South American Palm Weevil and Palms it is confirmed to attack in Southern California

[Tracy]

On New Years Day our neighborhood has an annual breakfast which happens in front of the house that was the first in our immediate neighborhood to be attacked by the South American Palm Weevil.  A second Phoenix canariensis aka Canary Island Date Palm (CIDP) that was infested was removed just a couple of days prior to the breakfast, so needless to say, the weevil was a topic of discussion among some of the neighbors.  There are now two more on my street that haven't been removed yet, but are showing the classic flattening of the crown indicative of an infestation of the weevil.

So the question that was posed to me by neighbors, is what other palms are susceptible.  While I have read about some South American palms being hosts for the weevil and have heard that other large Phoenix species are susceptible, I have only personally seen two palms species infested and killed.  The two are Phoenix canariensis and Bismarckia nobilis.  So my question to the group, is whether anyone can add to the list of species they have infested here in Southern California and neighboring Northern Baja California.  There are several of the large Phoenix species palms (e.g. dactylifera, reclinata, sylvestris, etc.) and hybrids which are abundant in plantings here, but I personally haven't seen any representative attacked.  What about Brahea's, Butia and Jubea chlilensis?  Anyone seeing these being attacked yet?

In recent months, a few photos of the old CIDP planted at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas have been posted on this website.  On Sunday morning's dog walk, I noticed a clump of wild growing CIDP and Phoenix hybrids adjacent to Moonlight had their first victim infested and it wasn't one of the hybrids, it was one of the true CIDP's.  Needless to say I'll be monitoring what happens to the little grove as well as the old specimen in the middle of the sand at Moonlight Beach.  The infested CIDP is right behind the two lifeguard towers that are stored for the winter back from the shore.  I guess I will find if they have a preference for pure CIDP or if they go after the hybrids too as the weeks progress.

[James B]

Are there any upcoming therapies being worked on for this problem? Luckily for me in my yard I’m not a fan of CDIP due to its mass, and maintaining required to trim and keep its copious amount of seeds under control.

However Bismarkia is one of my favorite palms. I only plan on keeping the one I have as my neighbor has 6 lined between our properties so we have plenty of blue going on.

Hopefully the weevil stays south.

 

[quaman58]

They lost a Jubea about 3 years ago at Mission bay, and another is now on it's way out.  My assumption is the weevil is responsible.

[ZPalms]

I hate this weevil

[Fishinsteeg234]

Maybe there’s a ‘Zombie Beetle Fungus’ out there that can help, without spreading to everything…..or everyone. 😉

https://www.livescience.com/59493-fungus-turns-beetle-into-zombie.html
 

joking aside, I hate to see this news. Hope something can be done. 

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, James B said:

Are there any upcoming therapies being worked on for this problem?

Some people are using Imidacloprid which is used as a systemic.  The problem is that the insecticide also gets into the flowers and kills bees that are getting nectar from them.  If one is using this systemic, the responsible thing is to remove any inflorescence or flower spadix as soon as they appear and before the spathe even comes off exposing the flowers.  For CIDP, that is a tremendous amount of work especially for larger specimens.

3 hours ago, James B said:

Hopefully the weevil stays south.

It probably isn't a question of if but when this will make it up to Rancho Cucamonga.  I remember reading about their arrival in Tijuana, and shortly thereafter hearing about them in the South Bay areas of San Diego and now they are all over the coastal cities north of San Diego proper.

2 hours ago, quaman58 said:

They lost a Jubea about 3 years ago at Mission bay, and another is now on it's way out.  My assumption is the weevil is responsible.

Thank you for that information Brett.  Have you seen either to confirm if the progression is the same on the Jubea, with an apparent flattening of the crown since the new emerging spear growth point is being damaged by the feeding weevil larvae?  I'm guessing that it is near the Hilton off East Mission Bay Drive?  I'm sure you saw Matt's Bismarckia in your neighborhood.  I'm sure you are keeping an eye on all your Pritchardia just in case.

[quaman58]

Tracey, I drive by it every day, so I'll take a very concentrated look at it. It appears to have that top-down crown collapse. As a matter of fact, I did not know Matt lost his Bismarkia. That's a major downer. Between both side-by-side gardens here, there's got to be 30 Pritchardia. Feel like it's just a matter of time unfortunately. Once they're way up and overhead, they're hard to keep an eye on.  Fingers crossed..

[Palmiz]

Sitting in doctors office and right out the window sits this giant. I was thinking to myself hopefully they never make it to this one, that would be sad.

