Fight against Red Palm Weevil in Europe? How is it on the front?

[Costebelle]

" /> Edited April 10, 2013 by Costebelle

[PÚA]

Hello;

The pest is now in north spain, where the climate area is not mediterranen, but oceanic climate... so this pest does not understand about climate areas by now, where palms can grow they also reproduce... so palms in notrh france will also be predate by this beetles... as the climate area is Bretagne is tipically oceanic as in north spain.

The pest is also winning the battle inland in areas with very cold winters even where snows os freezing days are about 60 per year, as the lavae are protected inside the stems...

Authorities are not properly coordinated and nobody cares about the size of the disaster as these plants are not indigenouse species... But in the Canaries the pest is under control because there has been a coordinated work and imported palms are under permanet inspection and big imports are forbidden... traps and poisons are the clue... specially actara... permanent control in free pest areas, permanent trap control and identification of any infected individual are the only way to eradicate this pest. This eradication programs had succeed as phoenix C. are very important in the islands economy...

Statistics are like follows;

98,5% of the infested palms are canary date palms (phoenix canariensis)

Next species in number of infested individuals is Date palm (phoenix dactylifera)

Then others...

The ratio of infested palms in phoenix canariensis is 100%

Washingtonia are infested but mainly if leafs are trimmed or stems are cleaned...

Other Species have not so many individuals

_Have detected the pest on parajubaea, butia, bismarckia, trachycarpus, jubaea,

The pest declines as the canary date palms also, but remains predating in other species with a lower number of adult individuals feeding in other palms

Other palms species including phoenix dactylifera are not so tender to the pest and the infestation seems to be more oportunistc than a global plague... even though some species are much more tender than others...

In Butia Capitata have seen infected individuals not, even not so many but never in Butia Yatay... There is an avenue in Malaga where there are some hundreds of yatay palms and none has been predated even the plague was detected there since 2003.

Púa.

[DoomsDave]

PUA:

Thanks for the word of caution.

We need to be vigilant here in California, too.

[Costebelle]

hello,

Here on French Riviera, since April the news are worst from day to day, it's now a real disaster. Half of very old Phoenix canariensis have been destroyed by the RPW but now the second other palm pest, the palm moth (paysandisia archon) is carrying out the suite of the work by attacking other species like trachycarpus, washigtonias, chaemerops etc...

We are still waiting for a legal authorization to practise emamectine B (like actara) trunk injections. Agriculture direction is very slow to make decision. French general politics aim to zero insecticid level but replaced by what ? we do all we can to prevent our palms dying, spraying with immacloprid, nematods, experiment with a fungus beauvaria bassania, and also trapping (in this moment I still catch about 4 beetles a day in each of my two traps and season is beginning to be over for weevil reproduction)

Pua you are right, the palm moth has reached Brittany, north west of France, oceanic climate area, and attacks trachycarpus which were very well acclimated there. As you say other species (Butia, Brahea etc...) are less attacked (for the moment).

We feel very bad here as we are convinced that people has given up the fight and palm trees have just to be cut anymore

S.

[Kostas]

Nematodes are a great pesticide free solution when mixed with a natural polymer like Chitosan to protect them from dehydration and UV,they are not an experimental solution but a real one. They do are a little pricier but are totally effective at protection and do not harm our health nor the environment and our ground water supply

I am only saying these cause I have been using them for as long as I have my garden and never lost a palm nor saw damage when applying them in time on a monthly schedule.

[Costebelle]

Small confusion Kostas : I said experimentation is on fungus. Nematodes are used for long but as you say prices are high and conditions of temperature and hygrometry make the application not very easy. We are trying to install a new system to project softly nematodes in big palm trees (most attacked here are between 6 and 15m high) to avoid price of 6 applications a year with aerial lift !

Of course, everybody would like have found the optimum solution with ONLY organics products but time is short and we must first save what is still possible to save - we care to the planet too but most of particular owner can't pay for this kind of treatment and let their trees die

[Phoenikakias]

hello,

Here on French Riviera, since April the news are worst from day to day, it's now a real disaster. Half of very old Phoenix canariensis have been destroyed by the RPW but now the second other palm pest, the palm moth (paysandisia archon) is carrying out the suite of the work by attacking other species like trachycarpus, washigtonias, chaemerops etc...

