The red palm weevil and your palms in Mallorca

The red palm weevil has killed a large share of the Canary Island date palms on Mallorca. An untreated Phoenix canariensis in an infested area is usually lost within a couple of seasons, and by the time the crown looks wrong the larvae have often been inside for months. Treatment works, but only as a routine rather than a rescue.

What does the weevil actually do?

The adult lays eggs in the crown or in a wound on the trunk. The larvae hatch inside and eat their way through the soft tissue at the growing point, hollowing it out while the palm still looks normal from the ground. A single palm can host hundreds of larvae at once. The tree dies from the centre, which is why it can appear healthy one month and collapse the next.

How do you tell whether a palm is infested?

• The crown looks asymmetric, with fronds on one side drooping or shorter than the rest.
• New fronds emerge chewed, notched or stunted, because they were eaten before they opened.
• A hollow sound when the trunk is tapped near the crown.
• Chewed fibre or a fermenting smell around the base of the fronds.
• Fallen fronds that pull away too easily, taking soft tissue with them.

The awkward part is that a palm which has lost its growing point cannot recover, no matter what is applied to it afterwards. This is a pest where the only useful strategy is the one you start before you have a problem.

What does treatment involve?

Two approaches are used here, usually together. Crown treatments apply product to the growing point at intervals through the season, and endotherapy injects into the trunk so the palm carries the treatment internally. Both are repeat visits on a schedule tied to the weevil’s activity, which runs through the warm months. A single treatment in August after the neighbour lost a palm is not a programme.

This is specialist work, not routine pruning, which is why it appears separately on maintenance quotes. It also explains why palms push a maintenance figure up: on a medium garden, regular care runs €2,500 to €3,500 a year before anything specialist is added.

Does pruning make it worse?

It can. Fresh cuts release volatiles that attract the adult weevil, so pruning during peak activity is an invitation. Where palms are pruned, the cuts are usually treated at the same time, and the timing is chosen around the weevil rather than around the gardener’s round. Ask any company quoting palm work how they handle that. It is a quick way to tell whether they know the pest or just own a chainsaw.

What happens to an infested palm?

Removal and disposal are regulated, because a felled palm left lying is a nursery for the next generation. The material generally has to be chipped or treated rather than carted to a green waste point, and there are notification requirements in some municipalities. Check with your ajuntament before anyone starts cutting, and use a company that has done it before.

Is it worth planting a date palm now?

If you want one, plan for the treatment schedule as part of the cost of owning it, the way you would plan for a pool needing chemicals. If that sounds like more commitment than you want, there are other ways to get height and a subtropical look. Washingtonia is attacked far less often, and carob, olive and Aleppo pine give shade without any of this.

How the matching works

We do not treat palms. We keep a list of vetted garden maintenance companies on Mallorca, including ones that do palm work, and pass your job to the ones covering your area. Describe the palms, ideally with a photograph of the crown, and they will quote you directly.

If you have palms, put them on a schedule

The owners who still have their date palms are the ones who treated them before anything looked wrong. Send the job through and vetted Mallorca companies will quote a treatment programme directly. Pruning is part of the same question, because fresh cuts are what attract the weevil: see palm tree pruning on Mallorca.