I have a palm tree infested with red palm weevils, what do I do?

“Is my palm tree infested with red palm weevils?” When you find yourself asking this question, the answer is simple. To avoid losing your tree, the solution is endotherapy. Likewise, this is also the most effective preventive treatment. So, how do you detect this pest?

How to detect a red palm weevil infestation

To find out whether a palm tree is suffering from a red palm weevil infestation, you’ll need to carry out a full visual inspection. These some of are the warning signs:

• Leaves with holes and signs of having been chewed by larvae.
• Drooping leaves at the centre of the palm tree.
• The plant loses vitality and the crown becomes asymmetrical.
• Sawdust and fermented sap are visible.
• Remains of cocoons can be found.
• There are cavity holes at the base of the leaves.
• The rachis have been eaten or cut short.

In these cases, it’s essential to have an expert analyse the plant to correctly assess the problem. It’s also very important to know in which areas of the tree red palm weevils are found. Larvae, which are what eat the trunk, position themselves in growth areas. In other words, they are found at the base of the leaves or in open or soft areas, though they also attack the basal and lateral areas of the trunk. From there, they penetrate to the inside and start to dig the tunnels that end up killing the tree.

Red palm weevil reproduction

The red palm weevil reproduces rapidly. Its entire life cycle, from egg to death, is complete in just three or four months. As a result, there may be three or four different generations each year. The number of eggs laid by each female ranges between 300 and 400. This means that weevils at all stages of development can be found all year round. So, when you see eggs, you’re almost guaranteed to find larvae, pupae or cocoons and beetles too. At this speed of reproduction, once weevils appear in an area, they can very quickly colonise it.

Types of treatment against red palm weevil infestations

First and foremost, there is no way to get rid of this beetle unless you take action with a specific treatment. Simply cutting back leaves, or even whole palm trees, won’t solve anything. Today, the most effective treatment is known as endotherapy. SOSPALM is applied as follows:

• Drill the trunk until you reach its core, where the greatest number of conducting bundles are located.
• Insert the SOSPALM pipettes.
• Apply mastic sealant to keep the tree waterproof.
• Open the cap and insert the dose of insecticide with a syringe.
• Repeat the application according to the recommendation by the expert.

When signs of a red palm weevil infestation appear, it may already be too late to save the palm tree. For this reason, SOSPALM endotherapy treatments should also be applied preventively – though they are also effective on infested palm trees, as long as the larvae have not eaten the apical bud.