Thanks for your help. Excited to give this a go.. winter here in Australia. Do you recommend waiting till there’s more sunshine? PS. Love your shirt/ring!
Fiona Hansen I do not recommend applying neem during periods of more sunshine, the opposite in fact. Neem should be applied to plants in the late evening or in areas of indirect light and not apply during times of night temperatures. Applying neem to plants in full direct sunshine can cause burning on the leaves (I did not know this once and found out the hard way. RIP kumquat tree lol) and applying neem at night will allow it to soak in more rather than volatilize off (since it is an oil). Additionally it also reduces the chances of bees and other day time pollinators being harmed by the neem. It’s also advisable to test a small area of the tree your wanting to apply it to to see to make sure that it doesn’t adversely effect the tree. Some plants are more sensitive than others 😊 Thank you for this question! I wish I had mentioned it in the video and I hope now others will see it here! And thanks for the shirt/ring complement! Gotta support my school and I’m pretty proud of the ring. A&M makes you put in a lot of hours and work before they will let you earn it so we’re all pretty proud of it once we finally are able to receive them 😜 Thanks for watching and greetings from Texas! 😁
Thanks for the tips. I had a big and beautiful Yerba Mate plant that I was growing out in my office. The entire tree dropped its leaves and the tips of the branches all dried up. I moved the tree upstairs and pruned back the dead branches only to find that the trunk was infested with scale. The still live branches are starting to sprout new growth already. I’m still waiting for the weather to warm up enough to move all my plants and trees outside and do a real deep soak with neem oil on the plants and their pots. I had a pretty heavy spider mite and aphid infestation on my lemon and lime trees but I got it under control with dish soap and water and a spray bottle with just water to blast them off.
I have a houseplant that I treated a couple of years ago and was fine until now. Make sure to reapply neem oil before the new hatchlings reach maturity and reproduce. You can physically remove most of the scale with some gloves and a paper towel. Then, apply the neem oil and reapply in 7 and 14 days. Neem oil solutions work best with a small amount of castile (or simple) soap added (because oils and water don't mix), the bottle label usually gives the ratio. Scale life cycles vary slightly from species to species so it's important for these reapplications to effectively control their spread. Also, your use of neem oil should be just enough to coat the plant and not any more as some plants are sensitive to this otherwise beneficial organic product, it can cause tissue death in the younger, more fragile foliage if put on too heavily. The hardest problem with scale control is that they also feed on roots, which protects them. With enough due diligence, you can really prevent the infestation.
Spider mites can be brought under control by spraying them with water frequently they proliferate in dry conditions.the small insects are called aphids the ants eat the excretions of the aphids called honeydew.spray your plants with a mineral oil and water solution for scale it’s easy and it works.
I did a stupid thing with an azalea that was infected. I sprayed it with clorox cleanup. I thought that bush was going anyway what the heck. It lived and came back beautifully. I was amazed. I know it’s not a recommended thing to do or real environmentally friendly but it freaking saved the plant. This was about three yrs ago. Love it. Nothing else was working. If you got nothing to lose try it, plus it cleaned any fungus off the bark. Spray it down heavy and let it dry. What’s to lose. 🐾🐾🐾
I’m currently in a battle with scales and spider-mites on my baby citrus trees. They aren’t doing so well, but they aren’t dead yet and tomorrow I’m going to manually remove some of the scale insects. The spider mites already took my bonsai juniper, never again. Thanks for the tips!
I always try to manually remove as many as possible and apply some kind of deterrent (usually neem or liquid Sevin) too deter them from coming back. Good luck!
Dear, Usually i mix a few drops of washing detergent mix with cooking oil or cononut oil... Then i just rub the mixture on the problematic places ...leave it for few minutes. , then i scrap it.. It helps but you need patience to do it..
I used simple washing up liquid applied with sponge and left for an hour then rinsed off with sponge and water....every week for a month....citrus trees are more prone but ficus trees are also affected.
I just found out I had a scale problem with my young Meyer lemon plants. I removed them with paper towel and a tooth pick for hard to reach areas. Sprayed with insecticidal soap. I hope they don't come back. Thanks for making the video.
I live in Temple. I saw that A&M shirt so if it works for you, hopefully it will work for my fig tree and other fruits and veggies I am trying to grow.
