Organic control of scale insect on large Euonymus?

[Dit]

Hi,

I bought a house in 2005, along with a badly scale infected variegated Euonymus (probably japonicus aureomarginatus). As I'm trying to be organic as possible, I've been using the organic scale spray from the garden centres, the fatty acid products. Trouble is, the bush is 8 feet tall and I use a bottle in two treatments! There appear to be two types of scale, one tiny, soft and white, the other a bit larger with a hard dark shell. The dark one has attacked the limbs as much as the leaves.

My questions:

Is there a better/cheaper organic control method?

What month is the best for treatment ? (RHS website says it should be done during the egg hatching period)

Will the dead scale ever fall off? (they are very unsightly organisms!)

Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

[coldshowerkid]

Hi

hope this helps

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC2054.htm

 

[Dit]

Thank you for the link, a helpful site re scale.

Am I to presume that the fatty acids are the best organic treatment? If this is the case, fine, I'll search out a cheap source. Anyone know when would be the best to attack this beastie?

Or should I just chop out this fine specimen and start again?

 

[mlb3c]

I just dabble....not an expert by any means...but this link might help:

http://woodypests.cas.psu.edu/FactSheets/InsectFactSheets/html/Euonymus_Scale.html

 

[Dit]

hmmm very interesting website! Seems that there is no perfect solution to this. Late May-early June looks to be the best time to spray for the crawler stage, as well as Late July-early August.

I'll also do a bit of manual scraping.

Thanks!

 

[breezer]

or if really desperate have a flamethrower burger, see this

 

[mlb3c]

or if really desperate have a flamethrower burger, see this