I HATE Scale

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by roachslayer, Nov 6, 2009.

  1. roachslayer

    roachslayer Member

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    A month ago I had Cottony Cushion Scale on my mandarin orange tree. I scraped them all off (took me an hour), spray with neem oil to catch anything tiny I could not see, and have not seen them since.

    Now I recently found my Meyer Lemon horrifically infested with them like they exploded all over my tree. It's overwhelming, probably a 3+ hour job to scrape these punks off. I hate them with a passion.

    The biggest problem is, this is indoors. The suggested solution is a predetory beetle, which I have no interest releasing in my house. Hort oils are not working because they are too mature. HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS CRAP? I want scale to die die die. Sick of this, and cant afford mega hours of hand removing 1327 of these parasites off my tree (which is now showing its own distain by dropping leaves).

    Any ideas are welcome. :)
     
  2. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  3. roachslayer

    roachslayer Member

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    Thanks Millet. I know, I have read that article several times. But it focuses on biological control (which isnt a good indoor strategy) and prevention (which is too late) and by the time you get to the chemical stuff, its great for experts that know chemicals by name, but leaves the layman with no idea what products to get, or whether its safe for citrus.

    I've been doing a lot of research on this, and found solutions that will kill scale and citrus. Ideally, I'd like to just kill the scale. :)

    One post I found someone suggested "Beneficial Nematodes". Well, that is a soil dweller, so great for gnats. But scale is a limb/leaf dweller, so I am quite skeptical about the claim that this will work for scale.

    Still searching...
     
  4. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Roachslayer, the link above states that you can spray Cottony Cushion Scale (CCS) with either malathion or Orthene. Of the two insecticides the least toxic and the easiest to locate is malathion. Malathion is a very common and an old chemical that has been around for a long time, it should be quite easy to locate. Most every garden center that carries chemicals and fertilizers should carry malathion. Orthene, which smells like rotten eggs, is a little bit harder to find, but might work better than malathion. Of course, you can always try to eliminate them by hand, but it would be almost impossible to remove all of the crawlers (new young). Unfortunately, of all the varieties of scale on citrus, CCS is the most difficult to eradicate. I'll say the special scale prayer for your tree. Wishing you the best. - Millet (1,167-)
     
  5. roachslayer

    roachslayer Member

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    haha! yeah, it might take a prayer. thanks!

    I am not too worried, its a big healty tree, only a few leaves dropped due to these "leechs" recently. Thanks for the specifics on what to be looking for. I'll be scraping off as much as I can now, and then apply whatever chemical I end up with.
     
  6. roachslayer

    roachslayer Member

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    A final update and some advice here:

    My plants are dead:
    2 of my 6 plants are dead, and 2 of them are half dead (half the branches are brown, dried up, the other half still ok, some leaves on). I absolutely loathe scale. But I am certain my remaining plants are now stable, and will recover. I learned some things along the way. Read on...

    Scale Detection:
    I first had Cottony Cushion scale. This is easy to see. Sap dripping everywhere, white specs, big ol white egg sacs, no problem. I got rid of them by hand actually. But Red/Brown scale... very difficult. They did NOT produce sap on my plants, and are much harder to see, and apparently have no egg sacs (i never saw any). But man, did I sure have tons of these evil pricks on my plants when I finally discovered how to recognize them.

    Scale Removal:
    I found Malathion by Bonide at my local hardware store. I mixed as per the instructions. I took my plants outside and sprayed like crazy from every possible angle and saturated the heck out of them. I brought them back indoors (too cold here at the time). A few days later, dead scale peeling back. Its AWESOME! Woo!!! This also appears to be safe for edible fruits, but you must do it a week before picking (and wash em good).

    Do it NOW:
    Scale moves FAST. I was too slow at reacting. I thought to myself, oh, I'll get that tomorrow, and I let too many tomorrows slip by. No, no, no! Bad! As soon as you see ANY sign of scale of ANY kind, declare WAR! And bring out the guns! All the guns!

    By the time I saw leaves dropping, its too late. Get it BEFORE that! Check your plants. In my case, once the leaves dropped, even after I killed the scale right then, it was too late. They sucked the branches dry, literally. Its not just the leaves that are at risk, and will grow back. They wont. The branch is dead. DO NOT WAIT to act!
     
  7. Ray from PA

    Ray from PA Active Member

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    I actually used a systemic on my Meyer lemon tree since I will most likely not be getting fruit this year, and so far it has worked out great. I know most would prefer not to use a systemic on citrus, but I figured as long as I have a tree with 12 leaves left I may as well give it a shot. So far it is the only thing I have found that will kill the scale (soft brown in my case), since apparently extra fine neem oil is either illegal or deemed unimportant in my area, since no one carries it.
     
  8. medusabomb

    medusabomb Member

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    So sad... I too have lost many citrus this winter to scale. I didnt know thats what it was until my Meyer Lemon (4 year old in pot) was too far gone, then it proceeded to annihilate my kumquats(2) key lime(4) a mandarin orange, and now my Calamondin is 1/4 dead but the stuff I now use does kill scale,it was just so harsh that it also killed most of the already weakened 1 year old baby trees too. I too detest the scale...So hard to find and killl in the indoors. I even bought ladybugs to release indoors (dont even ask!) as I read an article that said they would help kill 'certain types' of scale! Now Im on the paranoid warpath. My few remaining citrus have all survived the conditioning to go back out on the deck for the summer, but I am NOT looking forward to this winter it was so labour intensive....Scale doesnt bother the dragon fruit, by the way!
     

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