# Orchid weevil, the most damaging pest in Indonesia



## ramadayapati (May 20, 2014)

I've been dealing with this particular pest since the first time cultivating orchids back in time. Orchid weevil / _Orchidophilus atterimus_ / Curculionidae is a native species from tropical Asia especially Indonesia, my homeland. I spotted them in the natural vegetation several times during exploration in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and West Papua. It larvae's natural host including pseudobulbs of Dendrobium spp (esp. section formosae, spatulata, and phalaenanthe), Eria spp, and several other members of Dendrobiinae. The adult phase has wider range of diet; from buds to young shoots of the generas mentioned above, Phalaenopsis, and of course Paphiopedilum. Recently, they've invading my screen house and laying eggs on several Paphiopedilums. The damages from orchid weevil larvae are quite bad and sometimes kill the plant because they're drilling from the leaf axils to deep inside to the growth core.






Early damage from the adult, usually they are chewing newly emerged shoots while laying one two clutch of eggs per pseudobulb which gonna hatch in several days. Its a symptom for the upcoming terror story.








Several months after with a ready to transform larvae...

The larvae will stays around 4 months inside the pesudobulb tissues before metamorphosing. Each adult will laying another terrorizing eggs for two months around 1 - 2 clutch per week. 
Surprisingly, they barely attack the local species but mostly succulent type Paphs species and hybrid like in subgenus Brachypetalum, Parvisepalum, and Paphiopedilum which not naturally distributed in Indonesia.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8QmitImFmZZbzdIY3pKVm4ySEU/edit?usp=sharing
Its the adult female trapped in flask, we're trying to breed them for bio-pesticide research. (Sorry for the backsound, my colleague just cant stop talking  )


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## Chicago Chad (May 20, 2014)

> West Papua


*PLEASE* tell me you have pics of West Papua plants in situ!!!

Also- your links are broken on the post.


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## Erythrone (May 20, 2014)

ramadayapati said:


> I've been dealing with this particular pest since the first time cultivating orchids back in time. Orchid weevil / _Orchidophilus atterimus_ / Curculionidae is a native species from tropical Asia especially Indonesia, my homeland. I spotted them in the natural vegetation several times during exploration in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and West Papua. It larvae's natural host including pseudobulbs of Dendrobium spp (esp. section formosae, spatulata, and phalaenanthe), Eria spp, and several other members of Dendrobiinae. The adult phase has wider range of diet; from buds to young shoots of the generas mentioned above, Phalaenopsis, and of course Paphiopedilum. Recently, they've invading my screen house and laying eggs on several Paphiopedilums. The damages from orchid weevil larvae are quite bad and sometimes kill the plant because they're drilling from the leaf axils to deep inside to the growth core.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Frightening story... Which kind of bio pesticide will you try? Since the larva is a borer, what about something like Tree Azine


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## NYEric (May 20, 2014)

Sounds horrendous!! I'm kind of scared to see the photos!!


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## ALToronto (May 20, 2014)

What are the chances that some of these have hitched a ride to North America, in one of numerous shipments of asian orchids?


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## lepetitmartien (May 20, 2014)

It depends ALToronto of the "quality" of the phyto treatments before shipping.

But sure it's an issue for any plant outside in vitro propagation is at risk and especially the adults, as the older they are the most chances (or bad lucks) they have met nasties, be it viruses or weevils. There's literature upon the growing % of infected plants over time in culture (see STAUG). I'm not at all a fanatic of chemistry, but the treatments before shipping are really mandatory, in closed, secured place where packing will take place.

One issue is that some vendors in SE Asia (not serious ones) are really not thinking about this as mandatory.

I will check in my books what could be used on the "soft" side for the rest of us. Anything that can bring defensive molecules precursors (like terpenes and the like) is good. Right now I'm testing on one infested phals one of my organic means to fight mealies (nettle manure -first fermentation extract that is). It brings terpenes precursors and the plants fights back my itself.

I guess that for tropical zones culture, something less unstable should be used, maybe essential oils. I'll get back on this.


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## gonewild (May 20, 2014)

It has been in Hawaii since 1910 it seems.


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## lepetitmartien (May 20, 2014)

For now it's not in Europe seemingly… (crossing fingers) but as we already have in some GH other pests like tropical cockroaches…


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## lepetitmartien (May 21, 2014)

I've had a look into my books for organic means against weevils. It's not going very far, and it's for european weevils, of course.

- Carabs as auxiliaries, against adults.
- Tanacetum vulgare maceration or fermented extract ("manure", but first fermentation, not the rotten second one) are effective on female Ceuthorhynchus pleurostigma (a weevil boring into cabbages) laying eggs.

That's all I've found in my books… 

Depending on the weevil species, there's nematods (palm weevil), fungi (vine weevil), that can be used. The trouble is to find the means that work.