We are still waiting for a legal authorization to practise emamectine B (like actara) trunk injections. Agriculture direction is very slow to make decision. French general politics aim to zero insecticid level but replaced by what ? we do all we can to prevent our palms dying, spraying with immacloprid, nematods, experiment with a fungus beauvaria bassania, and also trapping (in this moment I still catch about 4 beetles a day in each of my two traps and season is beginning to be over for weevil reproduction)

Pua you are right, the palm moth has reached Brittany, north west of France, oceanic climate area, and attacks trachycarpus which were very well acclimated there. As you say other species (Butia, Brahea etc...) are less attacked (for the moment).

We feel very bad here as we are convinced that people has given up the fight and palm trees have just to be cut anymore

S.

Paysandisia attacks many other palms too, such as Sabal, Brahea, Rhapidophyllon, Guihaia,Livistona

About the 'harmles' nematodes, we will see in the nearby future how 'harmles' they remain in every possible enviroment... BTW I have decapitated all my banana pseudostems yesterday and found nothing visible but I am sure I caught with rapid eye tiny-small, linear, white thing moving inwards the stem.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[Phoenikakias]

Small confusion Kostas : I said experimentation is on fungus. Nematodes are used for long but as you say prices are high and conditions of temperature and hygrometry make the application not very easy. We are trying to install a new system to project softly nematodes in big palm trees (most attacked here are between 6 and 15m high) to avoid price of 6 applications a year with aerial lift !

Of course, everybody would like have found the optimum solution with ONLY organics products but time is short and we must first save what is still possible to save - we care to the planet too but most of particular owner can't pay for this kind of treatment and let their trees die

I give right to Costebelle, that very old and tall Phoenix specimens are very difficult to be protected effectively. I pray now that my fast-growing palms do not grow that fast, so I can still use high pressure method for protection. For this reason I water them less and do not fertilize them! Unfortunately given those conditions a more realistic (and painful) approach should be considered. Maybe all tall specimens should be cut down, anyway they are doomed! I can't see why they should remain there and host dozens of new rpw-generations, while individuals have to spray their own moderately sized palms yet more frequently, I feel like Sisyphus rolling a boulder up a hill to see it again rolling back down.

[dalmatiansoap]

I dont understand how RPW doesnt make so large mess in more tropical regions?

Edited November 10, 2013 by dalmatiansoap

[Kostas]

Ah,you are right Costebelle The use of Beauvaria is still experimental unfortunately due to the very specific needs of hygrometry to be effective,I think it only infects insects in 75%+ humidity. I hope field information on its effectiveness are published soon as it could,maybe,qualify as an extra protection in my humid garden but doesn't seem as an effective solution alone as Beauvaria is a generalist insect pathogenic fungal genus,which exists in many habitats but never kills all insects,though its responsible for a good amount of insect deaths when conditions are consistently humid.

The solution i have found for spraying palms up to 6-7m in height(to where the spear emerges) without the use of ladders is a long,lightweight,telescopic pole with a spray head(with the nozzle removed) attached to its end and thin spiral hose connecting it to a (low) pressure tank. Its easy to reach them with that from the ground and the mixture can be applied right to the growing point with slow flow controlled from a trigger like all sprayers use. I have relatively lightweight,extendable antenna poles up to 40m hight that seem portable enough(with a little fiddling) to be used for spraying tall palms even by a home owner. That's what I plan to use in the future as I like palms when tall! Aerial lifts are simply too bulky and pricy to use in gardens as access by truck to the palm is a problem many times.

I agree that we must save the most palms we can right now but here in Greece it's just not happening with most homeowners and horticulturists being pretty ignorant to the correct treatment of palms and with very few homeowners willing to pay a frequent fee to keep their palm alive...So the reality here is that only palms their owners actively care about will be saved(and only if their horticulturist know how to treat it) along with those the town mayors care about and have protection plans for due to their significance for tourism or due to the fact they simply like them a lot. I hope better and faster actions are taken in your country and you don't lose as many thousands(or more!) palms as we lost and continue to lose as these palm killers continue their spread in the country...

