Snow Scale

[Jon]

Please heed Charlie's advice on Snow Scale....

I received a shipment of plants today and had it on a few of the plants.
Luckily I grow 98% of my collection at another location and was able to isolate them..

[Nievesgirl]

You need to brush them of with a tooth brush then use horticultural oil

http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/care/scale.htm


I had a plant that came to me with snow scale too. I sprayed it with hort oil every 5-7 days and so far I have not seen any more snow scale.

[Jon]

Thanks Kerry,

Thats the first thing I did. I actually found seven plants that had them. Just Glad I spotted them before putting them in with the rest of my plants. I'm not sure how fast they can spread to others. I have enough pest problems to deal with as it is.

[Charlie]

Jon, they may not spread quickly but they spread inexorably. The problem is that you cannot see them spread. Only the young move around, these are called crawlers and they do not have the white coating on them that give snow scale their name and makes them easy to see. Only when they settle down and start to feed do they put on the protective coating. If one gets very lucky and sprays when the crawlers are on the move this will give good control of them temporarily. Anyway, killing the adults with oil treatments is the best way to go.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

I'm having my first experience with scale.  I just noticed it on a shipment that came in from FL yesterday.  This is White Diamonds--  my camera wouldn't focus on something so small but you can see the little white specks on the wood.  I'm spraying with horticultural oil.

How often should I spray so as not to harm the plant?

[helixturnhelix]

I usually take a toothbush with rubbing alcohol and scrub down every bit of wood from most growers in Fl.  After physically removing the snow scale, I apply hort oil, once a week until I no longer see them.  Damn little buggers! Luckily outdoors in CA they are unlikely to survive due to the cooler nights and low humidity. 

[Charlie]

Jordan, you should treat the plant with a good, highly refined hort oil like the one we offer on the web site, then move the plant to an isolated location and check it every few days. Anytime you see more of the scale treat again until you no longer see any for a couple of weeks. No guarantee that will take care of it completely but it probably will. The real danger with snow scale is when they are completely ignored. After a year or so they spread to many plants if the climate allows for it.

Some people use WD-40 or regular vegetable oil instead of hort oil. These do work but the type of oil can damage plants easier and stain the wood a dark color. Much better to use the type of highly refined oil meant for plants.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Today I took a toothbrush with some rubbing alcohol to the bark.  The white outer coatings come off easily--  not what I expected!  After I brushed all the white shells off, I sprayed with hort oil.  The good news is this plant is small and not well foliated, so it will be relatively easy to tell if more scale shows up.  It's off all by itself, and I'm handling it last and washing my hands after so as not to risk infecting any other plants.