How to Get Rid of Scale

I stepped on my bathroom scale today and I wanted to get rid of it. But I digress. You see this is not the scale I am talking about.

The kind of scale I’m talking about are tiny insects that suck the life out of certain plants.

It’s not easy to get rid of scale. It is very hard if not downright impossible. I have read that there are perhaps 7000 different kind of scale insect. That’s a lot of little bugs.

One of the many problems with scale is that they don’t look like bugs. A lot of the time they just look like small spots or specks on the leaves of plants. I don’t have a good enough macro lens on my camera to get a picture of a scale insect. That’s how small they are.
This site has a nice close up of one of those little buggers.

I’m finding them on the orchids that I bought last spring at a garage sale. I have thrown one plant away because it was too infested. Another problem is that scale hide in the joints between the leaves and the stems. They also hide at the soil line

Like aphids, scale insects produce a generous amount of honeydew. Honeydew is that sweet sticky stuff that ants covet. I have just recently found a colony of ants in one of my orchids. I had to repot the orchid to get rid of the ants. I thought it terribly odd to have an entire ant colony living in one of my orchids inside my house, now I know why–they were after the honeydew produced by the scale. What a vicious circle.

I have found most of the scale on the dendrobiums. It seems that scale seem to prefer dendrobiums.

Beside ants eating it, honeydew also encourages the growth of sooty molds on the infested plant. Sooty mold builds up on the honeydew. Sooty molds then coat the plant and stop photosynthesis from occurring. Besides, it’s icky.

So how do you get rid of scale? My weapon of choice is a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. I also use a giant freestanding magnifying glass. The most pathetic part is I also wear my reading glasses. I’m sure I look like the ant bully from the little scale’s point of view. I guess am the Scale Bully.

I rub the scale infested leaves with the alcohol-laden Q-tip. I don’t have to remove the scale. I also squeeze a little alcohol from the tip of the Q-tip into the joints of the leaves. All you need to do is coat the scale in alcohol and this should kill them.

I repeat the treatment every time I water the orchids, which is every one to two weeks. Repeat the treatment until all signs of scale are gone. You should see less and less scale every time you repeat the treatment if you see more, then you should be treat your plants more often.

The standard treatment is for outdoor scale is dormant oil. Treat outdoor plants with dormant oil in the late spring.

Stumble It!

Comments

[misti]

We have found scale on our bromeliads. One had it so bad I just threw it out. Good luck with your scale (both of 'em! lol!)

[chigiy]

Misti,
Scale is difficult to get rid of. And the other scale is just difficult.

[Amber Shaw]

Hi Chigiy! Nice to get caught up on your blog. I learned how to get rid of scale and/or not care about it: alcohol! Also, bummer on loosing the $1,000. Ouch. Love ya!