Devastated Palm (Dreaded Palm Beetle)

Yesterday, our palm tree looked a bit odd. Ed noticed, when he came into the drive, that the middle seemed to have lessened and that somehow the leaves had fallen.

It was hard to see last night, but today I had to agree with him. The middle was much less full than normal, and one side had fallen a lot.

Thankfully, we have a friend that works for the council, so I sent him a message, and (hero that he is) he turned up tonight to have a look. He had a smell and a listen and then confirmed the worst. We have been affected by the dreaded palm beetle.

The beetles (or maye the larvae) omit an odour, which, when you are close to the tree, you can smell. Also, if you listen very closely, you can actually hear them munching away at the insides of the trunk. Horrible things.

The whole area around here has been very badly affected over the last few months. The council have been treating all of their trees, and have only lost 4 out of all of them.

Thankfully, our hero had a bottle of treatment with him, and, since we called him so quickly, he thinks we might be able to save it. I need to buy a bottle of the insecticide (imidacloprid 20%) which will be about 30 euros, but he thinks the bottle will last us for 2 years, as we only have a few palms.

We have to treat all of them, not just the 'pineapple' ones, to ensure that the bugs don't swap from one to another.

Fingers crossed. Watch this space!