Palm Weevil
What is the Palm Weevil, and what can you do if you think your palm has been infected.
Since 2001 the Palm weevil or beetle has destroyed thousands of palm trees in Spain and other Mediterranean countries
The scientific name is Phynchoporus ferrugineos, the Spanish name is Picuda roja, there are a variety of English names such as Palm weevil, Red palm weevil, Red palm beetle and Palm worm (the larvae).
One weevil can lay around 200 eggs every ten weeks, and these produce larvae which become mature weevils after seven to ten weeks. The grub like larvae eat the inside of a palm tree for around a month before exiting from the trunk through a small tunnel to form a cocoon at the base of the tree before transforming into an adult beetle. At first it crawls but once dried out in the sun, as a butterfly does, it is said to fly up to five kilometres!
Your palm may have been infected if you see crawling weevils around the base/div>, and in the leaves if your on a ladder. Also you may be able to hear the crunching noise of the eating grubs through the bark of the trunk. Chewed wood and a viscous smelly liquid coming out of holes is another sign, and of course dying fronds on top of the trunk.
Can a palm be cured? This depends on how early in the life cycle you notice the problem. If you spray or inject insecticides into the trunk as soon as a weevil has just laid eggs or the eggs have just hatched out as small grubs, you can often save the tree.
If you think your tree maybe infected, please get in touch with us a soon as possible, we will be able to spray and inject your tree with insecticide.