Teulada palms get special treatment

THE palm trees lining Avenida Madrid in Teulada have been inspected for the deadly red weevil.

Costa Blanca palms have been under attack by the voracious insects for some time now and many have succumbed.

Following a close examination by technical staff from a specialist company assessed by Alicante University, several Teulada trees were found to harbour the dreaded ‘picudo rojo’.

All of the Avenida Madrid palms are municipal property and nine were so badly affected that it was decided they should be felled in the interests of public safety.

Others that the experts believe can be saved will receive treatment, which, if successful, should give them a certain degree of immunity from the weevil.

These will be sprayed with authorised pesticides and receive injections of fungibased products directly through their trunks.

Until now attention has generally been restricted to the trees known as Canary palms, but inspections have been extended to similar-looking date palms and washingtonia palms with their fan-shaped leaves.