A year ago, I wrote an entry about the Red Palm Weevil, the Picudo Rojo. Things have certainly not improved since then. Indeed, the Picudo Rojo has created its first victim (that I am aware of) in our community.
A Phoenix palm in Calle San Bruno suddenly showed signs of distress and investigation proved that it had been attacked by the Picudo Rojo. Its leaves had fallen more open than normal and some of the central leaves could be easily pulled out of the stem, because the larvae of the beetle had eaten away the connecting tissue.
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| Affected Phoenix palm |
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| Base of leaf stem, eaten by larvae |
The palm in question had been regularly sprayed with insecticide, but this was clearly insufficiently effective to prevent the devastating attack and the loss of the palm.
The palm has had to be removed and destroyed. When it was cut, several beetles were found in the base, as well as many larvae, some very small, others very large. Here are some of these attractive individuals…
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| Larvae of Picudo Rojo |
I, too have been spraying the Phoenix palm in our garden, which is next to the garden in which the affected palm was located. As the danger of attack by the beetle now seems more imminent, however, I have resorted to rather more drastic measures. These involvs the injection of a special chemical directly into the base of trunk of the palm. This procedure can be carried out in a DIY fashion, using equipment that can be purchased from Sospalm (and there's a link on their site to a video to show just how to do it), or the La Torre garden centre can come and place a similar system called Ynject in your palm together with a first dose of insecticide (good for three months) for just 25 euro. I chose the latter solution and here you see the insecticide bottle fitted to the injector, which has been inserted into a long hole, drilled into the base of the palm.
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| Ynject system fitted with insecticide tube |
The insecticide drains into the injector and so into the base over the course of three days, after which the tube can be removed, leaving the fitment of the injector inserted in the palm, practically invisible, but ready to be used again for the next tube in three months time. Apparently, this system is highly effective.
If you have one or more Phoenix-type palms (those with long fronds), then you should at least ensure that they are regularly sprayed with an insecticide that is recommended for use against the Picudo Rojo. For more security, the injection-type of application not only offers better protection, it also means that you need only repeat the treatment every three months.
As for Washingtonia-type palms (those with hand-palm-like leaf fronds), these are far less susceptible to attack by the Picudo Rojo. Note, however, that this does not mean that they are immune to attack, so preventative spraying with a suitable insecticide is still recommended.
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| Washingtonia type palm |
For more information on the Picudo Rojo (Red Palm Weevil), see
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