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## Erythrone (May 21, 2014)

lepetitmartien said:


> I've had a look into my books for organic means against weevils. It's not going very far, and it's for european weevils, of course.
> 
> - Carabs as auxiliaries, against adults.
> - Tanacetum vulgare maceration or fermented extract ("manure", but first fermentation, not the rotten second one) are effective on female Ceuthorhynchus pleurostigma (a weevil boring into cabbages) laying eggs.
> ...



Intéressant!

I thought about nematodes too, because I used Nems several times for control of black vine weevils on pot plants. But to be efficient the nematodes must "swim in the water" of the soil. And the larva must be on the media, feeding on roots (that is what the ugly white worm of Black vine weevil do). If the larvae is a borer in pseudobulbs, I wonder how these nematodes can be useful:wink:

That is why I thought about Tree Azin, a "cousin" of Neem Oil with systemic properties. Active ingredient is azadirachtin


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## lepetitmartien (May 21, 2014)

It all depends of the life cycle of the weevil. Specific nematodes are fine for some species that have the larvae in soil, it's not our case here.

I've just stumbled upon the thread on Orchidboard giving a mean against weevil eating leaves on citrus trees: something sticky ! They crawl then get stuck. That is something that can be useful here. :evil:


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## lepetitmartien (May 21, 2014)

Menthol loaded essential oils may work as repellant.


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## Erythrone (May 21, 2014)

lepetitmartien said:


> It all depends of the life cycle of the weevil. Specific nematodes are fine for some species that have the larvae in soil, it's not our case here.



that's what I thought...


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## ramadayapati (May 21, 2014)

Sorry, i was trying google drive and apparently it didnt work, so here's the pictures :





Early damaged, usually the dead tissues caused by the adults.








The crown is damaged by the larvae, as you can see in the shoot point.








Since Paph. doesnt have much edible tissues for the larvae, so you wont realize if your Paph. suffer from this borer and dying.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152199868548843&l=5885124675024105895
And yeah, they could fly and playing dead if threatened.

What i learn from the attack on Paphs as their host, usually a larvae wont reach maturity from one shoot because like i said before, limited edible tissue is available in one single shoot of Paph. Big clumps of Paph. will be a heaven for the larvae but less than three shoots in one clumps wouldnt let them to transform and mating. One single shoot will be done in a month, meanwhile it need four months from hatchlings to metamorph. So yeah please count 

Beside my area is their natural habitat, i do cultivate some Dendrobiums which are their natural host. So its harder to cut the cycle. The parasite research is on progress, so far bacterial infection still works the best


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## NYEric (May 21, 2014)

OK, no plants from Indonesia, thank you!


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## ZWUM (May 21, 2014)

Yikes that is frightening! I'll second for the Papua pics if they exist!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## abax (May 22, 2014)

I bet a systemic drench like 97% Orthene drench would put the horrible little
buggers down at specified intervals.


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## ramadayapati (May 22, 2014)

> Surprisingly, they barely attack the local species but mostly succulent type Paphs species and hybrid like in subgenus Brachypetalum, Parvisepalum, and Paphiopedilum which not naturally distributed in Indonesia.





> OK, no plants from Indonesia, thank you!



Fortunately no, what i'm trying to say here, the local weevils adapt with some 'invader' new hosts. So far i had no problems with native species here.
Regards on their light requirements, i put most of the Brachys next to Dendrobiums, maybe that's how they migrate easily.



> I bet a systemic drench like 97% Orthene drench would put the horrible little
> buggers down at specified intervals.



It works on Paphs, but it didnt work for Dendrobium, meanwhile they're cultivated in the same location.


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## ramadayapati (May 22, 2014)

> I've had a look into my books for organic means against weevils. It's not going very far, and it's for european weevils, of course.
> 
> - Carabs as auxiliaries, against adults.
> - Tanacetum vulgare maceration or fermented extract ("manure", but first fermentation, not the rotten second one) are effective on female Ceuthorhynchus pleurostigma (a weevil boring into cabbages) laying eggs.
> ...



Thanks for knowledge, i've been working with palm fruit production and breeding as well especially in Salacca spp.. We've been concerning for the palm weevil attack lately. Do you know if there's any specific nematodes for them?

For the orchid weevil, Bacillus thuringiensis seems quite works for now but still hard to penetrate to the larvae from thick Dendrobium tissues


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## ramadayapati (May 22, 2014)

> Yikes that is frightening! I'll second for the Papua pics if they exist!





> PLEASE tell me you have pics of West Papua plants in situ!!!



These photos wouldnt be relevant with the threads but please enjoy.
I only could found some photos from Biak Island and Waigeo Island, need to browse my harddisk and its gonna be a lot of work.





