Devastating coconut pest discovered in St. Kitts
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE palm population on St. Kitts runs the risk of being extinct if a solution is not found to deal with the Red Palm Mite which has been recently discovered on the island.
The Red Palm Mite, according to a press release from the Department of Agriculture, is a “devastating plant pest”, which originated in Africa and Asia and was first detected in Martinique in 2003. Since then, it has since been discovered in a number of other Caribbean islands including St. Lucia, Grenada, Jamaica, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Trinidad and St. Martin.
Described as being “bright red with a long spatulate body setae” with “a droplet of liquid at the tip of most body setae in living specimen”, the pest causes serious leaf damage as it lives and breeds on the underside of leaves, “usually along the midrib, where they feed on cellular contents of the leaves accessed through the leaf stomata”.
Symptoms of infestation are obvious are and said to be marked by “localised yellowing of the leaves” which is followed by “tissue necrosis” or death.
The Agriculture Department is reporting that the main mode of dispersal of the pest is through the transport of infected plants or items including hats, souvenirs and other crafts constructed from palm tree material or from the plant’s seeds. The pest is also dispersed with the aid of the wind, more so during the hurricane season. ~~Adz:Right~~
The Red Palm Mite has been known to affect a number of palm species and it also affects other “exotic and ornamental plant species including banana and heliconia species”.
In an attempt to deal with the potential epidemic, the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) in July of this year established a networking group known as the “D-Group” among all infested countries “so as to share experiences and finding the best approach in controlling the Red Palm Mite”.
“To control this pest, chemical control will be difficult outside of the nursery environment because the use of acaricides on most palms is impractical because of the size of most palms planted in the landscape. The long-term plans are to find biological control agents that will keep the RPM in check. Some of the possible biological control agents that have been useful in the Eastern Hemisphere include predatory mites (Phytoseiidae), predatory beetles (chrysomelidae), lacewings (Chrysopidae) and other mite predators,” the release said.
The general public is asked to be “vigilant” and assist the Department of Agriculture in “dealing with this devastating pest, which threatens our Agriculture”.
