Thanks for the further interesting information, Charlie.

Re. vine weevils' reproduction, there's a lot of misinformation on the Internet, as a result of which at one point I was telling neighbours that vine weevils are hermaphrodites. But I was wrong. There are males and females. However, the females don't need the males in order to reproduce. So, as you say, they don't spend any time hunting for mates: they just get on with dropping 100s of eggs!

Some of our Portuguese Laurels are in the ground, so while most of the leaves of these have been nibbled, we don't believe that the roots have been badly attacked because of the density of the ground, which is also very clayish.

We think the reproduction is occurring in the soft and straw-like environment of the bagged compost with which, of course, we filled all our planters! The weevils have no trouble digging into this mixture, and neither do the grubs have any trouble moving from root to root inside it! In addition, when the sun hits the side of planters in warms up the compost, which pleases the Weevils and grubs even more.

Unfortunately we have no toads and frogs up on the balcony where most of our planters are located. And when the Vine Weevils are active, at night, birds are not about.

As for their method of transportation! We have come to learn that Vine Weevils are marathon walkers! They may have short legs but no distance is too far for them! They love warmth and follow the sun! So they are drawn to scale the sides of buildings, and the warmer it gets the higher they will climb. A fourth floor balcony in our street became infested.

In winter they've been found inside, keeping warm, for example underneath a lap-top!

I will look into MET52 and IMAADSECT. Thanks.