Garden Pests and Diseases: Dealing with Hibiscus Weevils in seeds., 5 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Everyone--especially Dr. O...

This may run a bit long--as I have been putting up with this every year
for a long time.
I have two perennial Hibiscus--the tall ones. Red and white.
I collect seeds from both Hibiscus every year. I lay them out on a plate to dry
and then bag them up in a Zip-baggie.

There is nothing unusual at this time--and NO visible signs of any of the weevils.
The seeds are absolutely intact.
Then--maybe in December or January--as I start to divvy up my seeds
in the small baggies for swapping--there they are--groggily crawling around in the bag.
I shake and rattle the whole bag--and now they all come creeping out.
HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of them!
Oddly--they will survive for months in a small, sealed, plastic bag--so no oxygen seems
to be needed.

Somehow, at some time in the bloom/seed development, they seem to be already inside the seeds.
After a couple months--they are full grown and have eaten out the germ, leaving a hole in the seed--
at one end--like in a small bead. At least 70% of the seeds are affected by these Weevils.
These seeds will never germinate--as there is no gem left.

I have tried all kinds of things over the years---mostly putting all the seeds on a
plastic styrofoam plate, spraying all the seeds heavily with an insecticide, and then
covering it tightly with plastic wrap...for days! NOT a pretty sight!
I shake up the plate--and they all start crawling around--endlessly.

They are hard-shelled--lie any weevil--almost black and about 2mm-3mm in size.
Many of them die--but many do not--as they are still inside the seeds.
and so this "process" drags on and on until they are all dead.

Before packing them up for Swaps--I have to wash and dry all the seeds--
as I could never offer them to anyone after this treatment.
I have to also write a note to anyone I give them to not to plant the ones with the holes.
I DO NOT have time to sort through the seeds--and now it is left up to the receiver.

HERE IS WHAT PUZZLES ME THE MOST:
--At what stage of the bloom /bud development do they make their way into the developing
flower or seed pod??? WHO lays the eggs or how do they get in them???

--Seems they develop already inside the seed, as there is NO signs of them when I am
removing the seeds from the pods. These seeds are small, round balls ~~3mm.
There are a few little bugs crawling around the inside of the dried up seed pod,
but I am assuming this is normal. The seeds are all intact looking...
One bug that seemed to be in many of the pods was a small beetle, about the size of a
lady Bug--but more elongated. Longer legs and antennae. Maybe 2/8"--3/8" in size.
Dark brownish/maroon body with tiny, blue markings on them. Took a pic--very fuzzy!

Dr. O--or anyone--can you enlighten me on this?????

I have just finished removing all the seeds from many,many pods. Need to do something
before these Weevils grow up and eat out the germs.

***DO YOU THINK FREEZING THE SEEDS WOULD KILL THEM???*** How long?
Not knowing what "stage" they are in at this time (if any)--not sure it would work.

Here are some pictures of this fiasco: PLEASE HELP!!!!

1--This is the Hibiscus--it grows about 5' tall. Very pretty!
2--This is what the seed pods look like--ready to pick. Lots of room in them for bugs...
3--This is the small beetle that was inside many of the pods. Any importance???
Sorry--This was as macro as I could get...
4--Plastic covered plate after they all were sprayed with insecticide.
5--A close-up of the rim --you can make out all the weevils. These are from 2008!

DISGUSTING!!!! Gita