Phoenikakias,

The Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes used for protecting the palms are very specific insect pathogenic nematodes that do not eat plant tissues nor damage plants in any way. There are many,many kinds of other nematodes that feed on vegetable matter,rotting plant tissues and live plant tissues,some of which are serious plant pest of banana plants,coffee and many other important crops,but Steinernema are not one of them and have long been used for protecting plants from various beetle and Lepidopteran pests as they are specific predators of cryptic insects like various borers are. The only reason they cannot establish where we need them,in the canopy of palms,is because they are soil dwellers and need humid conditions and sun protection.

Most nematodes are not visible to the unaided eye and it's quite likely you saw larvae of other insects damaging your banana or eating dead tissue that died of other cause. I can tell you that I have used the nematodes on my bananas a few times preventively against corm borers,and whatever could think about damaging them,and to eradicate corm borers on my potted bananas. It was a great and instant success and my in ground bananas have always been as healthy as can be! I harvested my first bunch of 12,5kg from my 'Kandrian' a couple of weeks ago and I have another bunch hanging on a locally obtained cultivar that hasn't been IDed yet and should be ready in December

[Phoenikakias]

You know very well that live organisms mutate/evolve/adapt and some times an interspecific crossing can occure. And the bigger the population, the more the chances to happen this. I am not claimiming that Steinernema is responsible for the infection but I can not rule out anything yet. All I know is that I have treated my banana plants earlier in summer and symptoms had disappeared but they have appeared again this fall and overall this is unprecedented here, so those bugs must be hosted somewhere else and the nearest corn field is hundreds kilometers away. All I wish is that there were available an authority or public service competent for phytosanity and with immediate response capability...

BTW is there any censorship imposed!? I have posted last evening a more detailed reply, which is now missing! I will not bother write again more details, if someone wishes more information he/she can contact me through PM, solong this still works.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[Kostas]

The chance to adapt and mutate is quite narrow for most species as seen in practice and especially for specialized feeders like insect pathogenic nematodes. The can adapt to eat various insect species within the families they specialize but will not adapt to eat plants. Same with the plant pathogenic nematodes,they don't develop insect pathogenic behavior.

Bananas don't like cool weather much,especially in less than ideal soils or poor soils,so during the fall weather,clumps that are not very well grown can develop some rot problems. In Pyrgos my in ground bananas are always happy and grow in rich soils,well draining but moist soils,so they never have problems. I do have had problems with potted bananas in Melissia and with my single in ground banana mat there when I was growing it poorly and till I learned their proper care,so I aware of the various problems with bananas and their solutions. I have also educated myself on the tropical diseases of bananas as I have had some of them in the past and solved them. I would be happy to help you correct the problems you are having with your banana mat if you send me more info and photos

I mentioned corm(a type of modified stem bananas possess) borers(banana borers),not corn borers. We don't have them in Greece usually but if you import bananas,they can hitchhike. I treat all mine preventively with nematodes a couple of times after import and the couple times I had them,they were completely eradicated from the very first application,never to appear again

Btw,I visited PalmTalk multiple times yesterday and last night and never saw any new reply to this thread,so maybe your internet connection had problems when posting and the message didn't get through?

[Phoenikakias]

The solution i have found for spraying palms up to 6-7m in height(to where the spear emerges) without the use of ladders is a long,lightweight,telescopic pole with a spray head(with the nozzle removed) attached to its end and thin spiral hose connecting it to a (low) pressure tank. Its easy to reach them with that from the ground and the mixture can be applied right to the growing point with slow flow controlled from a trigger like all sprayers use. I have relatively lightweight,extendable antenna poles up to 40m hight that seem portable enough(with a little fiddling) to be used for spraying tall palms even by a home owner. That's what I plan to use in the future as I like palms when tall! Aerial lifts are simply too bulky and pricy to use in gardens as access by truck to the palm is a problem many times.

