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Attack of the Red Palm Weevil Beetle

This information was compiled in November 2010

Arriving in Andalucia, southern Spain, in 1994, the red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is causing the destruction of thousands of affected palm trees throughout Spain.

Historically, these insects belong to Southern Asia where it causes severe problems for coconut producers, but they have been advancing to the Western hemisphere since the mid 1980s, reaching Saudi Arabia in 1985, then spreading throughout the entire UAE and to Oman, reaching Iran in 1990. It was first discovered in Egypt in 1992 where it spread through the exportation of infected palms to Spain in 1994.

By 1999 it had been found in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

Palms mostly affected are the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and the pineapple palm (Phoenix canariensis),this is because these trees trunks are made up of fibres and very soft for the insect to eat, the insects are attracted to other types of palms but their trunks are similar to wood and are too hard for the pest to eat, in which case they will leave.

Lifecycle of the red Palm Weevil

The female weevil lays about 300 eggs inside crack and fissures in the palm tree. In 2 - 5 days these eggs hatch into larvae that look like maggots. They bury themselves deep inside the tree eating fibrous tissue along the way.

One to three months later the larvae mature into pupae, each coccooned in a basket of fibrous strands. They remain in the state until they emerge as fully fledged adult weevils 2 to 3 weeks later. At this point adult weavils will move on to nearby trees and start the whole process over again.

Identifying Infected Trees

Because the larvae are buried deep inside the tree, it is difficult to tell if a tree is infected,  until the first signs of death appear, which may only be the yellowing of one or two leaves. The next stage is that the outer leaves start to fall, followed by the crown, by this time it is too late and the tree is dying, as long as the tree is treated before the crown falls it can be saved, this is why it is important to treat all trees even if they appear healthy as they could be infected and if they are not then they will soon become infected if the weavil is in nearby trees. We are looking into obtaining a listening device so that we can advise you more acurately as to whether your tree is infected or not, and knowing the extent of infestation we will be able to more acurately treat the trees accordingly.

About us

We are a garden maintenance company operating in the areas of Sierra Cabrera and Cortijo Grande, we discovered that palm trees in some of the gardens we look after, had become infected by the weavil only a few months ago, and imediately sought advice and help with treatments, we have since researched extensively this insect, its effects and methods of treatment, we respect the gardens that we look after as if they were are own, so to see these trees dying was very sad and we want to help others to try to save their trees, we are already treating more than 50 trees solely on recomendations but soon intend to try to raise awareness to encourage more people to treat their trees, we are hoping to soon attend courses on this subject and are currently looking for courses available

Treating and protecting trees

By the use of insecticides the weavil can be maintained.and the trees protected, unfortunately no miracle cure has been found, yet, but by applying recomended products at recomended intervals the trees can be protected, the more trees that are treated the sooner the pest will be irradicated from the area, we use a combination of products, a recomended insecticide, dacroprid, an enhancer to make this stronger and more effective, dursban 48, and an adhesive product, to help the chemicals stick to the tree, agral, we have information on each of these products if you require a copy, we prepare the chemicals to a higher rate than is recomended as we feel that some companies are not applyong a strong enough solucion, also it is recomended that a minimum of 15 litres of solucion be applied to a large tree, descending accordingly by size, we apply a minimum of 20 litres to a large trree, descending accordingly, to ensure that enough solucion is applied, we use a high pressure sprayer, and spray the solucion directly into the crown, it is recomended that solucion be applied to the base of the tree however we feel given that the roots of a palm are so far down that this is a waste and the concentracion should be at the top of the tree, as this is where the weavil is, we spray any holes in the trunk incase the weavils have made their way in there, any wounds should be covered, using covering resins or pastes, and pruning should be left to colder spells, when the weavil is not as airbourne, we recomend for trees not showing signs of infestation, an initial treatment, followed by a further treatment at 3ths, and 6mths there after, for trees showing signs of infestation we recomend an additional treatment at 3 weeks after the initial, the initial treatment will kill off any weavils that are present however  the larvae of the weavil are much deeper down and success relies mostly on them eating the solution that has been appiled, this is the reason for the additional treatment to infected trees, we are being very vigilant about the trees we are treating and keeping a close eye on them, if we feel that they require further treatment outside that, that we have recomended we will re apply without further cost to yourselves, these insecticides are highly recomended and we have had good results from them in the maintenance and protection against the pests, a more effective treatment has finally become available to us, a new product which is a nematode, a nematode is a parasite similar to a ringworm, it can be applied to a tree in the same way as the insecticides and once in there they will search out hosts, which they normally enter by the natural orifices (i.e. mouth, anus etc). Once inside they release bacteria which cause the death of the host insect by septicaemia, in the space of about two days, use of nematodes against other pests over the years has been known to completely erradicate pests from the eco system completely in just 2 seasons, so if people start to use these hopefully there will be equally good results, this treatment can only be used if there are larve present as the nematode needs a host, so we will only recomend this treatment when we know a tree is infested, this treatment can only be used in spring and autumn as the nematode cannot live in extreme hot or cold conditions so we will be using this product from march onwards and expect good results,  the weavils are attracted to dry, damaged and dying palms so we recomend that you take care of your trees and water them regularly during dry periods

Costs and Guarentees

To treat palm trees with insecticides we charge between 10 and 20 euros depending on the height and width of the tree, the area and how many trees are to be treated, for nematode treatment 25 to 35 euros due to the difference in the cost of the product, (we are able to treat trees up to 10 metres, at this cost, for larger trees equipment would need to be hired and an individual quote given) treatments arent cheap given that so many treatments are needed and most people have a number of trees, however in comparison to the cost of removing and replacing dead trees it is worth doing, most companies charge in the range of 30 to 70 euros per tree, which discourages people from treating, this is the reason for us offering to treat trees outside our customer base in the hope that more people will treat thier trees and hopefully erradicate the pest from our area sooner rather than later, we will at the time of the first treatment advise you if your tree is infested and if so how badly and what its chances of survival are, based on this we can offer you a guarentee, if a healthy tree becomes infested and dies after treatments have been followed, we will refund the cost of your treatments, we can also prune your trees at a cost of 15 euros per hour, this includes removal of all rubbish.

Dead Trees

In the unfortunate event that you have a dead tree, it is advised that it be removed sooner rather than later as the weavils inside will continue to eat through the tree, making it unsafe and they will continue to breed and grow and move on to surronding trees, trees need to be removed in accordance with your town hall rules, you must not cut down and dump the trees on tips etc as this will encourage the spread of the pest, some town halls are providing a place to take infested trees and they will burn them for you, others insist on them being burnt on site and will provide you with a licence to do this, we are able to take down  trees at a charge 15 euros per hour, per person, removal of trees requires 2 persons and dependant on the size can take between 3 to 6 hrs (total 6 to 12) so costs in the region of 100 to 200 euros, to take down and cut, additional time would need to be added if the tree is to be burned on site, individual quotes would be given, we can enquire at the town hall and obtain any licences necessary on your behalf included in the price, also we recomend that prior to removal, the trees have an initial treatment 7 to 10 days before removal, to kill off any weavils that are present, as these will try to leave the tree during cutting/burning, it will not have killed off the larvae but these will be killed during the burning

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