regardless... if you dont want to use chem's .. all the power to you ... but you have to ID the problem before you can figure out what to do about them .. ken

Yes. The grubs only affect the roots.