[LJG]

I saw the Jubea chlilensis yesterday passing Mission, and yes, it is the weevil. I also saw the weevil kill a Jubea chlilensis in San Marcos. It has already been removed. Pritchardia is another plant they love. 

[quaman58]

Here you go..

 

[Tracy]

16 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Here you go..

 

Ugly!

I heard chainsaws this morning and walked the dogs down the street to see the action.   The third CIDP to come down on my street and the street behind us in the last few weeks.   The fourth clearly infested CIDP at the opposite end of my street will shortly follow.

I think I counted another 14 CIDP on my side of the street or in yards backing up to our street which could become the next victims.  No Bismarckia nobilis or Jubea on the street though.  Several Butia, Brahea, Sabal and Washingtonia on the street which could be put to the test and of course I have several Pritchardia too.

[Tracy]

16 hours ago, LJG said:

I saw the Jubea chlilensis yesterday passing Mission, and yes, it is the weevil. I also saw the weevil kill a Jubea chlilensis in San Marcos. It has already been removed. Pritchardia is another plant they love. 

I have heard they like Pritchardia but have you seen any infested or know anyone to lose Pritchardia to this weevil Len?

[LJG]

8 hours ago, Tracy said:

I have heard they like Pritchardia but have you seen any infested or know anyone to lose Pritchardia to this weevil Len?

I think Adam in North Park area saved his. So not one that has died from them. 

[Phoenikakias]

Sabal palmetto killed in Nauplion, Greece, by the rpw.

[Phoenikakias]

On 1/11/2024 at 11:12 PM, Tracy said:

I have heard they like Pritchardia but have you seen any infested or know anyone to lose Pritchardia to this weevil Len?

Rpw adores Pritchardia and, even worse, you can not eradicate easily the pest in infested plants of this genus. I keep trying with loads of chemicals  to save mine, and by any recent removal of old boots I discover new tunnels on the trunk

[Matt in SD]

As Tracy said, they got a Bismarkia of mine (as well as CIDP) and...I'm going to dig into this today, but this Sabal is almost certianly a victim.  I also have a Pritchardia acting odd and just went out and pulled some leafbases down and found a tunnel.  So can confirm Pritchardia too.  On both the Sabal and Pritchardia, the first sign I noticed of anything off was that on each palm a single leaf suddenly died/dried up.  In both cases the leaf was about half-way down the crown, which is confusing to me and made me skeptical it was the weevil.  But clear now that it is.  At this point I think my main goal is to get in there and kill all the grubs to limit spread.

 

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

this Sabal is almost certianly a victim.  I also have a Pritchardia acting odd and just went out and pulled some leafbases down and found a tunnel.  So can confirm Pritchardia too.  On both the Sabal and Pritchardia, the first sign I noticed of anything off was that on each palm a single leaf suddenly died/dried up.  In both cases the leaf was about half-way down the crown, which is confusing to me and made me skeptical it was the weevil.  But clear now that it is.  At this point I think my main goal is to get in there and kill all the grubs to limit spread.

Thanks for sharing the bad news Matt.  It appears that they go for their favorite first (CIDP) then start to diversify into these secondary species if they are nearby.  So thus far, we have local confirmations here in San Diego of the South American Palm Weevil infesting: 

CIDP

Bismarkia nobilis

Jubea chlilensis

Sabal

Pritchardia 

While I don't want the list to expand, I also don't want to bury my head in the sand, so any additional genus and/or species that one has first hand knowledge of being infested is appreciated.

11 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Rpw adores Pritchardia

Thank you for sharing.  Obviously a different weevil species involved there but still insightful.  Hope you find a solution.

[Phoenikakias]

23 minutes ago, Tracy said:

 

Thank you for sharing.  Obviously a different weevil species involved there but still insightful.  Hope you find a solution.

Trust me, both spp have identical taste! To name a couple more genera, in the preferable targets is included Ravenea (even the glauca) and Butia.

[Phoenikakias]

4 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

On both the Sabal and Pritchardia, the first sign I noticed of anything off was that on each palm a single leaf suddenly died/dried up.  In both cases the leaf was about half-way down the crown, which is confusing to me and made me skeptical it was the weevil.  But clear now that it is.  At this point I think my main goal is to get in there and kill all the grubs to limit spread.

 

 

As far as the Pritchardia is concerned, I would be also alerted if plant stops growing or grows very slowly during the warm season and especially when spear leaf emerges leaning. Last symptom is imo a serious reason for great concern, wherever the weevil is present.

