Malta loses 630 more palm trees to weevil infection

630 palm trees had to be felled down between March 2013 and August 2014 due to their being infected by the red palm weevil, Environment Minister Leo Brincat revealed.

Responding to a parliamentary question by Opposition environment spokesperson Charlo Bonnici, Brincat added that a further 80 palm trees have been infected in that period.

The red palm weevil bores into palm trees and is capable of killing a tree within a matter of months. It is also capable of flying up to kilometres and of infecting other trees. The Plant Health Directorate has previously issued guidelines to combat weevil infection. These include guidelines to fishermen to treat palm fronds with insecticide before creating ring-nets out of them and to Palm Sunday planners to keep the palm fronds’ diameter smaller than 5cm.