I've been using neem oil on my lemon and lime tree but I didn't think about using the insect tape to get rid of the ants. I also didn't know I needed to get rid of them and why and how they work together with the mites and scale bugs. thanks for the information.
You actually showed me the bug! I’m not sure what I have but there looks like rust spots and my leaves are being devoured on one of my plants! Now I can go see if this is what is eating my plant or something else. Always a battle, don’t you agree? Yes - love Neem oil but be sure to be 100%. I kept asking for it at one of my hardware store and they kept sending me to the mixed products. Then I found it myself in the hydroponic area. Thanks for loads of info!
Never ending battle! I have insect problems again this year mostly due to nutrient and watering stress while I was gone to college, but doing my best to go to war with them with a few new methods
do coffee grounds, white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, or cow milk (lactose intolerant pests), either together or some type of mix, get rid of spider mites or other pests?
Oh man, it so sad that you had to get rid of your trees. I just realized that they took over my orange tree very bad. And it's 25+ years old. My oranges are currently large. My plan is to let them grow, pick ask my oranges, and trim my tree down and clean it like you did. I hope it works and hopefully I can save it. Tfs your experience.
Thank you for your tips! I've been nursing a sick Oleander tree that a friend of mine gave me about two years ago. They're beautiful! Last summer, it was blooming for months and I absolutely adored it. So sad it has a scale infestation and it took me a while to discover that those little black dots aren't part of the bark. :( I hope it bounces back. Cheers!!
I have tried soapy water spray to kill the ants, white flies, and scales of my citrus, hibiscus trees,and ixora plants in my garden. And I also have sprayed on the scales with the hot water spray on the scales and white flies by connecting the hot water hose into the hot water faucet in my garage.
Neem oil is ok, but it may kill beneficial fungi and does affect bees if they happen to ingest it. You could consider using a naturally-occurring soil fungus called Beaumeria bassinia that is available in powder form and can be diluted 1g per litre to male a safe and effective targeted insecticide without fear of collateral damage.
Right. Why I normally only apply neem after dusk and avoid flowering areas as much as possible to try to reduce as much contact with bees etc as I can. I have not heard of the Beaumeria though and will have to check that out! Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching!
@@TheMoreYouGrow I've only recently come across it in my pursuit of an organic pesticide that will control the invasive Asian yellow-legged hornet, which is threatening to invade Britain (where I live) right now. Current practise is to use wide spectrum insecticides, which is insane IMO. I found Beaumeria on ebay in the USA at a reasonable price, but insanely expensive here. I reckon you could buy a small batch and cultivate it yourself, and never have to buy it again!
I had a lemon tree that was infested with pests, you name the pest my lemon was housing it. I pruned the heavily infected branches and changed the soil to start with and then applied pest oil religiously for three days. Changing the soil also definitely killed all the ants and were not existent the following day. I didn't worry about any good insects being affected as I doubt any good insects will come to my tree until its back to good health anyway..
Lol I call my house plants my pets too, my friend makes fun of me when I say that, but when you take care of a plant for years and watch them grow they become pets. I have a bit of a scale bugs infestation that has jumped to most of my house plants and I'm all worried already, I'm not buying anymore plants this summer until I know for sure I have cured the ones I have
I'd love some advice / guidance on (1) treating scale insects and (2) preventing scale insects. I have scale insects on four of my cacti. I haven't seen them on the rest of my cacti and tropicals, but I want to treat the infected plants and begin regular preventative treatments for the other plants. (1a) Treatment for infected plants: I think the four cacti that are infected can be salvaged. I'll first unroot the plant and cut the infested parts off, which are mainly the bottom of the plant. Then I'll remove as many insects as I can before spraying / rubbing the plant with rubbing alcohol. Once the rubbing alcohol has dried, I will apply a treatment of Provado to the outside of the plant. I'll allow the newly-cut and newly-treated plant to dry at the cutting before repotting it. It will be repotted with fresh potting soil and a pot cleaned with bleach. I am very paranoid about the rest of my plants getting the scale insects, especially as we begin to enter Autumn - I'm in the Midwest and I don't have much time left before I have to begin transitioning my plants inside. I've been planning on replacing most of their soil anyway and including a rock / pumice mix, which is justifying what I think I can do. (1b) Treatment for non-infected plants: I'm going to essentially do the same thing I did with the infected plants. I'm going to unpot all my plants, inspect the plant (root included) for scale insects, and spray the plant with rubbing alcohol and Provado before repotting in new soil and a pot cleaned with bleach. (2) Prevention for all plants: I am already regularly inspecting my plants, which is how I first noticed the scale insects. I don't have many leafy plants but will be sure to inspect under leaves, between cactus pads, etc. I am also thinking that whenever I water my cacti, I'll water them with a diluted solution of water and Provado. Do y'all have any recommendations for a more effective treatment? I know (1b) is a little excessive, but if I lose some of these plants, it's highly unlikely I'll be able to replace them for a while.