[Matt in SD]

Dealt with both palms today...at least contained the weevils and larvae.  The Sabal was completely destroyed inside, shocking it only recently showed signs.  Below where the crown collapsed it's about 12" diameter and there was probably 12" of rotted material before I got to anything solid.  Then what was left in there was riddled wtih tunnels to the point that it was like swiss cheese.  I've been flooding it and going out occaisonally to collect the larvae that float up.  More than 20 so far.

The Pritchardia was not nearly as bad.  Only 3 grubs and tunnels from those 3 grubs that were pretty distinct.  I think it might have had a chance if I treated it, but it was in spot where it got frost damage every winter so I just beheaded it.  

I keep looking at my giant Beccariophoenix alfredii that is very close to the Sabal...just worrying.

Matt Bradford told me that he heard that two Queen palms had been attacked in San Diego.

 

Matt

[GottmitAlex]

7 hours ago, Tracy said:

Thanks for sharing the bad news Matt.  It appears that they go for their favorite first (CIDP) then start to diversify into these secondary species if they are nearby.  So thus far, we have local confirmations here in San Diego of the South American Palm Weevil infesting: 

CIDP

Bismarkia nobilis

Jubea chlilensis

Sabal

Pritchardia 

While I don't want the list to expand, I also don't want to bury my head in the sand, so any additional genus and/or species that one has first hand knowledge of being infested is appreciated.

Thank you for sharing.  Obviously a different weevil species involved there but still insightful.  Hope you find a solution.

Not expanding to the list. However I would amend the list at No.2 : Washingtonia robusta. No one notices them because of their slenderness, they are left as toothpicks. 

Just my observation.

[Tracy]

9 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Trust me, both spp have identical taste! To name a couple more genera, in the preferable targets is included Ravenea (even the glauca) and Butia.

Ouch, I have a handful of Ravenea I would hate to lose.  Profuse profanities on a very negative note.

[Billy]

18 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

Matt Bradford told me that he heard that two Queen palms had been attacked in San Diego.

If only they could go for all the ugly ones here in North County...

Speaking of which, I recently noticed a queen in Leucadia that I suspect got hit by the beetle. There's a row of about 6 queens all with about 40-45' of trunk on La Costa Avenue west of the 5. One of them has that look as if it got struck by lighting, with all the fronds hanging down. It's pretty recent so it still hasn't been removed. As for the CIDPs biting the dust I'm seeing more and more of them around town. Definitely a bummer and I really hope they don't go for the Pritchardias. 

[quaman58]

So, what’s the best guess as to how actually enter the palm? Do they bore their way inside, and if so, where? I’m just wondering if there are any sort of exterior signs that you can see when the palm has first been attacked. Not that you can do much observation for a palm that’s way overhead, but for the ones that are head high I’m just wondering if there’s something visual that I should be able to observe.

[Phoenikakias]

12 hours ago, quaman58 said:

So, what’s the best guess as to how actually enter the palm? Do they bore their way inside, and if so, where? I’m just wondering if there are any sort of exterior signs that you can see when the palm has first been attacked. Not that you can do much observation for a palm that’s way overhead, but for the ones that are head high I’m just wondering if there’s something visual that I should be able to observe.

Sawdust in the axils, little, suspicious holes  combined or not with resin or sawdust inside those holes.

[BS Man about Palms]

This thread cries out for an angry button instead of an upvote or love...  

Also curious if @Matt in SD could show flooding procedure?

Also will post recent ones I found in another thread, more so to mark Northward progress.

[Billy]

[Billy]

This is the queen that I mentioned earlier. I reckon she’s a goner…

[rizla023]

Went to San Diego today. Was so extremely sad to see all the carnage ☹️ we lost count of all the destroyed CIDP we saw.

[Josh-O]

On 1/13/2024 at 6:53 AM, Matt in SD said:

As Tracy said, they got a Bismarkia of mine (as well as CIDP) and...I'm going to dig into this today, but this Sabal is almost certianly a victim.  I also have a Pritchardia acting odd and just went out and pulled some leafbases down and found a tunnel.  So can confirm Pritchardia too.  On both the Sabal and Pritchardia, the first sign I noticed of anything off was that on each palm a single leaf suddenly died/dried up.  In both cases the leaf was about half-way down the crown, which is confusing to me and made me skeptical it was the weevil.  But clear now that it is.  At this point I think my main goal is to get in there and kill all the grubs to limit spread.

 

dang!!! Sorry to hear Matt. 

[Josh-O]

On 1/14/2024 at 9:27 AM, Billy said:

If only they could go for all the ugly ones here in North County...

