Eloise Horsfield
A CLEVER phone ‘app’ is enabling users to track the spread of the palm weevil.
‘PicudoPhone’, invented by three Spanish secondary school students, allows users to log infestations and upload photos onto Google Maps.
It is hoped the virtual map created by this free software will help town halls and other groups control the spread of the beetles, whose larvae kill palm trees by boring right through their trunks.
Originally from Asia, the weevils have wreaked havoc on the quintessentially Spanish palm tree and nobody is quite sure how to tackle the problem.
The new app is available for Android and iPhone and can be obtained by contacting El Campico school in Alicante where it was designed.
if you use the proper insecticides with jeyes fluid {or zotal as its called in spain}every 3 weeks in the summer and every 7 weeks in the winter depending on rainfall{washing it out } theres no problems with these little gits!!! and when any palm tree affected helicopters {that is when the palm fronds droop down}its not necessary dead.do this treatment and give it 6 months.im no expert but ive studed this problem for 6 years…hope this works for anyone with a droopy palm!!!…does that sound rude??
Dear PG….Well done and said.I wish you had applied your talent some years ago, the sadness to see dying palms, or any tree species hurts me just to look. You can imagine any town council with hydraulic platforms easily performing this treatment. Why did you and or others not scream from the roof tops?
All we need is an easy fire prevention scheme, to bring back the smiles to nature lovers.Keep at it and the best of luck.