Monday, December 1, 2014

One More Dead Palm Tree




Thousands of Palm Trees are dying thanks to an Asian Beetle whose larvae feed on the trunks where they excavate holes up to one meter long. It's a heartbreaking scenery. 
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This is my contribution to the CDP December Theme Day: "Worker"
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

36 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Ah, heartbreaking indeed, Jose!! There is so much of this sort of thing happening all over the world! One can only ask -- when, where does it stop and how??? Your captures do say it all!!

William Kendall said...

A good take on the theme.

Here the problem is something called the emerald ash borer, which does much the same to certain trees.

RedPat said...

As William said, we are losing our Mountain Ash trees to this horrible borer. Thousands of trees have been cut down in Toronto in an attempt to stop the spread of this pest.

Kate said...

What a TERRIBLE blight to hit that area!!

Randy said...

I completely forgot about theme day, oh well. Nice shots for the theme.

Photo Cache said...

Oh how sad.

Unknown said...

thats sad
I especially like your third photo hes working really hard

Joan Elizabeth said...

It is heartbreaking to lose any tree. I have had a few in my garden die of old age. It would be worse if it was from some nasty beetle.

Babzy.B said...

great serie to illustrate the theme :)

Julie said...

One metre in length, good heavens! Astounding, isn't it, how insects, and virus', can circle the globe with such rapidity. I admire chaps who work strapped to trees. I am not even able to watch them.

Arija said...

That is tragic, in time the beetle could wipe out all palms around the world. What would the world be without dates and coconuts?

Unknown said...

@Arija: The weevil attacks this Palm Tree species only, native to the Canary Islands, which is the most common here. Fortunatelly, Coconut Palm Trees, Date Palm Trees, all types of Fan Palm Trees, etc. are safe. They can be side by side with a sick one and nothing happens to them.

biebkriebels said...

That is sad there are so many infected by the insects.

EG CameraGirl said...

OH! I'm so sorry a beetle is causing so much trouble!

Sami said...

How terrible! I had heard of this beetle, didn't know they did so much damage...

Sharon said...

That is a shame. There seems to be more and more bugs that invade plant life and cause their demise.

Judy said...

This is dangerous work. Such a shame to see the trees in peril. Here we have the 'bark beetle' which is killing the Pine trees.

Wayne said...

A sad side-effect of our ever shrinking world ...

Halcyon said...

Uh-oh... I also saw a lot of palms being cut down in Spain. Probably for the same reason. :(

Dina said...

This must be a sad job, working with trees almost dead.
Good pictures, though.
Is there no remedy in sight?

Lowell said...

We've had the same thing here, JM, but I'm not sure what caused the problem. Palms all over south Florida turned yellow and died.

What a mess, heh?

Unknown said...

@Dina: I've read that new alternative technologies using semiochemicals and bio insecticides are being developed, but nothing seems to be working so far. 14 Palm Trees around my house have died just this autumn. Sad!

Diane said...

How very sad. They take years to grow and they are so beautiful. It is going to make a huge difference to the countryside if this continues. I hope they soon find an answer. Take care Diane

VP said...

Sad reportage, great pictures for this theme day. I am quite afraid for our many palm trees!

Birdman said...

"Another One Bites the Dust"
I did know know of the infestation. Sad to see them go. Even one.

Anonymous said...

We are facing a similar problem here due to funghi attack. About 2 years ago, (https://belohorizontedailyphoto.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/bare-trees/) the city administration menaced to cut the trees, but people protested and some kind of treatments have been tested, but it doesn't seem we are having good results. Many branches had to be cut off because they were already dead.

Anonymous said...

Oh no - what a terrible sight!

cieldequimper said...

Hmmm, sad that the tree died but amazed at your great photos for today!

Jack said...

I was not aware of this problem, and Lowell's comment worries me. I live in south Florida and have numerous palm trees on the property.

orvokki said...

It sounds awful.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Shocking! Was this beetle introduced Jose? We've had a similar problem here with introduced species brought in to serve a purpose and then going horribly wrong.

Unknown said...

@PerthDP: No, it wasn't.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures, but what a sad subject.

Gunn said...

Great action shot!:)

Stickup Artist said...

That is alarming! I wonder if we will have such a tragedy? We have many palm trees here too, so this is extremely concerning. I go into mourning if I lose a house plant!

Dina said...

Thanks for the added information. Sorry about this plague of yours.
(But glad to learn a new word, seriochemicals.)