What are these notches on my rhododendron leaves?
Many landscape plants will show leaf notching as new leaves start to grow in spring and early summer (see photo). Rhododendron is particularly susceptible but a number of other popular landscape and garden plants may show the same type of damage. Often you will not find any obvious cause or culprit. The cause and culprit in this case are adult root weevils (snout beetles). There are many species of root weevil (Curculionidae) but all exhibit the same general life cycle. Worm-like larvae feed on plant roots for most of the year, adult beetles (weevils) emerge from the soil in spring or summer, feeding causes leaf notching of the host plant, weevils then lay eggs and die. The real damage therefore is to the root system by larvae (in fact plants can be killed) but it is the leaf notching that catches the attention of gardeners. The best way to protect your landscape and garden plants from root weevil damage is to control adult weevils in the spring and early summer bef...