989 trees ate by red palm weevil

The beetle has been attacking palms in Andalucía since 1995

The red palm weevil has continued to destroy palm trees across the country, and 989 trees have now been lost in Málaga city this year, most of them, 869, in private gardens.

The weevil no longer only goes after Canary Palms as before, and has widened its attack to other palms, trees and plants.

The Málaga Councillor for Parks and Gardens, Teresa Porras, told La Opinión de Málaga that a Kentia palm was the latest to be lost, and that the weevil had been found in Date Palms in Marbella, a tree which generally defends itself better. 10,000 tree have had to be felled in Marbella in 2008, but this year only 20 or 30 have been lost from public gardens.

Alfredo Asensi, from the La Concepción Botanical Garden, said that the weevil had been successfully stopped by prevention treatments carried out, but he also noted that the weevil is thriving in the Málaga climate.

The red beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is originally from SE Asia and was first detected in Andalucía in 1995. It lays its larvae in the trunk of palm trees and the damage caused usually leads to the rapid death of the tree. It’s believed to have killed some 17,000 palms in total across the province of Málaga. 

Simon Schönbeck

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