Palm Weevil Alert

Symptoms:

Damage to invaded trees remains invisible long after infestation. By the time the first symptoms appear, larvae population inside the trunk had a few months to develop. Many times the damage is so severe that often the tree will die, making any actions irrelevant.

Sometimes early warning signs appear in the form of yellowing and wilting of the crown and upper leaves.

In cities and populated areas there are risks of collateral damage from collapsing of trees.

The adult beetle is large and red colored.

Who Am I?

Palm weevil is an invasive species of beetle that poses a serious threat to palms trees and is considered to be the world’s most threatening pest to palms. Adult females are capable of flying long distances non-stop. A female can lay 250-300 eggs in her lifetime and will do so upon cut or wounded palm-tree tissue. Palm weevil has the ability to knock down large palm trees that were completely healthy 6 months prior.

Control Measures

Monitoring: Scout the trees in your field and look for the above mentioned symptoms.

Minimum Pruning: Avoid pruning as much as possible, while making sure to spray pruned areas with the solution mentioned below – 3 consecutive applications separated by 1 week apart.

You can use specially designed monitoring traps for keeping track of the palm weevil. Checking them regularly can aid with treatment decisions.

*Consult your local distributor for the the type, timing, number and positioning of the traps you have or wish to acquire.

*Names marked in red are considered to be highly poisonous to beneficial insects.

*Names marked in green are considered to be organic and IPM (integrated pest management) compatible.

Caution and careful notice should be taken when using any plant protection products (insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides). It is the grower’s sole responsibility to keep track of the legal uses and permissions with respect to the laws in their country and destination markets. Always read the instructions written on labels, and in a case of contradiction, work in accordance to the product label. Keep in mind that information written on the label usually applies to local markets. Pest control products intended for organic farming are generally considered to be less effective in comparison to conventional products. When dealing with organic, biologic, and to some extent a small number of conventional chemical products, a complete eradication of a pest or disease will often require several iterations of a specific treatment or combination of treatments.

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