... if you have a potted tree try treating the entire tree pot and all ... or ... as indicated ... then put a thin dry cleaner bag over entire plant to the floor... this creates a micro climate and kills the bugs ...tobacco water with a dash of dish soap is always worth a try too ...
I finally got tired of fighting scale on my container citrus trees. Threw them out. Lost a lot of money on them. I've had limited success using neem oil for spider mites. I have had good results in my greenhouse using Azatin xl .But it is expensive.
OkieRob hey thanks for the info! I’ll keep that in mind. The way I tell people is neem will not get rid of things usually it more prevents them from coming back as bad once you get rid of them/get them under control. My best solution is manual removal. It’s usually very effective, but most wont spend the time I will on a plant usually 😜 thanks again for the info on the spider mites and thanks for watching!
I never got around to it but I can say that the lemon tree is happy and healthy. I have had scale on it a few times since then, but early intervention kept them under control unlike what you see in the beginning of this video haha will post an update soon!
Yeah when the infestation is like I just remove them manually but if it’s sever I remove as much as I can and apply neem (be sure to not use it in hot temps if possible (night and early morning)). Another thing I didn’t mention (but will this spring) is ordering lacewings and ladybugs. They can do a number on them and keep their number down
@@TheMoreYouGrow that's a great idea. Im at a point where i could probably at this stage get them all off by hand. Just read up on neem and seems to be a great product for a multitude of applications. Thanks for the info mate. Doing a great job.
My philodendron xanadu has small yellow/brown spots all over the leaves, but the stems seem fine. I took one of the leaves to my local nursery and was told that it was scale. I purchased a triple action spray at the recommendation of an employee (she seemed really knowledgeable). My plant doesn't look anything like yours with scale do, so now I'm questioning if it actually is scale or something else.
I had a Thai basil plants that were infected by scale, so I cleaned them outside this summer, trimmed them down as much as I could, and sprayed them with dish soap and water for a few days.. I haven't seen any on them. But, Two spider plants suddenly had them! I threw them out, just incase the bugs were in the soil... I haven't' seen any on any other plant.. yet.... Now I spray most of my plants every second day with dish soap and water.. I'm thinking of buying Neem Oil, but most places don't carry them. Thinking of getting some on Amazon?
+mrfoltz If you're not seeing any signs of scale on the remaining plant there's no need to apply soapy water to the plant. What the soap water does is theoretically suffocate the insect by creating a film, which prevents them from breathing. So applying it really doesn't prevent the scale. The soapy water that often could actually damage your plant more than its helping. The neem on the other hand I apply on a schedule and it does act as an insect preventative. That's actually its primary use. You can usually find it at your average lawn an garden supply store/department pretty easily (I got mine from Lowe's). I'd recommend checking there first if you have one pretty close by just to save on shipping, but Amazon is definitely an available option! Good luck with your plants and thanks for watching!
mrfoltz Then online is probably your best option after all. Like you saw in the video, what I usually do with scale is I manually remove as many of the scale insects as I can by just crushing them between my fingers with a paper towel. After I've removed as many as I can I spray the plant down with the neem oil at the recommended rates on the container. It also let you know usually how often to spray. I say this because if you spray it too often the neem can actually harm your plant a little
I'm very interested to see if your approach worked! I have a couple of lemon seedlings that I'd like to get settled outside, but I have been battling a relatively small amount of scale on them with insecticidal soap for almost a year now. I spray down the plants, and then a month later I see signs of scale again, and spray them down again. I'm wondering if I should toss them or try your approach.
