Scale!!

washout03

ok, well I own a medium sized Fukien Tea, and I've had it for about two months. It's had what i believe is a fungal problem (little furry masses on the trunk, and in the crotches of branches) that i've been treating with sucess with a spray on fungicide. Working on the tree last night, I noticed a couple little white bugs that look like little soft flat white pill bugs. So I looked a little closer, and they were all over! I looked them up in a bonsai book i have, and they turned out to be juvinile scale. I immediatley picked off as many as i could find. I looked for adults, but the only ones i could find were powdery when i tweezed them off, making me think they have been dead for a while. Is there any household treatment for scale? The tree is doing relatively well, still putting out new growth, but I'd like to get this situation under control before it does some serious damage.
Thanks a lot,
Tom

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pootsie

Man, I have been locked in a mortal struggle with mealy bugs on my F.Tea for 2 years. ARRGH!!>

Lately, I've kept their population in check using isopropyl alcohol applied painstakingly with a swab.

I had use some insecticide, but the tree did not like it and dropped mucho leaves.

If you get better advice, let me know

in the meantime, I found this link, which I hope helps the both of us
http://www.miamitropicalbonsai.com/fuk.htm
(I think that's short for "fukien" BTW )

pootsie

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TreeBay

With most insecticidal sprays you can really only get the scale when it is in the crawler stage. That means 2-3 applications usually are required. A granular systemic insecticide might be a better option.

Here's a link:
http://www.olympichort.com/mealybug_scale.html

I haven't used in on Teas, so I can't comment on that aspect.

Regards,

Matt

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Aaron_K

I read in a book a while ago about a remedy for scale insects. I'll paraphrase but you'll get the general idea.

1) Take a bucket or water tight container that will hold your tree.

2) Fill the container with warm water that is tepid in temperature.

3) Add a small amount of household detergent / washing up liquid (By this I mean whatever is it that you use to was the dishes in your kitchen sink/basin) and mix well

4) Place your tree UPSIDE DOWN in the container, immersing as much as the tree as possible without the water coming into contact with the soil. Support the tree using some wooden slats or something similar so that there is no risk of snapping any branches.

5) Leave the tree for 2 - 3 hours before removing and rinsing in fresh water.

6) Repeat every 3 to 5 days

The general idea behind this is that you drown the insects. By adding the detergent, you breakdown the water molecules and make the water "wetter" which will then penetrate their respirtory system.

Aphids can also be controlled in a similar manner or by mixing a soap/detergent in a spray bottle. The leaves should be wet before spraying.

pootsie

I just got some of this stuff:
http://www.agorganics.com/products/...ight/12/97.html
"green light" "bioganic" insect killer
label says it works on scale and mealy bugs

it's got clove oil, thyme oil and sesame oil

wish us luck
meow
pootsie

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Columbus Bonsai Society

jo schmoo

a guy at my dad's work brought me a sago that had scale and here's what i did:

1. take the hose and "power-wash" all of the scale you can see off the tree.
2. take water and add 1 tbsp (or something like that) of dish soap and just soak the tree to the point that it looks like a tsunami hit with it.
3. repeat steps 1 and 2 as needed and make sure the tree is in a well-ventilated area (wind or some air movement).

worked perfectly for me. i only saw one or two of the guys in the next couple of days and i promptly removed them with hose and soap.

best of luck,
Jo

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rockm

Jo, you may have confused scale with aphids. A blast of water will not remove scale, nor will dish soap. Both of those treatments are very effective for aphids, though. The most effective way to get rid of scale is to pick them off by hand. Insecticides aren't effective, as scale are like limpet mines stuck on plants' stems. Their shells are mostly impervious to poison. You have to spray at the precise time they are in their larval stages (when they are "crawlers" and moving about on the plant),. That stage is only a few days long. After that, the insects hunker down and build themselves into hardened bunker of a thing.

Mudman

My spray recipe to control scale (works well on my ficus s (plural))

1pt water
1 tbs sunspray oil (or any insecticidal oil or light cooking oil)
2tbs isopropyl alcohol
1 dash liquid dish soap

shake before spray application.

Takes a few aplications but works well.


Len

pootsie

I've had a few applications of the "bioganic" stuff + dish soap, with seemingly positive results. More to follow.

pootsie

__________________
p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society