South American Palm Weevil is invading us

[MattyB]

Lot's of trees here in Spring Valley are being decimated.  I've been watching this one especially because there was a great horned owl nest up in the top. As the tree collapsed it exposed the nest and you could see the furry babies sitting up top.  This morning half the crown completely fell and the owls are no where to be seen.  I tried to dig through the rubble to see if I could find them but I found nothing but weevils and cocoons.

[DoomsDave]

No

no

no

no

[GottmitAlex]

Sad news indeed. Does anyone know how far north these killer bugs have traveled?

[PalmatierMeg]

Ugh. Was that a Phoenix palm?

[Gonzer]

Matt, any photos of other infected trees?

[Xerarch]

NNNnnnnnooooooo!!!!! Don’t we already have enough pests to worry about?

[humangenomaproject]

Bummer! I live in Costa Rica and I'm surrounded by mass oil palm monocropping so we have unfortunately been dealing with the weevils for as long as I have been collecting. I set two pheremone traps at each end of my 3 acre property and that has stymied the losses for sure but I still lose a few every year (I have over 400 species in the ground here) and they really like certain species (Bismarkias are a favorite). For a juvenile garden, there is not as much to worry about, but as the trees get more meat on them (as mine have over the past few years with our fast growth rates) these guys get hungry. I throw some sugar cane in the traps as well as it seems to keep them in the trap longer. At the start of putting the traps out I was pulling about 50 of these things out per day. Five years later I rarely take more than ten out of the traps so at least the local population (the pheremone has about a mile radius) has been controlled (for now). I buy the pheremone refrigerated from the local agrochemical store here and it lasts 6 months once placed in the traps. I can take photos of my traps and how to make them if it would be helpful as the loss of these babies is heartbreaking for sure.

[DoomsDave]

7 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Ugh. Was that a Phoenix palm?

The key word is was. Alas.

[Palm Tree Jim]

Matty,

Was this down by you?

[GottmitAlex]

5 hours ago, Gonzer said:

Matt, any photos of other infected trees?

Don't have photos handy.  But coming down the 805 freeway  (southbouth) and exit at E street/bonita. You head east. Virtually all the canariensis are infected and/or dead. Dozens. 

[GottmitAlex]

I have not seen any washies affected. Seems, in my neck of the woods at least, the beetlesame have acquired an acute taste for canariensis. 

[quaman58]

Good reporting on a depressing subject Matty.

[Monòver]

29 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

I have not seen any washies affected. Seems, in my neck of the woods at least, the beetlesame have acquired an acute taste for canariensis. 

The same with the european red weevil. It loves fat palms, canariensis, Bismarckias, Jubaeas, Raveneas rivularis, Parajubaeas and Washintonias filiferas.

It doesn't like robustas.

[Nakheel1412]

Man, that's horrible
Do local authorities plan to take some vigorous actions in order to eradicate these weevils?

[DoomsDave]

30 minutes ago, Nakheel1412 said:

Man, that's horrible
Do local authorities plan to take some vigorous actions in order to eradicate these weevils?

They did in Laguna Beach a few years ago for the Red Palm Weevil. That worked great because, that time, the bugs were in a place that was surrounded by a relative "desert" of other palms within their flight range.

Matty's case is different, and I'm girding for them here.

Somewhere, there's a natural enemy that will help deal with the problem. Trapping and poisoning will not help because all it takes is one gravid female to destroy a bunch of palms with her now unchecked larvae. Disaster.

[Nakheel1412]

54 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

They did in Laguna Beach a few years ago for the Red Palm Weevil. That worked great because, that time, the bugs were in a place that was surrounded by a relative "desert" of other palms within their flight range.

Matty's case is different, and I'm girding for them here.

Somewhere, there's a natural enemy that will help deal with the problem. Trapping and poisoning will not help because all it takes is one gravid female to destroy a bunch of palms with her now unchecked larvae. Disaster.

Technically it is possible to get rid of it, but that comes at a heavy price...

About 10 years ago, the red palm weevil was spotted in Tangier (very north of Morocco) ;
Since palms are very important (date palm cultivation + landscaping) and pretty much ubiquitous in Morocco, they couldn't afford to let the weevil spread ;
The authorities inspected/treated every single palm in the area (the whole city and its surroundings), until they made sure the threat was annihilated ;

Yet, I understand that the task is very difficult (if not impossible) in California since the area is so densely populated with palms
So saddening...

Edited April 12, 2018 by Nakheel1412

[Cikas]

2 hours ago, Monòver said:

The same with the european red weevil. It loves fat palms, canariensis, Bismarckias, Jubaeas, Raveneas rivularis, Parajubaeas and Washintonias filiferas.

It doesn't like robustas.

Here in Dubrovnik RPW only eats CIDP. They do not attack Washintonias robustas or filiferas. 

[DoomsDave]

16 minutes ago, Nakheel1412 said:

Technically it is possible to get rid of it, but that comes at a heavy price...

About 10 years ago, the red palm weevil was spotted in Tangier (very north of Morocco) ;
Since palms are very important (date palm cultivation + landscaping) and pretty much ubiquitous in Morocco, they couldn't afford to let the weevil spread ;
The authorities inspected/treated every single palm in the area (the whole city and its surroundings), until they made sure the threat was annihilated ;

Yet, I understand that the task is very difficult (if not impossible) in California since the area is so densely populated with palms
So saddening...

I can't picture that much will, here, I'm afraid, where we sometimes use Liriodendron as street trees.