The chance to adapt and mutate is quite narrow for most species as seen in practice and especially for specialized feeders like insect pathogenic nematodes. The can adapt to eat various insect species within the families they specialize but will not adapt to eat plants. Same with the plant pathogenic nematodes,they don't develop insect pathogenic behavior.

Bananas don't like cool weather much,especially in less than ideal soils or poor soils,so during the fall weather,clumps that are not very well grown can develop some rot problems. In Pyrgos my in ground bananas are always happy and grow in rich soils,well draining but moist soils,so they never have problems. I do have had problems with potted bananas in Melissia and with my single banana

You seem to overlook 1) that same banana plants used to grow in same soil and same climate for the previous 20 years without such problem 2) that what you have described in your last post refers to natural concentration of bugs and not artificial one like in the bio-pesticide you use.Yes I hold those nematodes for suspects in first line, since a neigbour of mine keeps over a dozen of healthy CIDP's, though he prunes them in the heart of summer and I have never seen him using a high pressure pump!

For your innovation I keep strong reservations and I explain why: pole can be massive or thin; a very long massive pole is to heavy a very long thin one is to unstable. It would be in both case nearly impossible to control with accuracy such a long pole, so that you can aim to appex. Furthermore you overlook that a palm has also a crown, and its fronds in most cases are not regularly arranged. So the pole has to penetrate through the crown with zig-zag's among petioles and blades as well to reach growing point. i have used a similiar mthod in the past and what I have just said is pure experience! Have you ever wondered why experienced horticulturists (not necessarily here but in every case in the southernFrance) prefer following method instead of yours? Pics from Cannes/France.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[Kostas]

Growing a banana mat for 20years can exhaust the soil if organics are not added in quantities annually. Bananas are heavy feeders and really fast growers,going through a lot of nutrients. In 20years time,the organics in the soil are rotten and depleted and so soil structure suffers and so does banana growth. Stressed bananas mean higher rot and disease susceptibility. I got a pup from a 30year old mat. That mat grows extremely slow and all growing season it only put out the equivalent of 2 months worth of growth in my Pyrgos Garden! It grows on exhausted soils,each pseudostem takes 3 years to flower and its bananas rot in place as the mat can't sustain and ripen them! That mat used to grow well 10years before and I remember seeing bunches on it back then! So with the years changing the soil conditions,a mat can grow worse than it used to.

I understand what you mean about petioles getting in the way but as long as you reach the crown at an angle,there is enough clearance to reach the growing point. I am currently using a telescopic 5m pole(half extended only,don't have as tall palms yet) and reach the growing points from below fine. Its thin and lightweight but very sturdy made. The longer poles I mentioned are also thin but should be sturdy enough as they are made to raise antennas high up in the sky and deal with wind. With some guiding ropes secured higher up and a modified cart below to hold and control the pole more accurately,it should be doable. I don't mean piece of cake but better than climbing a palm,bringing a lift or securing unsightly pipes on the trunks.

[gyuseppe]

I do not have Paysandisia here in my region

red awl has eaten all the phoenix canariensis (for a still unknown reason some have not been eaten, very very very few)

I think that if we do not have Paysandisia,is because did not find food

weevil red ate it all, he has done it before

Paysandisia and weevil red ,reminds me of the movie: alien vs predator

[Phoenikakias]

Giuseppe amico, after this I feel obliged to give to you one credit! Nonetheless there's still plenty of food left on the banquete also for the poor Paysandisia (Chamaerops). It is really interesting why it is not present in your area. Could you offer any explanation?

I do not have Paysandisia here in my region

red awl has eaten all the phoenix canariensis (for a still unknown reason some have not been eaten, very very very few)

I think that if we do not have Paysandisia,is because did not find food

weevil red ate it all, he has done it before

Paysandisia and weevil red ,reminds me of the movie: alien vs predator

[Kris]

Hi,

The soul cause for such a pathetic situation is that most of the advanced or so called developed countries have banned highly toxic based pesticides.only with those sprays these evil bugs could be stopped.by the time E.U makes ammendments to its agro laws.it could be too late.

most of the regulars to this forum would know how much I love this palm.in search of this palm I came to this forum.

but in my hot wet tropical climate its hardly grows.and I have one in ground.with no visible trunk yet.

so what I feel is as long environmentalists stop interfering in farming and agriculture methods I don't see hope for cidp survival or for the matter the safety of other exotic palms.

