desert rose leaf scale?

Discussion in 'Caudiciforms and Pachycaul Trees' started by acphm, Sep 7, 2008.

  1. acphm

    acphm Member

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    I recently bought a desert rose (no knowledge of plant beforehand) and it's doing well, but it has brownish yellow scales on its leaves. It takes a bit of scrape to remove a scale 'cause it's dry on the surface but underneath, it's squishy with a yellowish goo. I haven't seen any insects/pests on it and there's no sign of inhabitation whatsoever, so I'm stumped. After I clean the plant, the spots come back a week later. Should I be concerned?
     
  2. markinwestmich

    markinwestmich Active Member

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    Is it possible to get a good close-up photo? Other than scale insects, themselves, which are known to inhabit "Desert Roses", I am not clear on what you are describing. Caudex1, any ideas?

    Mark
     
  3. caudex1

    caudex1 Member

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    Sounds like scale to me. 2 way to deal with them, manually remove them all, repot into fresh and new container after all insects are gone or systemic insecticide. These are tough little boogers, the ones you see are the easy one. It's the microscopic size that gets over looked. You call also use rubbing alcohol at the base of the leaf where they like to hide. Move plant to an area that has good air circulation.

    I prefer the manual method, you may have to do it a couple times to eradicate them completely.
     
  4. acphm

    acphm Member

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    Well, I figured it would be a manual labour solution...took 5 hours (!) to get them all off checking every nook & cranny of each leaf topside & under. So...can't provide a photo because there gone now (I hope) besides my poor plant doesn't look to photogenic right now. But, in addition to the yellowy brown goo inside the "scale", the disgusting things had a centre spot on the undersides, kinda like a sucker attachment to the leaf...ugh!
    BTW, any specific insecticide you'd recommend?
    Thanks again for the help!
     
  5. caudex1

    caudex1 Member

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    I'm not a insecticide user so not sure what the latest thing is. I have a friend who owns a nursery and he uses Marathon.
     

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