MILILANI (KHON2) — KHON2 reported in January that coconut rhinoceros beetles have started to attack local food crops like banana trees and got a firsthand look at the damage on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Mililani Agricultural Park said coconut rhinoceros beetles have damaged their coconut and palm trees for about five years.
“I’ve lost about 350 mature trees,” Mililani Agricultural Park president Wayne Ogasawara said, “and if you were to take an average price, say $1,000 per tree, you’d come up with about $350,000.”
Ogasawara contacted the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and CRB Response teams were sent out to treat the trees.
“Nobody’s come back to me and given me any kind of a report, whether the pesticides they were using was effective or not,” Ogasawara said, “obviously for me, it wasn’t effective.”
Telltale signs of CRB damage are 2-inch bore holes and truncated crowns — Ogasawara has recently seen the holes in his banana crop.
Ogasawara said he has noticed the damage to his banana trees for about one year and said the beetles mainly go after the root structure to the point where the entire tree just falls over.