Save Samui’S Coconut Palms

[Relax1]

For an island famed for its coconut palms it is so very sad to see these dyeing in greater & greater numbers across the island.

It is truly depressing to walk along the once beautiful Bang Por beach & look at the dead & dyeing carcases of the coconut Palms. The same can be said of Ban Tai, Lamai & many other parts of the island.

To many Europeans the Palm tree is a symbol of paradise & to see so many of them so obviously sick on “Coconut Island”, cannot be the “Paradise Lost” image Samui wishes to portray.

I implore anybody with any influence on the island to please speak to the powers that can do something about the Palm Weevil on Samui before it is too late.

Would you really want to live, or tourists wish to visit a Samui without coconut palms.

[Rooo]

Many measures have been taken over the last few years.The one that seems to work, is get your trees treated directly.The other one was the release of the Vietnamese bee / wasp not sure. The first lot mostly died because of the hot weather at the time, but later releases seem to work to some extent, they feed on the weevil hatchings.

[Tropicalevo]

The red palm weevil came across (on holiday?) from Indonesia. It has no natural enemies in Thailand - apart from squirrels.

On Samui - Thais eat squirrels. So, not enough squirrels.

The Vietnamese wasp did work at the golf course but no one knows the long term affects. (Apart from lots of wasps now.)

Treating the trees with chemicals will reduce the number of trees that die - significantly, but not completely. However, they have to be treated every month or two. The reason - the weevils still live in the dead trees, and they keep on breeding. 200 - 300 baby buggies up to 3 times a year. To totally eradicate the weevil, the dead trees need to be cut up into smaller sections and burnt. No one seems to do this bit!

I and my neighbours have been treating our coconut trees ever since the weevils first appeared. We have still lost about 10% over the years.

It is not cheap - 50 baht per tree per month (based on treating them every two months.)

Perhaps a coconut tree tax on all Bandit Airways passengers? 100 baht per passenger? Still not enough money

Edited February 3, 2012 by Tropicalevo

[Eric1949]

You must remember that the coconut palms away from the beaches are imports and do not belong here. It was a government subsistance farming project. Most of the true Samui vegetation has long since gone, though some of it still exists in the interior of the island, where the subsistence farmers couldn't reach. This is one of the reasons the island is erroding so fast.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Eric1949

[joe84330]

the palms around bang por had problems two or three years ago but have rebounded very nicely. i've got a dozen in my yard that are all back to producing coconuts.

i'm not sure introducing non native species is the answer. just start repopulating the squirrels.