Scale: What is it and how to treat it
These pests look like benign growths on the petioles and stems of your plants but beware, they are sucking away the sap! Scale can vary in shape, color, and size. Most scale looks like little round brown domes but can be whitish to black. Female scale can produce hundreds of eggs beneath their shells. The eggs hatch within two to three weeks. They are typically laid in late May or early June, but if your plants are indoors this process can occur year round. Luckily for us plant parents, scale cannot typically survive in soil. They occupy the leaves of your plants, particularly the stem and vein areas. This makes this pest fairly spot and easy to get rid of.
Treatment:
Scale can be scraped off and since they have soft outer shells, they can be susceptible to insecticides. The best way to get rid of scale is to scrape them off with a soft toothbrush or your fingernail. Once you have picked off the pests, it is important to rinse the plant thoroughly with plant water. This will make sure all the ones you have already picked off, don't hitch onto a leaf below. My pest plant juice will also work against these nuisances. Refer to blog post, "How to Prevent and Treat Pest Outbreaks" to get the recipe. Soak your plants leaves with the spray and wipe away. Be sure not to use this mix when placing your sun into direct sun. The spray can cause scorching on the leaves.
Quarantine
Be sure to move the plant away from other plants who do not show signs of infection. Scale can move to other plants in little to no time. To be safe, you can treat all plants in direct vicinity of the infected plant. Repeat the treatment for a minimum of once per week for three weeks. Even if it seems the infection is gone in the first week, stay persistent. We invest too much money in our plant babies to lose them to the cooties!