I finish this note by saying God save my loved palm "Cidp".

[gyuseppe]

Konstantinos the explanation I do not know give it to you

but I sincerely think that the weevil eating all the phoenix canariens, has not helped to ensure that the Paysandisia to multiply

Chamaerops: I've seen some in my city, dead,but only the main trunk, very few only 3 plants, I thought it was the Paysandisia,

instead it was the red awl!

something very strange,that only hit a log, other suckers , at a distance of more than 1/2 years not yet attacked

in my city, I have NOT seen any of these species affected by the red weevil

phoenix dactylifera

syagrus romanzoffiana

trachycarpus fortunei

butia

washingtonia

but a bad news, the 2 super giant Jubaea in botanical garden of naples

all 2 dead!

[Ovar]

Hello,

do you think, that the palm Weevil come in to the Czech republic? We have USDA 5b/6a/6b/7a (I live in 6B USDA). I asked because I grow CIDP in ground.

Thanks for your opinion

[Phoenikakias]

Hi,

The soul cause for such a pathetic situation is that most of the advanced or so called developed countries have banned highly toxic based pesticides.only with those sprays these evil bugs could be stopped.by the time E.U makes ammendments to its agro laws.it could be too late.

most of the regulars to this forum would know how much I love this palm.in search of this palm I came to this forum.

but in my hot wet tropical climate its hardly grows.and I have one in ground.with no visible trunk yet.

so what I feel is as long environmentalists stop interfering in farming and agriculture methods I don't see hope for cidp survival or for the matter the safety of other exotic palms.

I finish this note by saying God save my loved palm "Cidp".

Such as Furadan and Temic?

[gyuseppe]

Hello,

do you think, that the palm Weevil come in to the Czech republic? We have USDA 5b/6a/6b/7a (I live in 6B USDA). I asked because I grow CIDP in ground.

Thanks for your opinion

no, the red weevil does not get to you.

in some regions of my country in north italy,has not arrived too cold in winter

[Ovar]

Very thanks .

[Toby]

I state:

- RPW is not a priority for the average small, rural municipality in southern Europe. In times where all the money has gone to save the big banks, none is left to save the palms. I hear hair-raising stories on a monthly basis about the inaction and mismanagement of local departments in the south. Money is even spent to replace palms rather than keep the survivors healthy and remove the diseased in a timely fashion.

- I was in Athens last spring. Half of the Phoenix canariensis I saw were dead or dying. Not suprisingly, no official action was observable in an effectively bankrupt country.

- I get e-mails regularly from concerned palm owners in Spain and Italy that worry about the sick Phoenix canariensis in their gardens, seeking information on how to address this pest. Obviously, little has been done in the south to inform garden and palm owners on how to deal with the problem.

- EU measures included severe restrictions on nurseries shipping palms, even smallish ones (that are not affected) and even into and from areas where it is too cold for the RPW to survive (like Germany). A lot of funds are tied up in local bureaucracy busy with policing this rather than adressing the real issues.

My hope is that when all the Phoenix canariensis are gone (lets face it: there is no way this will not happen with current trends continuing), RPW levels will reduce to a fairly unproblematic level such as has been established in Arabia and South Asia, where palms have certainly not gone extinct with many decades of the RPW being present. I have no doubt that all palms other than Phoenix canariensis are only infected on an occasional level that is fairly easily manageable.

Best, TOBY

[akamu]

We truly need a super hero like palm man in So cal like palm man to keep us safe

[Kostas]

The public palms in the municipality of Athens do are protected and it's mostly working but probably due to errors in application,some do die. Same with the public palms in the southern suburbs where the mayers do care for saving their palms and protect them. Or course many were lost before any action was taken. The private palms get hit a lot due to ignorance of their owners and the local horticulturists...

