Red Palm Weevil

Just an update on this disaster that has hit many European countries and came into the Algarve three years ago.

Since the invasion of these creatures, various areas (including where I live) have lost virtually ALL their Canary Palms.

Friends of ours who live five minutes away went back to the UK for 2 1/2 months in the summer returning last month. To their horror their five Canary Palms had all been struck by the RPW ...







... and these were the critters taken from one of them ...



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In our years here in this house (13 now) we have enjoyed this view of our neighbour's Canary Palm ...



Barely three weeks later it looks like this today ...

 

Thats looking really bad Victoria.

It seems to take hold very quickly although I guess on the larger palms the pest is there undetected for some time before the problem shows, by which time its probably too late.

Does it only attack Phoenix palms?

 

In some countries it can attack other species, Pete, including Agaves, but we only see damage to the Canary palms here.

I just read on one of the expat forums that on one of the complexes in Western Algarve they had 15 giant Canaries and they have been treating them for two years ... now there are just three left and they think they will soon be gone.

As I understand it the parents enter the palms through the base of the fronds and lay their eggs, which hatch as grubs and it is they who munch their way through the trunks, which is absolutely foul smelling, and move on when they become adults .. in a few months. The thing is, each female lays up to 300 eggs each ...