Vandopsis lissochiloides, growing on seashore's rocks, frequently splashed with salt water, Waigeo Island, Raja Ampat





Spathoglottis plicata, Waigeo Island, Raja Ampat.





Dendrobium lancifolium, Biak Island. Unlike the pendulous type from Sulawesi. All the specimens here are growing upright and pretty stiff.





Mangrove vegetation, Rhyzophora stylosa, host for Dendrobium antennatum (i cant find the picture thou  )


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## ALToronto (May 22, 2014)

Beautiful photos! And look at all those sun-bleached yellow leaves - doesn't seem to bother the plants, though. So is yellowish leaf colour from too much light really a bad thing?


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## NYEric (May 22, 2014)

Thanks for sharing.


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## eggshells (May 22, 2014)

ramadayapati, Thanks for posting some photos. Really helpful to others. 

Can you post some sangii in situ please. Thanks!


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## abax (May 23, 2014)

Interesting that Orthene works on Paphs. and not on Dendrobiums. I
use 1 tsp. per gallon of water and drench the growing medium to the
dripping point and it always works on everything I grow. I don't grow
Dens. though.


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## ramadayapati (May 26, 2014)

eggshells said:


> ramadayapati, Thanks for posting some photos. Really helpful to others.
> 
> Can you post some sangii in situ please. Thanks!



To be honest,
I didnt spot many Paphs in the wild during exploration. Only Paph. javanicum, Paph. glaucophyllum, Paph. lowii, Paph. bullenianum var. celebesense, Paph. glanduliferum, Paph. primulinum and several others. Will post some pics later soon


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## ramadayapati (May 26, 2014)

abax said:


> Interesting that Orthene works on Paphs. and not on Dendrobiums. I
> use 1 tsp. per gallon of water and drench the growing medium to the
> dripping point and it always works on everything I grow. I don't grow
> Dens. though.



Yeah i guess its hard to penetrate 4-5 cm thick of Dendrobium pseudobulbs. I've tried to inject the insecticide by needle and spuit with no luck (


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## ramadayapati (May 26, 2014)

ALToronto said:


> Beautiful photos! And look at all those sun-bleached yellow leaves - doesn't seem to bother the plants, though. So is yellowish leaf colour from too much light really a bad thing?



Some orchids really could adapt to it, so a a bit purplish or yellowish scorch shouldnt be a major problem thou., then u decide after..


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## lepetitmartien (May 29, 2014)

ramadayapati said:


> Thanks for knowledge, i've been working with palm fruit production and breeding as well especially in Salacca spp.. We've been concerning for the palm weevil attack lately. Do you know if there's any specific nematodes for them?


The species attacked in the South of Europe (France, Spain, Monaco, Greece, Italy…) by Rhynchophorus ferrugineus are:
Areca catechu, Arenga pinnata, Borassus flabellifer, Brahea armata, Butia capitata, Calamus merillii, Caryota maxima, Caryota cumingii, Chamaerops humilis, Cocos nucifera, Corypha gebanga, Corypha elata, Elaeis guineensis, Livistona australis, Livistona decipiens, Metroxylon sagu, Oreodoxa regia, Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix dactylifera, Phoenix theophrasti, Phoenix sylvestris, Sabal umbraculifera, Trachycarpus fortunei, Washingtonia spp.

Besides the weevil, there's Paysandisia archon, a moth, also at work.

Known to work:
- chemicals: *Imidacloprid with an additive*, it's used in Spain. I don't know which additive. And there's no chemical alternative so a decent strategy to counter resistance effects. Maybe there's something to find there, but I don't speak Spanish.
- organic:
• *A fungus, Beauveria bassiana*, works against the weevil larvae and the moth caterpillar.
• *A nematod, Steinernema carpocapsae*, works against the weevil and the moth. Used once a month.
Note that I found that the organic fight works but not 100%, just like Imidacloprid without the additive.
• *pheromons* to catch and kill the males weevils, stopping or slowing reproduction.

Note you can eat the larvae (not after chemicals…) they are eaten in Papua New Guinea by kids. 


> For the orchid weevil, Bacillus thuringiensis seems quite works for now but still hard to penetrate to the larvae from thick Dendrobium tissues


Do you know the specific type? There's varietas in Bt which are very specific to one pest. It'd be good to have an alternative to fight in complements.

There's no resistance usually to Bt toxins, though now the stupid GMO with Bt toxins production do generate resistance… (sigh)

There's an organic mean against insect boring holes into wood. Maybe it could be tried: with a syringe, inject a mix of essential oil of hot pepper or camphor, and half of oil (neem, or any local edible clear oil - an equivalent to rapeseed oil, olive oil) with a drop of safe soap to emulsify.


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