The insect can feed on all common clovers, alfalfa, soybeans, and some other legumes but they prefer red clover and white clover. There is one generation each year. Life Cycle Adults emerge from the soil in late June and leave alfalfa or clover fields for protected areas where they remain there until late August. From then through late October, they either crawl or fly back to nearby clover or alfalfa fields. The weevils will be active and lay some eggs during October and November and become inactive during the winter months.
Adults become active again during the first warm days in spring.
Females lay most of their 300 to 500 eggs from March through June. Eggs begin to hatch in late March or early April. The small weevil larvae follow soil cracks down to roots or nodules. They are present in the soil from April until early June, feeding on progressively larger roots as they grow and ultimately damage the tap root. Losses University of Kentucky research has shown that damage from the clover root curculio occurs during the first year of the stand in both spring and fall seedings.