red palm weevil

[martin]

Two of my palms have now got the bug..seems to be a real problem with more and more palms affected


I went yesterday to local agric merchant (sanipina in lagoa) who advised me and sold tub of bayer "confidor" which is a strong insecticide to be spayed on all unaffected palms every 4 weeks and then for those who have the bug...confidor and product "dipel wp" mixed together ..they told me to spay the plants but when I spoke to bayer direct they were doubtful that it would soak into husk and kill bugs..thought it would be better to inject into husk by drilling holes

(heard some con artists injecting water and charging 40 euros for the "treatment")

so will try this, as I no experience of this and hope it works as well as the agric merchant says

if anyone else has ideas or advice please feel free

total price for all products was €17.00 (enough for loads of applications)

[Gambrinus]

Hi Martin!

I looked into finding out as much as I could about this subject round about the same time last year (this is when the little buggers hatch and the trees die), because neighbours were starting to panic and purchase ridiculously expensive treatments, etc.

These are the main points I could dig up:
Historically: Israel has been fighting the red palm weevil for over ten years with a consolidated state effort, injecting enormous sums of money into saving their stock of palm trees. Success rates have been very low.
Equally, areas with vast numbers of trees in Spain and Egypt are today completely barren, devoured by the weevil.

Biologically: It is an imported bug with no natural enemies, long incubation times, high procreation numbers and a massive flight range (aprox 300kms).
The trees themselves provide a very effetive shield against predators and poisons anyway. So much so, that even if you do inject into an already infected tree, there is already little chance that you will be able to kill them off and prevent them from killing the tree when they hatch.

In a nutshell: If Isreal didn't make it with a consolidated effort, what chance does Portugal have? If you treat a tree you cannot be sure whether it is infected and the treatment also does not provide 100% prevention. Furthermore, the treatments need to be repeated so frequently, that if you have a number of trees in your garden you will quickly be injecting (quite literally) a considerable amount of money with no guarantee of return.
Consequently, the trees are doomed, one way or the other, it is not a matter of "if" but simply a matter of "when".

Cheapest solution: Leave it be. If the tree dies, remove it. Replace with indigenous vegetation.

[martin]

Thanks for the information, I have cut down one x 2 mtrs palm which has taken almost 2 days to do with an electric chainsaw..its a nightmare..the stuff inside the trunk is like wet sisal matting which clogs the saw. If you have to remove a palm get a digger or mini digger and then if you have the land bury it as it wont burn. With in my palm I have caught about 50 weevils ranging from small to about 3 cm long..also two flying ones. I killed by putting them in pool acid

My next door neighbor was also told by local firm to use confidor but nothing else. There is a italian machine which cost 40000 euros which uses microwave energy to kill them, but then this is something the min of agric should have and hire out to land owners, but of course its easier to shrug your shoulders!

[EMM]

I can remember the loss of our Elms due to an imported bug and the way it changed our landscape.
Elms are native to the UK but the palm affected is not native to portugal and the bug has no natural native predators.

Yes it is sad to see the brown skeletons of dead palms littering the landscape but this is nature teaching us a lesson not to try and change what it has taken millions of years to develop.

Replace the palms with native trees, cork oaks certain pines etc;

not only will the landscape look better but native wild life species will return.

[martin]

another firm who specialize in organic products also suggested bayer confidor today by drilling trunk and then inserting tubes connected to squeezy bottle so that there is a constant supply into husk..also advised me that weevils will eventually migrate to other palms and also algavia cactus (spelling)

[Kevin H]

We had the palm beetle in our two trees, both old and established. One couldn't be saved, and one we saved. 3/4 applications of Confidor from Sanipina, and 4 bladders of chemicals from the palm specialist on the EN125 to the east of Lagos ( drill holes near the top and inject chemicals). After 3 months or so, new leaves and the tree is now OK. Total cost about 50 euros plus a bit of effort from the gardener and me.
We also seemed to have saved a neighbour's tree using the same method.
If you see the new leaves from the middle of the palm starting to droop, then it is likely the beetles have attacked it. Timely action will probably save the tree, but you will have to cut away a lot of leaves to get at the top of the tree to pour the Confidor over the top.

[martin]

I have been told by 2 different sources that I should not cut any palm leaves until dec or jan as the action of cutting seems to push the aroma of new palms into the air and attracts the bugs even more

[martin]

I have been told that albufeira camara sent a letter out advising any with infected palms to contact them as they will remove, (not sure of all the details and will try and find out)

detailed article here

http://www.aambiental.org/PalmWeevil/

[Globetrotter]

We have had our trees treated, hoping against hope. If it fails, then we will replace them with a Australian ficus or corks. Many of our neighbors have lost their trees, but so far so good on ours.

Also, do not cut/prune until the winter months...unless the fronds are damaged and likely to be torn off by the wind.

[martin]

someone told me yesterday (no confirmation) that Lagoa camara will also come and cut any infected palms down

[martin]

one palm that I could hear the bugs inside, after having treated and injecting into the husk every 8 days with bayer confidor and dipel wp..there is now silence

so it may have worked??? but still will carry on to see

I have suggested to others and have no idea if it would work , putting rods into husk and with generator electrocuting the bugs, some has had similar idea and put a pat pending in usa.

Was also told that one person who uses an electric gun for killing termites here has also used it to kill the bugs. (cost is very very high !!!)

[Polli62]

I had a lovely Palm in my side garden,didnt seem any problems with it. we left for the UK for 6 weeks and on return it was brown and dead, my first thought was someone had put something on it to kill it off because it may have obscured a view onto the road, now I am wondering whether it could be this weevil. I have one in my back garden which we bought as a young plant and is now thriving and quite big, but worried that the same thing could happen. What outward signs do I need to look for that it has this weevil problem?

[martin]

leaves drooping, roting smell from the palm, audible chewing from inside husk..if one palm has had then you will be very lucky for next one to escape..suggest you spray with bayer confidor now or seek advice.

if the dead palm has been killed then they will migrate to next one..nearby neighbor to me has just lost some very large palms near his pool. He pulled out hundreds of the grubs and spent days burning the cut down palms

[martin]

see here

http://blog.redweevil.com/introduction/4/#comment-13

[Polli62]

Thanks Martin,I will have to have a good look at it when we are down next week,. The palm that is still thriving is on the other side of the house, well away from the dead one. Could it still get infected by these weevil things, do they fly?