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The Red Palm Weevil

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logitech
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Post by flyingveepixie Sat Feb 01, 2014 3:56 pm

Watch out for this nasty little creature if you have palm trees or bushes. We had 2 in our garden and they have been completely destroyed. I can't post a link to him for 7 days as I've just joined the forum and I'm not yet allowed, but do a google search and you will find all there is to know.
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Post by Geotherm Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:24 pm

We seem to have a veryy small version of those in the Enel box outside. Looked up the link to the ones you mention and they do look very similar, but far smaller. We have no palms though, so so may well be a different bug altogether.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhynchophorus_ferrugineus
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Post by logitech Sun Feb 02, 2014 5:15 pm

Geotherm wrote:We seem to have a veryy small version of those in the Enel box outside. Looked up the link to the ones you mention and they do look very similar, but far smaller. We have no palms though, so so may well be a different bug altogether.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhynchophorus_ferrugineus

We also have lots of little red with all over black spots beetle type insects which are a total pain as they can get through into the tiniest places but they're not these weevils-thankfully!
However, on another bug note, although it's only just February we've had what appear to be 5 young hornets appear on the terrace in the last 2 days. They're not very active and appear to be dying, indeed the ones we've seen are dead-well they are now.
Last autumn we found a layer of hornets in a downstairs rarely used stufa and daily we'd see 1 or 2 live ones trying to find a way out.Lit a fire and waited for Armageddon but nothing happened apart from a moderate exodus from the chimney.
I did get stung when fiddling about with the stufa door and trying to throw lit incense sticks in  Rolling Eyes 
Think they'd nested between the stufa flu and the chimney. We don't want this to happen again so planned on lighting a fire in said stufa every 2 weeks or so come the Spring-which is supposed to be the start of their nest building time but it's not Spring yet  Shocked 
Has anyone got a rational explanation for seeing young hornets so early in the year please?
All ideas will be considered thoughtfully.
Thank you x

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Post by Gala Placidia Sun Feb 02, 2014 5:54 pm

As flyingveepixie says, those insects are a horrible pest and once they establish themselves in an area they become difficult to erradicate. Here is an interesing article, which has been written by experts in Elche, Alicante (Spain), a region that has suffered enormously and I have personal friends who have lost all of their palm trees. To top it all, they have a World Heritage sit, "El Palmeral" in Elche, a marvelous place, which is endangered by this pest. Read it carefully Redweevil
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:04 pm

Logitech, perhaps the beetles you have are these LINK Just a thought as we have loads of them.
As to the hornets or wasps, looking at the temperatures over there I would not be surprised to see them. Here in the UK only the young queens of both wasps and hornets survive over winter and then come out in spring looking for a place to start a new hive... I would hazard a guess they are young queen hornets or wasps (queen being bigger than your average...) and they are out due to a warmer spell... They may well have popped out too early and die...

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Post by flyingveepixie Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:33 am

We've got the little red and black spotted bugs too. Don't think they're anything to worry about..    Smile
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Post by ghiro Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:01 am

flyingveepixie wrote:We've got the little red and black spotted bugs too. Don't think they're anything to worry about..    Smile
Whenever I arrive at our house in Italy and open the shutters loads of little red and black spotted bugs rain down on my head!  Sad  Smile
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Post by flyingveepixie Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:04 pm

LOL, it's millipedes in the shower tray for us....and spiders webs everywhere too of course....
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Post by modicasa Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:02 am

Here its called the punteruolo rosso - and its devastated all of Sicily.  There are ways to treat your trees, but usually they're dead before you realise anything is wrong.  A few comunes have had the foresight and the money to treat their palms before things got too bad, and they are about the obnly washington palms left standing in Sicily.  Unfortunately the little b(gg%rs dont kill the chinese palms.

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Post by flyingveepixie Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:46 pm

Too late for my palms. I had two which were just starting to come on nicely with me trimming fronds off every year. When we turned up there in October last year they were both completely dead. Having done a little research on the subject I've learned that in the case of serious infestation such as we had you should burn the dead plant material right down to the roots to get rid of eggs and larvae, and also not replant in the immediate vicinity.
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:48 pm

Well I'm please we don't have any and that's a very good warning should we ever buy them...

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