My garden is in one of the areas that were first hit from the RPW. I protected mine and lost no palm but the Phoenix canariensis still alive in the area can be counted on the fingers of two hands and most are on their way out. Only the very few protected by their owners will probably be left. Anyway,RPW visitation of my garden has fallen considerably the past year with the lack of P. canariensis in the area. W. filifera in the area are hit from time to time in the area and in some few cases die and have heard of a P. roebelenii reduced to frass....Trachycarpus die a lot too and the field where mine were grown for 15-20years before getting it,was totalled(don't know exactly from which borer,could have been Paysandisia archon though I have never seen a speciemen of it in Pyrgos). Luckily mine are fine protected! I would guess that Bismarckia may also be a choice palm for them considering that it's hit in Florida by the local Rynchophorus species from time to time along with P. canariensis. I also think palms won't go extinct here because of the weevil but P. canariensis is an awesome species that will be greatly missed along with a few others. Hopefully the weevils go locally extinct once no unprotected P. canariensis are left and with correct actions palms are reinstated.

[Phoenikakias]

I state:

- RPW is not a priority for the average small, rural municipality in southern Europe. In times where all the money has gone to save the big banks, none is left to save the palms. I hear hair-raising stories on a monthly basis about the inaction and mismanagement of local departments in the south. Money is even spent to replace palms rather than keep the survivors healthy and remove the diseased in a timely fashion.

- I was in Athens last spring. Half of the Phoenix canariensis I saw were dead or dying. Not suprisingly, no official action was observable in an effectively bankrupt country.

- I get e-mails regularly from concerned palm owners in Spain and Italy that worry about the sick Phoenix canariensis in their gardens, seeking information on how to address this pest. Obviously, little has been done in the south to inform garden and palm owners on how to deal with the problem.

- EU measures included severe restrictions on nurseries shipping palms, even smallish ones (that are not affected) and even into and from areas where it is too cold for the RPW to survive (like Germany). A lot of funds are tied up in local bureaucracy busy with policing this rather than adressing the real issues.

My hope is that when all the Phoenix canariensis are gone (lets face it: there is no way this will not happen with current trends continuing), RPW levels will reduce to a fairly unproblematic level such as has been established in Arabia and South Asia, where palms have certainly not gone extinct with many decades of the RPW being present. I have no doubt that all palms other than Phoenix canariensis are only infected on an occasional level that is fairly easily manageable.

Best, TOBY

I am going to disagree with much of previous statement! Having a garden with many palm spss I can assure all of you that rpw seems to like CIDP's because in most cases it has to choose beteween the two most frequently planted palms, the washi and the CIDP and apparently it likes CIDP more because latter has a leaf base structure that offers more opportunities for covering. Says who that rpw does not attack also dactys? It's just that in the arabian peninsula people away and unrestricted from silly and hysterical EU-regulations apply dimethoat! Now we have the chance to eliminate rpw, because we know where it is hiding. We can reduce population of CIDP by letting only those specimens that can be still easily treated and by prohibiting import and planting of new specimens at least provisorily. If the rpw has no longer available canariensis it will jump to Washies, and latter grow even faster, even much taller than CIDP's.

[Phoenikakias]

Besides I am not sure at all whether rpw would behave in the Med as it behaves in the tropics. This means that when/if CIDP's become extinct it is uncertain whether high population of bugs will be reduced or we are going to live again another massive attack against other palms! The logical causality behind Toby's statement (many CIDP's therefore many bugs) is doubtful. Could be otherwise like lack of natural enemies or diseases beyond tropics, which keep population low (but we do not know if these organisms can survive in a temperate zone), or even like different climatic conditions in the tropics which make rpw less active and reproductive. Regarding the last factor, I dare confess a very frequent observation I have been making in the last years; a couple to several CIDP's of same age and sex growing side by side, only that some of them were partly or fully covered overhead by a canopy of a tall tree. In such locations always first palms to be infected were those that are more exposed to sun! A nearby example for other Athenians in the forum is the promenade of Varkiza and the two (now one) tall CIDP's next to the kiosk. Maybe, just maybe, sun activity in the xerothermic summer of the mediterranean countries makes rpw more agressive. I am not claiming this to be correct, I am just trying to present another alternative of logical possibility and I'm appealing to other mediterranean members to observe carefully locations of infected and 'immune' CIDP's from this perspective and report in the forum their conclusions.

