Common Pindo Palm Pests – How To Control Pests Of Pindo Palm Trees

Pindo palm (Butia capitata) is a cold hardy little palm tree. It has a single stout trunk and a rounded canopy of blue-gray fronds which curve gracefully in toward the trunk. Pindo palms are generally very healthy trees if planted appropriately. However, there are a few insect pests of pindo palm trees, including the palm leaf skeletonizer and scale insect. For more information on pindo palm pest problems, read on.

Pindo Palm Pests

Pindo palms are small palm trees, no more than 25 feet (8 m.) tall and half that wide. They are ornamental and planted for their graceful fronds and showy yellow, date-like fruit clusters. The fruits are edible and very eye-catching. Pindo palms thrive in USDA plant hardiness zones 8b through 11. They are slow growing, attractive plants. Give it a warm, sheltered location, plenty of sun, and rich, well-draining soil to keep it healthy. While several serious diseases can attack landscape palms, if you select an appropriate site, plant it, and care for it properly, you can protect your plant. The same generally holds true for insect pests. Pindo palms grown outdoors suffer from very few insect pests. However, if the pindo palms are grown indoors, pests of pindo palms can include red spider mites or scale insects. Do not confuse scale insects with diamond scale, a disease. You may also find the palm leaf skeletonizer to be an occasional pest. As to additional bugs that affect pindo palm, the tree is said to be a minor host of palm-infesting whitefly, black rot of pineapple, South American palm borer, and the red palm weevil.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.