What's eating my tropical almond?

Tropical almond (Terminalia catappa) is a tough coastal tree but faces leaf-eating caterpillars, scale insects, and fruit-boring beetles in cultivation. Fruit bats and parrots take maturing nuts in tropical settings. As a landscape tree in the US, scale and mealybugs are the main pest concerns.

Sticky honeydew on foliage and bark; black sooty mould; yellowing leaves on young trees Horticultural oil or insecticidal soap spray; introduce Cryptolaemus predatory beetles; improve tree vigour with balanced fertiliser

Large ragged sections of leaf eaten; severe defoliation in outbreak years on young trees Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) spray at early larval stage; hand-remove egg clusters; parasitic wasps provide natural control

Sawdust frass at trunk entry points; galleries under bark weaken scaffold limbs; stressed or transplanted trees most at risk Maintain tree health — borers target stressed trees; avoid wounding bark; apply permethrin to the trunk as a preventive barrier if borer pressure is high locally