[Tracy]

15 hours ago, MattyB said:

I've been watching this one especially because there was a great horned owl nest up in the top. As the tree collapsed it exposed the nest and you could see the furry babies sitting up top.  This morning half the crown completely fell and the owls are no where to be seen.  I tried to dig through the rubble to see if I could find them but I found nothing but weevils and cocoons.

How close to your home was this one?  I know if they are in Spring Valley, they will be up here in the North County very soon, but I haven't seen any yet.  I was a little concerned about a CIDP around the corner from my house, but it turned out to be Fusarium oxysporum .  Still not good, but better a known problem that we've been dealing with than these newly invasive weevils!

[MattyB]

Thanks for the comments y'all.  I'll try to respond to all the questions.

The palm pictured in on my street.  There are 4 other infected CIDPs on my street alone, so yes this is as close as it gets.  And my community Spring Valley has many infected palms now.  

As far as I know Spring Valley is currently the farthest north they've spread but of course that won't be for long.  I just reported a suspicious looking palm on the SE side of Parkway Plaza shopping center in El Cajon, so that might be the new northern front.

They just got a grant to start setting out pheromone traps so it's important to keep reporting infected trees so they can keep working to contain the spread.

You should report here:  https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbwKATkoSnbgiQlF7xfsAgGXV8Qw6jHJxH_67LVrG6SF_H54QBc/exec

[LoamWolf]

Very interesting information. Thanks for providing the link to report any infected trees. I really hope that this gets under control some way or another, and the county of San Diego puts a system in place. 

I'm assuming these beetles fly from tree to tree?

[GottmitAlex]

1 hour ago, LoamWolf said:

Very interesting information. Thanks for providing the link to report any infected trees. I really hope that this gets under control some way or another, and the county of San Diego puts a system in place. 

I'm assuming these beetles fly from tree to tree?

That is correct.

 

Here are a couple of links regarding the South american Palm Weevil

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/50861-important-meeting-in-san-diego-rhynchophorus-palmarum-south-american-black-palm-weevil/&page=1

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/53948-south-american-palm-weevil/#comment-812558

 

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[buffy]

I really want to expose those larva to my sons African Bullfrog, Mr. Pickles. He'd annihilate them in a most entertaining way. :) 

[pin38]

3 hours ago, buffy said:

I really want to expose those larva to my sons African Bullfrog, Mr. Pickles. He'd annihilate them in a most entertaining way. :) 

EVERY PALM GROWER GET A MR. PICKLES.

[rprimbs]

On 4/12/2018, 4:07:56, humangenomaproject said:

Bummer! I live in Costa Rica and I'm surrounded by mass oil palm monocropping so we have unfortunately been dealing with the weevils for as long as I have been collecting. I set two pheremone traps at each end of my 3 acre property and that has stymied the losses for sure but I still lose a few every year (I have over 400 species in the ground here) and they really like certain species (Bismarkias are a favorite). For a juvenile garden, there is not as much to worry about, but as the trees get more meat on them (as mine have over the past few years with our fast growth rates) these guys get hungry. I throw some sugar cane in the traps as well as it seems to keep them in the trap longer. At the start of putting the traps out I was pulling about 50 of these things out per day. Five years later I rarely take more than ten out of the traps so at least the local population (the pheremone has about a mile radius) has been controlled (for now). I buy the pheremone refrigerated from the local agrochemical store here and it lasts 6 months once placed in the traps. I can take photos of my traps and how to make them if it would be helpful as the loss of these babies is heartbreaking for sure.

I'm interested in the traps.  I'd love to see photos, and find out where I can get them.

[MattyB]

I just spotted an infected tree in El Cajon.  This would be a large jump northeast of the known range.

Here's the pin:  https://goo.gl/maps/9yYTCwsVPSr

It's on the southeast side of the Parkway Plaza mall, adjacent to the storm drain system.

We're so screwed on this.

[Tracy]

20 minutes ago, MattyB said:

This would be a large jump northeast of the known range.

 

20 minutes ago, MattyB said:

We're so screwed on this.

It definitely gives one that sinking feeling.  There probably are some infected palms in between the old range which just have not been identified and this newly identified host.  Alternatively, they may travel farther than expected when looking for the next host.  Neither option is good.

[Hammer]

As I understand it, once a tree is infected it is a lost cause.  

If memory serves, there is hope using a preventative treatment of Imidacloprid.  But it must have booster treatments every 6 months.

Anyone else know if this is true? 

[Nakheel1412]

4 hours ago, Hammer said:

As I understand it, once a tree is infected it is a lost cause.  

If memory serves, there is hope using a preventative treatment of Imidacloprid.  But it must have booster treatments every 6 months.

Anyone else know if this is true? 

Actually, infested trees can be saved if treated soon enough ;
An effective way to save large palms is to trim all fronds + remove all the infested tissue to get rid of adults, nymphae & larvae, then spray insecticide + fungicide ;

When it comes to preventive treatment :
- With insecticides, you need to treat (shower the bud) every 4 weeks in order to protect the trees ;
- Endotherapy is another option, and requires only one injection per year ;
- Treatment with nematodes is somehow efficient when used properly + doesn't harm the environment ; It is the more eco-friendly option, yet remains pretty inconvenient (requires daytime temperatures between 54F and 86F + humid climate, won't work inland) and very expensive ; It is to be applied every 3 weeks during spring and fall, and when temperatures are too high (summer), insecticides are then applied ;

An example of infested palm treatment in France :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jw5D3tKd4