The Life And Death Of Trees

It was reported last May that almost 9,000 palm trees had been destroyed in Mallorca as a result of having been affected by the picudo rojo red beetle. The number of trees which had been affected since 2006, when the beetle was first detected in Mallorca, was put at around 11,000 from a total palm population of getting on for 275,000 trees.

Trees can be saved. I know of cases where they have been and where the trees are once more flourishing. Early detection, "shock treatment", as a gardener described it to me, constant treatment, trapping the beetle can help to revive trees and then go some way to eradicating the beetle.

It is a pest which is difficult to eradicate, especially as the beetle has no predator (birds and others shun it), but it can be eradicated. It is now over three years since the last beetle was captured in the Canary Islands (Fuerteventura to be exact). Constant monitoring led the European Commission to declare the Canaries free of the insect; the first region in the world where it has been eliminated.

It was first detected in the Canaries in 2005, a year before it was in Mallorca. From that moment on up until relatively recently, i.e. well beyond that last insect having been captured, more than 700,000 palm trees were inspected. Over 200,000 were treated. Only 659 were actually removed. In a coordinated effort which involved the general public, various administrations, strict import controls, geographic information systems and more, they managed to get rid of it. The cost of doing so was nine million euros.

By contrast with the Canaries, the response in Mallorca was uncoordinated. There was also complacency that bordered on gross incompetence. Latterly, the beetle has been treated very much more effectively and efficiently. Nevertheless, in 2015 the number of trees that were eliminated was almost 1,800.

The incompetence was as detectable as the evidence of the beetle was - trees slowly dying. Although it is generally thought that the beetle first took hold in Pollensa, it wasn't Pollensa where it was first detected: this was in Campos on the other side of the island. Yet Pollensa was to become the initial and most obvious part of Mallorca that was affected, so much so that it was dubbed "ground zero" for the beetle. The response was initially a state of denial. When action was finally taken, trees were cut down and the remains left in the open: a terrible decision. Eventually it was realised that the remains had to be burned or buried, preferably both. And the burning was ideally in an incinerator, not out in the open.

One can only conclude that it was a combination of incompetence and complacency that allowed the beetle to spread. One can add to this mixture a lack of resources, especially money. As the Canaries already had the problem (and were getting on with tackling it), as Valencia and Andalusia most definitely also had the problem, then why was not more done?

The complacency was perhaps because the beetle had first been found in Spain nine years before its presence was evident in Valencia. The first reported case was in a place called Almuñécar on the Costa Granadina in Andalusia. This was way back in 1994. The apparent slowness of the plague may have led some to believe that it wasn't the threat that it turned out to be.

Despite the destruction of trees and the regrettable sight of stumps that remain, in percentage terms it has been modest. But the anxieties and sadness caused should in themselves be sufficient to have administrations in a constant state of high alert in case another threat emerges. It has, and it's called olive ebola (xylella fastidiosa), a bacteria that is far less discerning than the beetle. Its appetite is for various tree species, over 300 it is reckoned, and these are not only fruit trees - oaks, sycamores, ornamental plants; they're all on its radar.

By comparison with the potential that olive ebola has for devastation, the effects of the beetle would be small beer. It is now being said that there were indications of the pest in Mallorca in 2012, so before it started to wreak havoc in Italy. If there were signs, it was only a few months ago that there were confirmed cases. But it turns out that there were more. Has the government been slow to react? Was it in denial, complacent or incompetent? Analysis was needed to be sure, it argues. It would now be easy, says the agriculture minister, to just destroy acres of countryside by cutting down thousands of trees. Instead the bacteria has to be fought. If the fight is lost, the destruction will occur anyway.

But there is hope because there is action, so one trusts that the mistakes of picudo rojo are not being repeated.

MALLORCA TODAY - Improvements to palm beetle situation hoped for

Although the number of palm trees affected by the "picudo rojo" red beetle now exceeds 5,000 and despite the beetle having spread to previously unaffected parts of Mallorca, there is hope that there might be an improvement to the situation, owing to efforts being concentrated on ensuring that towns that do not currently have a problem continue to not be blighted. The greatest numbers of infected palms are Palma with 1651 and Pollensa with 848.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Over 450 palms in Pollensa eliminated

In a three-month period at the start of the year over 450 palm trees infested by the red palm beetle were cut down in Pollensa and moved to the Llenaire site for burial and burning. Proceedings against four homeowners who did not comply with the order to remove affected trees have been taken out.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Palm beetle affects 35 towns in Mallorca

The spread of the destructive palm beetle - the "picudo rojo" - is such that only 18 of Mallorca's 53 municipalities do not have palm trees affected by the beetle. The four most affected towns are Alcúdia and Pollensa in the north and Palma and Llucmajor in the south.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Different method for tackling the palm beetle

The spraying of palm trees to try and kill off the destructive palm beetle is often not as effective as it might be because of the wind. An expert has come up with an alternative method which essentially impregnates trees and which is said to be less expensive as well.

One might add that this method would probably be better for everyone's health. The spraying of the trees can certainly provoke some negative respiratory reaction.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Palm trees being eliminated in Pollensa

Drastic action by Pollensa town hall to stem the actions of the "picudo rojo" red beetle that has devastated certain palm tree species in Puerto Pollensa and which has now spread to other parts of the island involves the cutting down of 80 palms that had not been affected by the beetle. The move, with the agreement and assistance of the environment ministry, is to be accompanied by orders for owners with palms on private land that are affected to eliminate the trees within ten days of receiving such an order, or face a fine of up to 2,500 euros.

MALLORCA TODAY - Palm beetle destruction set to spread

The regional government environment ministry says that some 1,260 palm trees, almost all of them the spreading Phoenix variety, have been affected or destroyed by the palm beetle "plague" that has been centred on Pollensa but which has moved to Alcúdia and has a further centre in the south around Palma and Llucmajor. The ministry believes that the coming autumn could see a further spread of the beetle across the island.

MALLORCA TODAY - New trees for Puerto Pollensa

Mayor Tomeu Cifre has announced that tests will be carried out to find plants and trees that will be most suitable to replace the palms that have been devastated by the "picudo rojo" in Puerto Pollensa. It is unlikely that new palms will be planted because of the virtual impossibility of eliminating the beetle.

Meanwhile, palm-tree remains that had been left in the Llenaire area have been burned and the area tidied up, but more remains will be deposited and burned there in the future owing to the cost of transporting them to an incinerator.

MALLORCA TODAY - More burning of palm remains in Puerto Pollensa

Pollensa town hall has announced that it will incinerate palm remains that are still being gathered and dumped in plastic in the Llenaire district of Puerto Pollensa. The town hall says that it has the authorisation of the regional government environment ministry to do so, though it is unclear if it intends to burn the palms in situ or take them away. Previously, palms affected by the "picudo rojo" (palm weevil) have been burned in open fields, provoking protests that this merely adds to the spread of the beetle that has been destroying palm trees in the area. The town hall has also given no date as to when the incineration will take place.