Pritchardia hillebrandii and...

[pietropuccio]

... Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (RPW), the palm has been saved, for the moment, filling the cavity with chlorpyrifos.

[Phoenikakias]

[pietropuccio]

Collapsed!

[Stevetoad]

Well that sucks. 

[quaman58]

Wow. Great, yet awful visual of the damage these things do.

[Phoenikakias]

How often have you been treating the affected plant? Have you drenched also root zone? Have you applied beside pesticide also a fungicide? Have you saturated whole crown with pesticide or have you treated only locally?

[richnorm]

Hate to think what could happen if this got to Hawaii.

 

[pietropuccio]

Konstantinos,

I treated with imidacloprid on the soil after discovering the hole, but it was not enough. Treating the crown with pesticides does not have much effect when the larvae are inside the palm.

[mike in kurtistown]

Hawaii is not free of such problems. There are insect larvae, I have heard them referred to as "banana-moth" larvae, that bore into the growing point of palms. First sign is dead or wilted new spears. I have lost several palms to these creatures. (Bananas are commonly planted in Hawaiian gardens.) Some affected plants have been saved, i have heard, by finding the insect borehole and injecting insecticide.

[Tomas]

Pietro, were you doing any preventive treatment?

[pietropuccio]

Ciao Tomas,

not this one, I have about 130 palms in 1000 m² in a residential area, I can't treat them all.

[Tomas]

Ciao Pietro,

I remember your Bismarckia was attacked too, have you succeeded in saving it? And saving any other palm treated only after some symptoms were evident?

I think to understand you do not use dimethoate, is there any reason for this?

Tomas

 

[pietropuccio]

Tomas,

the Bismarckia is still safe, but the attraction for the rpw is always very high, another species saved is the P. rupicola.
My garden is a rectangle of about 19 x 60 m and the palms are distributed along the two longest sides, the distance from the neighboring ones is therefore minimal, I cannot treat the foliage without the risk of contaminating the neighboring areas, therefore the only solution is a systemic product via the roots far from flowering.

[Phoenikakias]

28 minutes ago, pietropuccio said:

Tomas,

the Bismarckia is still safe, but the attraction for the rpw is always very high, another species saved is the P. rupicola.
My garden is a rectangle of about 19 x 60 m and the palms are distributed along the two longest sides, the distance from the neighboring ones is therefore minimal, I cannot treat the foliage without the risk of contaminating the neighboring areas, therefore the only solution is a systemic product via the roots far from flowering.

If you use the dripping method with a special extending device there is not the slightest chance that you contaminate neighbour's space. I agree that dimethoate and chlorpyrifos emit poisonous or irritating odors for a couple of days. Anyway dimethoate is already banned in Europe. But you can always use in the way I have described hyalomethrin which is odorless and acts only by contact. It is not the most effective treatment but it is better than nothing, it does not have to contaminate flowers (because you apply it directly on palm's apex) and if applied monthly an eventual infestation by rpw remains more superficial allowing you prevent plant's death.

[Tomas]

Pietro, thank you for the information. 

Wouldn't cutting the inflorescence before developing be the best solution to safeguard the bees and the palm together?

[pietropuccio]

- Konstantinos,
thanks, but I can't find information on this product in Italy, however, in my experience, the most effective insecticide is the Imidacloprid, which however now is not easy to procure for those who do not have a license for pesticides.

- Tomas,

many palms are too high for normal extensible stairs and also bloom more than once and at different times, so it would take repeated interventions of specialized personnel.

[Phoenikakias]

I will post a picture of the product.

[Tomas]

Pietro, have you considered this? It will add you 3+ meters

[pietropuccio]

Thanks Tomas, but I'm too old to do acrobatics on the ladders .

[Phoenikakias]

On 11/11/2019 at 1:39 PM, pietropuccio said:

- Konstantinos,
thanks, but I can't find information on this product in Italy, however, in my experience, the most effective insecticide is the Imidacloprid, which however now is not easy to procure for those who do not have a license for pesticides.

 

 

 

 

- Tomas,

 

many palms are too high for normal extensible stairs and also bloom more than once and at different times, so it would take repeated interventions of specialized personnel.

 

I have spelled it wrongly. Apologies. It is odorless,  active only by contact and last but not least, it is surely better than nothing!

[pietropuccio]

Thanks Konstantinos!