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How to identify it
- The adult is a black snout beetle, or weevil, only about 1/8 inch (3 mm) long.[1][2]
- The grub is white and legless with a brown head, and when full grown it is slightly larger than the adult.[1]
- Look for wilted shoots ringed with a series of punctures, or pencil-sized cane tips that have broken off with a grub in the pith of each broken piece.[1]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Grape cane gallmaker | A close relative that looks almost the same as an adult: a dark brown snout beetle about 1/8 inch long. Instead of girdling shoots, it leaves reddish swellings 3/4 to 1 inch long on new shoots just above the nodes.[1] |
Where it lives
It is common in the central and eastern United States. Its hosts are grape and Virginia creeper, and it develops on both.[1][2]
Biology and life cycle
Adults spend the winter in debris on the ground and become active again in spring.[2][1]
In late spring, around or just before bloom, the female chews a ring of small holes around a young shoot and lays her eggs in them. She then makes a similar girdle a few inches higher on the cane without eggs, and the shoot usually breaks at that outer girdle first.[1][2]
The grubs feed in the pith of the cane between the girdles. Larval development takes about a month; they pupate in July, and new adults appear in late July and August.[1][2]
Damage and signs
Health risk
A plant feeder. Kentucky and Virginia Tech mention no risk to people or pets.[1][2]
Control
Traps and physical control
Prune off girdled canes a few inches below the lower girdle before the new adults emerge in late July or August. Kentucky says this is usually all the control the pest needs.[1][2]
Pesticides
Insecticides are usually not needed because the injury does not reduce yield. Virginia Tech suggests growers consider a spray only when more than 10% of shoots have been injured, mainly on young vines.[1][2]
Common questions
- Why are the tips of my grape shoots wilting and breaking off?
- One cause is the grape cane girdler. Check the cane for a ring of small punctures and look for a white grub in the pith of the broken piece.[1]
- Do I need to spray for grape cane girdler?
- Usually not. The girdles are normally beyond the fruit clusters, and pruning out the damaged canes before new adults emerge is usually enough.[1][2]
- Does the grape cane girdler attack Virginia creeper?
- Yes. Virginia creeper is its preferred host, and it develops there as well as on grape.[1][2]
Sources
- University of Kentucky Entomology, “Grape Cane Gallmaker and Grape Cane Girdler, ENTFACT-223 (R. Bessin, revised January 2026).” entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef223 (accessed 2026-11-08)
- Virginia Tech Department of Entomology, “Grape cane girdler, Ampeloglypter ater (Virginia Fruit pages, after D. G. Pfeiffer and P. B. Schultz).” virginiafruit.ento.vt.edu/girdler.html (accessed 2026-11-08)
- iNaturalist, “Ampeloglypter taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/173216 (accessed 2026-11-08)