Yesterday afternoon at Phoenix Park, the City of Nice and its biological partners Végetech and UPL organized an awareness and demonstration day on treatment methods against red palm weevils.
100% organic works for killing plant pests! Yesterday’s awareness day proved it. Thanks to the marketing authorization of strain 11 of “Beauvaria bassiana” obtained in March 2018, Nice has become the first city in France to use it to treat “Phoenix” palm trees, which are the most affected by the red palm weevil. The first two years of treatment have shown very promising results. The first treatment conducted in 2018 reduced the number of palm trees cut down by 29% between 2017 and 2018. This rate even reached 74% during the first six months of 2019, thanks to the second treatment. “This is a great success when you see the results. There are three times fewer palm trees being cut down, and we must continue in this direction,” emphasized Bernard Baudin, Deputy Mayor in charge of Civil Status, parks and gardens, and the Collines Niçoises territory.
The treatment method is simple, as explained by Karine Panchaud, a biologist at Végetech: “It’s an antenna system with a head where the powder used for treatment is placed. The antenna is mounted on top of the palm tree, and then the product is applied directly into the trunk.” A drone treatment experiment was also conducted, but the city did not receive authorization. However, this technique is already very effective. It has enabled regular monitoring of sensitive palm trees or those already attacked.
In total, the city treats around 1,300 palm trees per month. It has also replanted approximately 800 specimens, choosing palm trees less susceptible to pests, to compensate for the heritage loss it has suffered since 2011. To combat these pests, other European countries are equipping themselves with this famous red palm weevil destructive strain. This year, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, and Portugal obtained the right to use it.
