PlumberSoCal
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Having citrus trees means I'll always have to control scale but lately they seem to have branched out, so to speak and are finding the joy of other types of plant sap.
When I found they had invaded my wife's orchids and basil sitting in the kitchen window I considered it a one off and nothing to worry about. I was wrong. Our Star Jasmine was badly infected and my worst fears, my cannabis is now on their menu.
Found 2 so far trimming a plant I chopped and, what I have learned to be way way worse, I removed a couple in the garden.
Why was that bad? Take a look.
Those specks are eggs. Hundreds of eggs. These were disposed of safely but the ones I smashed on the plant released hundreds of eggs and I have pepper seedlings around the area not to mention 3 nice clones a dozen or so feet away. I also worry how many eggs I carried from the garden to the greenhouse.
In the future I'll remove the leaf or if on the stem I understand rubbing an alcohol soaked cotton ball will safely remove the scale and kill the eggs.
These are hard to kill and break their life cycle. Neem oil helps but once scale are established and thriving even a weekly heavy coating doesn't seem to do enough.
Ants eat the honey dew like excrement from the scale and protect them from natural predators so ants need to be controlled as well.
Normally by this time I'm thinking of harvest and it would be 6 months before I'd plant more and there would be little thought of bugs, but this year I'm growing in coco in a greenhouse. No seedlings have been infected but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
Anyone else have any ideas how to fight these bastards? I'm all ears!
When I found they had invaded my wife's orchids and basil sitting in the kitchen window I considered it a one off and nothing to worry about. I was wrong. Our Star Jasmine was badly infected and my worst fears, my cannabis is now on their menu.
Found 2 so far trimming a plant I chopped and, what I have learned to be way way worse, I removed a couple in the garden.
Why was that bad? Take a look.
Those specks are eggs. Hundreds of eggs. These were disposed of safely but the ones I smashed on the plant released hundreds of eggs and I have pepper seedlings around the area not to mention 3 nice clones a dozen or so feet away. I also worry how many eggs I carried from the garden to the greenhouse.
In the future I'll remove the leaf or if on the stem I understand rubbing an alcohol soaked cotton ball will safely remove the scale and kill the eggs.
These are hard to kill and break their life cycle. Neem oil helps but once scale are established and thriving even a weekly heavy coating doesn't seem to do enough.
Ants eat the honey dew like excrement from the scale and protect them from natural predators so ants need to be controlled as well.
Normally by this time I'm thinking of harvest and it would be 6 months before I'd plant more and there would be little thought of bugs, but this year I'm growing in coco in a greenhouse. No seedlings have been infected but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
Anyone else have any ideas how to fight these bastards? I'm all ears!