The Almuñécar Town Hall announced that the second phase of palm-tree spraying against the palm beetle has concluded.

The pest, called Picudo Rojo in Spanish, has the Phoenix Palm as its favourite nosh, as it is the kind of palm with least natural defence.

The Councillor for the Environment, Luis Aragón, explained that most of the treated palms are on the beaches and paseos marítimos (seafront promenades) in Almuñécar and La Herradura.

The spraying has been carried out at night, so as not to intoxicate pedestrians walking below, between 21.00h and 04.00h.

The next scheduled spraying will be at the end of summer using ‘direct spraying’ techniques. What’s the difference with the spraying being carried out now? Not a clue!

The palm-tree bug problem began back in the 90’s and has since affected thousands all along Costa Tropical, as well as the rest of Andalucía.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)