[Rafael]

Old CIDP falling in Oporto, north Portugal

[gyuseppe]

http://www.ortobotanico.unina.it/aree_espositive/palmeto/Jubaea_chilensis001.jpg

http://www.ortobotanico.unina.it/sa/Jubaea_chilensis.htm

in this photo, one of the two supergiant Jubaea in the Botanical Garden of Naples

are all two death

Edited November 14, 2013 by gyuseppe

[sarasota alex]

Is the native population on the Canary Islands threatened at the moment?

[Kris]

Dear Friends,

Here are few visuals of a Bug/Beatle which i found during regular trimming of our mango tree.And also noticed there are few borrowing holes in the trunk.And the tree is pushing out mild sap through those holes.

By the way can you ID this Weevil/Bug ? for me to tag it.

Thanks & Love,

kris.

[Phoenikakias]

It is not rpw.

[avanza]

Dear Friends,

Here are few visuals of a Bug/Beatle which i found during regular trimming of our mango tree.And also noticed there are few borrowing holes in the trunk.And the tree is pushing out mild sap through those holes.

By the way can you ID this Weevil/Bug ? for me to tag it.

Thanks & Love,

kris.

Batocera rufomaculata (De Geer): Cerambycidae

It is widely distributed in Thailand and India feeding on more than 50 host plants including mango, avocado, caschew nut, mulberry tree, ruber, Ficus bonsai and durian. The damage is caused by the white grub of this beetle as it feeds inside the stems tunelling upward resulting in drying of branches and in severe cases feeding the main stem which may cause the plant die. Adult beetles, 35-50 mm in size, are stout and greyish brown in colour with dark brown and black raised spots at the basal 2/3 of the elytra. Eggs are laid either in the slits of tree trunk or in the cavities in main branches and stems covered with a viscous fluid. Full grown grubs are cream coloured with dark brown head and 90 x 20 mm in size. Pupation takes place within the stem. Beetle complete its life cycle in one year and the adult emerges in rainy season, i.e. July-August. The control measures are difficult to kill the larvae inside the trees. The infested branches should be removed and if necessary trunk injection can be applied. The protecting of young trees by dip irrigation with insecticides such as imidacloprid or cypermethrin can kill the young caterpillars and grubs.

[Phoenikakias]

Kris, Avanza is correct in recommended treatment principally. Get yourself tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (India has a local advanced chemical industry and I am sure you will find this way or another this solvent). Dilute market (I think Sarimida is the branch name in India) imidacloprid product (20%) in equal quantities with this alcohol, so that the end product has a density of 10% of the active substance. Inject solution in to the trunk and water the roots by boring some holes under canopy. Repeat after a month and meanwhile do not eat fruits. Good luck!

Edited November 30, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[Jose Maria]

I am an agronomist working in Costa Rica , retired from my job but still active,and I would recommend reading the publications of a local company, ASD-CR.com

Here a picture of a trap used to control these weevils.

http://www.asd-cr.com/images/uploads/img-internas/trampa.jpg

Many years ago Costa Rica had a serous problem with "El picudo" as this weevil is called.Hectares of palms were dying .This system uses a feromone to attract the weevils and drown them in a solution of molasses and water. Every 3 months the feromone is renewed on the trap. One trap every 5 hectares.

No endo-therapy here...no way... as there tens of thousands of hectares planted with oil-palm in Costa Rica.Besides it is a food that is produced, endo- therapy might not be such a good idea?

And all along the coast, Pacific and Atlantic, there are kilometres long coconut-palm plantations and wild coconuts too. All palms are in danger, but this feromone control has proved to be the one we use in Costa Rica with excellent results and very cheap compared to other methods. And for the environment no worry: no insecticides are involved.

