Pages

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Trouble with Palms


"The bottom fronds of our triangle palm started to die, and then suddenly the whole palm fell over," a friend complained.
A significant pest of Pritchardia palms is the banana moth, Opogona sacchari. The triangle palm is also attacked by this moth. It seems that the female moth targets wounded or stressed palm tissue to lay her eggs. Stresses can include drought, flooding, mechanical wounding, poor nutrition, and herbicide injury. The larvae generally feed on decaying and dead plant tissue but will feed on living tissue, too, causing extensive damage. In affected palms, larval tunneling, along with the characteristic frass (insect droppings), can often be seen. Fully developed caterpillars measure just over an inch. The adults have greyish brown wings are 3/8 to 5/8 inches long.

The main treatment is prevention: keep palms growing well; give them adequate fertilizer, and supplemental water during a drought. Gardeners also need to be careful with the weed wacker! Female moths are looking for wounds to lay their eggs. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), an organic insecticide, can be applied to these wounds, as well as those caused during pruning.

For more information about this pest see the CTAHR Cooperative Extension Service publication, “Banana Moth – A Potentially Fatal Pest of Pritchardia and Other Palms”, by Scot Nelson and Mark Wright.  CTAHR stands for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii.