Doing protective operations and measures early before the infestation occurs saves 80 to 90 % of the cost and effort of controlling the pests. Agricultural practices also play an important role in controlling it when properly implemented at appropriate times and ways. The following are the most important recommendations for date palm plantations.
• In the beginning, the appropriate date palm variety should be cultivated for the region in terms of climatic conditions, by knowing the varietal map of each country.
• Cultivation of palm trees at appropriate distances, so that they are not less than 8 x 8 meters, and increase in the case of Barhi and in the case of loading it with other types of fruits tree to 10 x10 meters.
Caring for agricultural and horticultural operations such as irrigation, balanced fertilization, good pruning at the appropriate time, and removal of offshoots to produce strong, clean trees that are difficult to infest and easy to inspect.
• Carrying out good pruning in the months of December and January, when the number of red palm weevils is as low as possible, and removing the remnants of the previous date crop from old bracts, old floral cuttings, old dates falling in the undersides of leaves and on the ground, and unknown (scattered) dates, and safe disposal of all these remnants of larvae and pupae I inhabit it after harvesting the crop during the months of October, November and December, so that it is not a source of re-infestation with date fruit pests.
After that, the heart of the palm tree and around the place of exit of the bracts and the bases of the leaves are dusting with agricultural sulfur + powdered pesticide to prevent the red palm weevil from laying eggs.
• One of the recommended pesticides can be used to wash the heart of the palm and the bases of the leaf after harvesting and pruning.
• Using light traps to monitor palm pests that are attracted to light traps, except for the red palm weevil, to intervene when monitoring butterflies or beetles.
• Conducting a periodic examination to discover the infestation early, whether by eye examination or in the event of difficulty, using one of the methods of early detection of infestation, counting the infested palm tree and dealing with it in an appropriate way.
• Not to transfer date palm seedlings from infested areas to healthy areas and not to plant any seedlings unless after making sure that they are free of infestation.
• When planting a offshoot or a palm tree in place of the dead palm tree as a result of infestation, you must make sure to clean the jure of any remnants of the previous palm and soak the new offshoot before planting in an insecticide solution for 10:15 minutes without submerging the heart to get rid of invisible stages of the red palm weevil.
• Dusting of the places of separating the stems and offshoots. Fogging with agricultural sulfur + powder pesticide.
• Not to scrape parts of the trunk of the palm tree for any reason, even if it is searching for larvae, because this causes erosion of part of the palm tree and becomes an attractive place for RPW insects to lay eggs in, and thus recurring injury to the palm tree.
• Removing highly infested palm trees and offshoots, cutting them into parts, and placing them inside a hole of about 1:1.5 m depth. Quicklime or solutions of one of the recommended pesticides are placed on them, then backfilled at the end so that they are not a source of re-infestation.
Balanced irrigation in the right way so that the palm tree or sapling is in some jure within a jure i.e. the water does not touch the trunk of the palm tree and not to over-irrigate and it is preferable that it be drip because irrigation by flooding increases the chance of infestation with the insect and takes into account that the trunk area is not directly exposed to water because it helps the emergence of aerial roots that form Exposure to insect infestation.
• Covering the aerial roots of palm trees, especially young ones, with soil (backfilling) to a height of at least 20 cm to prevent insect attacks.