Check it out.

[ErikSJI]

Jose Maria. I see a photo of the trap. Can you tell me more about it? How does it work whats in it etc.

[Kris]

Kris, Avanza is correct in recommended treatment principally. Get yourself tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (India has a local advanced chemical industry and I am sure you will find this way or another this solvent). Dilute market (I think Sarimida is the branch name in India) imidacloprid product (20%) in equal quantities with this alcohol, so that the end product has a density of 10% of the active substance. Inject solution in to the trunk and water the roots by boring some holes under canopy. Repeat after a month and meanwhile do not eat fruits. Good luck!

Thanks very much my friends....I will keep you all informed.

[Phoenikakias]

I am an agronomist working in Costa Rica , retired from my job but still active,and I would recommend reading the publications of a local company, ASD-CR.com

Here a picture of a trap used to control these weevils.

http://www.asd-cr.com/images/uploads/img-internas/trampa.jpg

Many years ago Costa Rica had a serous problem with "El picudo" as this weevil is called.Hectares of palms were dying .This system uses a feromone to attract the weevils and drown them in a solution of molasses and water. Every 3 months the feromone is renewed on the trap. One trap every 5 hectares.

No endo-therapy here...no way... as there tens of thousands of hectares planted with oil-palm in Costa Rica.Besides it is a food that is produced, endo- therapy might not be such a good idea?

And all along the coast, Pacific and Atlantic, there are kilometres long coconut-palm plantations and wild coconuts too. All palms are in danger, but this feromone control has proved to be the one we use in Costa Rica with excellent results and very cheap compared to other methods. And for the environment no worry: no insecticides are involved.

Check it out.

A friend of mine keeps here a parrot farm in an area of approx. 1 acre. Because of the birds he did not wish to use chemicals and therefore he used ferormone traps. Within a couple of years nevertheless palms in his garden got decimated! Among casualties all Phoenix spss, Butia, Syagrus romanzoffiana. They have survived only a Brahea armata and Sabal palmetto, I have not gotten yet any report from him about this summer. I suppose that if nobody else uses traps in the wider area, this trap attracts the whole population of those filthy bugs and then it proves insufficient. Another aspect is however the behaviour of the bug in a non tropical climate, as I have pointed out earlier.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[Jose Maria]

The traps had formerly a few lengths of sugar-cane treated with an insecticide. The sugar-cane had to be replaced after a week or two , since it dried out. Now we found that a mix of molasses and water drowns the weevils.No more insecticide needed.

The feromone is like an aspirin wrapped in plastic.It hangs from a piece of wire above the trap.It lasts about 3 months.One trap is good for 5 hectares.The trap is tied with rope ( not nailed!) to a palm tree, about 1,5 meter high.

Just as you mentioned, if you are the only one to put out a trap and no other palm-owner around you does it...., all weevils will come to the "party" at your place.

I forgot to mention:it is a legally enforced control system. If you have palms on your property you must put out the traps or you get to pay a fine.

There are inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture in charge of making farmers comply with the law. Hotels along the beaches pay for the traps on more or less "public" land , just to preserve the coconut-trees that are essential to a "tropical" vacation atmosphere.....

All the info you can find and also buy the feromone in

http://www.asd-cr.com

With this method the incidence of weevils has been lowered in thousands of hectares of oil-palm so much as to be of no economic importance .

[Costebelle]

I use also two traps on my property (south of France) Besides the pheromone I put only water and small cut pieces of palm branches in the tank. It stinks but seems smell good for RPW ! Scientific reports asserts that the use of pheromones added to the smell of palm tree is clearly more effective. I don't add any insecticid, the weevil can't go out of the trap and dies bathed but some adds also acetate d'ethyl (EtAc) to the water and palms to make the trap more attractive ; I will try it next spring. I use multi-funnel traps, and I have got about 100 adults by trap during summer. Friends of mine are using "picusan" or more classical traps but we can't compare the most efficient model because they are settled in différent places.