British Expats - Dying Palm Trees

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- Spain (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/)

- - Dying Palm Trees (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/dying-palm-trees-653179/)

Re: Dying Palm Trees

I think you will find that what people often call the pineapple palm is a type of date palm. Any of the Phoenix palms can be affected and these include various date palms - Phoenix Dactilifera and Phoenix Canariensis being the most common.

The most common palm around in Spain is the Washingtonia and there are reports that this can also be affected although it is much less likely.

From what I have read, just spraying is often not enough - they need soaking with insecticide - like about 30 litres per tree and every month.

Re: Dying Palm Trees

I found this article in the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...alm-trees.html

Quote:

However, the two-pronged foreign insect invaders may have finally met their match. After a variety of increasingly desperate ad unsuccessful pest control attempts, experts believe the palm's saviour could be a microscopic ringworm that latches on to the moth and weevil larvae.
The worm is a type of nematode, some of whose relations can be terrible plant pests â€“ killing off grape vines and pine trees, while others can be lethal to humans.

This type is harmless to man and plants but kills any insect larva it meets.
"It finishes them off by septicaemia," said Caroline Gutleben, researcher at Plante et CitÃ©, which has been testing the worm's effects.

Controlled tests have proven 100 per cent effective, she said, while recent field tests in eight sites in the HÃ©rault and CÃ´te d'Azur regions have shown a "stabilisation or improvement of treated palms", bringing near-condemned plants back to life. The worms are sprayed on to the palms in a water-based solution.

So you've got to spray your palms with nematodes to get rid of the weevils. Let's hope the nematodes don't cause problems...

Re: Dying Palm Trees

the trees that we sprayed last year,. even some that were half dead, are now healthy and green.

we used to use a long arm sprayer, not a cherry picker, and a large compressor.

the set up works. we would spray around 100 L of chemical / water mix PER TREE.

cost was only 50â‚¬ / tree / per spray. if youÂ´ve got two or three, obviously its a "bulk price".

i think we lost 1 of the 50 or 60 we were looking after, and we covered velez malaga to estepona.

it is possible to save the trees, as long as all the leaves havent dropped, but obviously the chances drop exponentially as more and more dies.

we were called in to remove two 3m ish trees. wow.. they stink !!! and why am i not still doing it ? people stopped paying. nobody cares about trees, they would rather buy beer. its a shame.

the grubs :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...Photo-0027.jpg

the flying bugs:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...Photo-0034.jpg