Speaking of which, I recently noticed a queen in Leucadia that I suspect got hit by the beetle. There's a row of about 6 queens all with about 40-45' of trunk on La Costa Avenue west of the 5. One of them has that look as if it got struck by lighting, with all the fronds hanging down. It's pretty recent so it still hasn't been removed. As for the CIDPs biting the dust I'm seeing more and more of them around town. Definitely a bummer and I really hope they don't go for the Pritchardias. 

they love pritchardias unfortunately 

[Than]

Most CIDP are already goners in my town but surprisingly no washingtonias seem to be affected yet.

First time I am happy that the new land I purchased is surrounded by vast expansions of olive groves with no palms in sight.

[Phoenikakias]

51 minutes ago, Than said:

Most CIDP are already goners in my town but surprisingly no washingtonias seem to be affected yet.

First time I am happy that the new land I purchased is surrounded by vast expansions of olive groves with no palms in sight.

I have seen very few infected and even killed Washies in Attica. Several years ago all planted robusta's in front of the main gate of the Piraeus port had been killed by rpw. But the fact remains that Washies  plate is not included in rpw's favorite menu. 

Rpw can fly up to 7 km distance on a single day. In contrast the giant moth is rather a non migrating sp and male individuals are quite territorial flying round any intruder (people included) in to their habitat in order to drive him away, so any presence of Paysandisia can be easily detected, while rpw is notoriously cryptic.

[Phoenikakias]

Jays feeding on adults, larvae and pupae of rpw in Nauplion. Interestingly you may observe a still healthy Bizzie just below the crown of the dead Canary   https://youtube.com/shorts/kLrJtN-L0X4?feature=shared

[Than]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have seen very few infected and even killed Washies in Attica. Several years ago all planted robusta's in front of the main gate of the Piraeus port had been killed by rpw. But the fact remains that Washies  plate is not included in rpw's favorite menu. 

Rpw can fly up to 7 km distance on a single day. In contrast the giant moth is rather a non migrating sp and male individuals are quite territorial flying round any intruder (people included) in to their habitat in order to drive him away, so any presence of Paysandisia can be easily detected, while rpw is notoriously cryptic.

I guess that once all CIDPs are gone, dactyliphera and syagrus will be next... and once they too are gone the beatles will prefer to go to less appetizing species like Washies rather than go extinct. 

The nearest CIDPs to my land is about 1 km away just a couple of isolated trees in a sea of olive trees... shit...

Edited January 16 by Than

[bruce Steele]

Maybe someone could build little drones that would sense large flying bugs then fly up and spray them individually.  At least they wouldn’t shoot back. 
Excuse the musings of an old man at 2:00 am. 
It is kinda intimidating knowing these beetles are moving north and have a huge population of palms to expand into all through LA, Ventura, and SB. Will they be stopped in areas that regularly reach into the low 20s every winter?  Or will the insulation properties of palm crowns protect the larva through the winter?  
8b might turn out to be better palm habitat than 10a. 

[Frond-friend42]

I saw an article in Spanish on here of a palm keeper who fumigated with cayenne pepper and killed weevils and also injected the trunks ("two coffee spoons per liter) and swore he was able to kill all weevils outside and inside. And protected them for life, in the case of injection. Lacking any better ideas I would try it if I had the palms in question facing this threat.

[Tomas]

4 hours ago, Frond-friend42 said:

I saw an article in Spanish on here of a palm keeper who fumigated with cayenne pepper and killed weevils and also injected the trunks ("two coffee spoons per liter) and swore he was able to kill all weevils outside and inside. And protected them for life, in the case of injection. Lacking any better ideas I would try it if I had the palms in question facing this threat.

Such bullshit is more difficult to eradicate than the palm weevil. Consider the huge economical damage that is the weevil for the coconut and date palm growers! And they do not use such simple solutions! 🤣 

[Tracy]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:55 AM, Phoenikakias said:

Sawdust in the axils, little, suspicious holes  combined or not with resin or sawdust inside those holes.

Makes me a bit suspicious about this Copernicia x Textilis (baileyana x hospita) which has gone through a slow progression that started at the center.  I've used both antifungals and imaldachorpid on it since it developed this.  The early photos date back to the Autumn of 2021, and show a progression from 2022 through October 2023.  I couldn't identify any holes, but there appeared to be some sawdust around the deformed emerging new spears.  Whatever is going on, it started at the growth point and has remained there.

[Little Tex]

On 1/13/2024 at 12:09 AM, Phoenikakias said:

Sabal palmetto killed in Nauplion, Greece, by the rpw.

Thats going to sting if this makes it to Florida