Holly Atkinson I can say that the trees in this video made a full recovery! the most effective thing I’ve found to do with scale is to manually remove as many as you can by wiping down all the undersides of leaves and all the stem with a moist paper towel. Crush all that you can and wipe them away. After this apply neem oil in some form of spray bottle at the concentration recommended on the bottle. The neem oil isn’t so much to kill the scale, but more to prevent them from getting another outbreak. Manually removing them does take more time but I’ve found it gives you great results especially if the plants are small enough that it is feasible. I had to go and remove the a few times but I eventually got their numbers down where they could be controlled. I only got rid of some because they were so completely infested that I feared that they would spread to my other plants before I could get them under control. Hope this helps and good luck with your trees!
Caroline Maslin yeah we hi get scale they are on the stems and leaves close to end of the branches. That’s their adult form. Some times they end up in a winged form I believe where they travel to other plants
Hey! Im having spider mites on my indoor Bonsai tree(zanthoxyllum pipertium). Purschased it a week ago, it must have been infected in the shop. Im going to use something chemical that is against scale insects. Or shouldn't I? One of my friends recommended it, she use it for plants, although not for bonsai tree, but she thinks it can work. Ive seen an alternative, like pushing them off with water every 2-3 days, and i actually started killing them by hand, killed 5-6 adults and 20 eggs. (I carefully pick them off and then killing them with force) its not the most effective way, and water did a good job, but i fear it not enough to completely perish them. What do you think? Should i continue with water and hand, or try that chemical? Do you know another way? Are spider mites have any natural enemy, that will eat their eggs? Thanks in advance!
Sorry for the late reply. I’m not entirely sure what the best solution would be for bonsai trees, they are a bit different care wise. I would suggest just looking online a bit for spider mite solutions for bonsai. Neem oil may be effective for bonsai trees but I’m not entirely sure
I had to wipe my lemon tree down two hours later I don’t think I could toss a tree even if it was infested I think I would have tryed to drowned them in a 55 gallon drum and then repot it with fresh soil 👍
Those damn ants! I knew they were trouble. Honestly I was wondering why my plant got scales and the ants make sense because they have just been infesting my apartment 😩
Haven’t made an update, but can say the tree has overcome the infestation and is doing wonderfully. I will do an update on it sometime if I get any time (in sort supply at the moment 😅😂)
I am pretty sure I saved my tree along with the rest of my plants and trees from a potential scale infestation this year. We recently moved to our new property and we transplanted our big two y/o young maple tree here. I was admiring my tree when I noticed one of these nasty looking things. It looked like some sort of growth since it was so adhered to the branch. I didn't know what it was at the time, so I went to poke it with a stick to see if it was possibly a growth or maybe even a type of fungus since it didn't look like any bug I've ever seen in my life. It looked just like what you had, but absolutely huge. It was a bit more than a quarter inch to a half inch! When I poked it, it oozed a sort of puss. I was so grossed out. I looked for a long time and continued to check my tree and plants and so far have not found another. Yet. Looks like it was a hitchhiker that hitched a ride to the new home and planned to start and grow its family alongside mine.lol glad I didn't end up blowing it off as something insignificant. Anyway, I am also glad to have found your videos helping me identify it as a bug. Lol tfs!
Thank you for this video! It was very informative. I’m in Belgium and have just figured out that the reason my orange tree has lost almost all of its leaves is due to spider mites. I’m hoping to save it but I’m afraid it ma be too far gone now!
I’ve lost a few that way, once you get spider mites bad enough it can be a never ending battle and still not totally get rid of them. I wish you the best of luck though!
There are similar insects called mealybugs that are white in color and cause similar damage to plants as scale. I can say for sure without seeing myself but that could be a possibility
Thank you for this video. I tried the neem oil in a sprayer just like yours and it gummed up on the walls of the sprayer and clogged up the nozzle. Do you have any tips for that?
Hmm I’ve never had that problem with neem oil before? Not sure why that would happen. How long did it stay in the sprayer before that happened? Has the sprayer been used for anything else before you had neem oil in it?
I was tought to mix dawn dish soap with the neem oil . with out it the neem did not mix with the water. Hmmm I have used it on my house plants this way for years. it makes your plants shiny and pretty. hmmm
mix in the neem oil in hot water then add to sprayer the hot water helps to break the neem oil up because its really thick cold water wont break it down
7xelbuaD howdy! I know your pain!! Spider mites are the few things that cause a deep rage in my life from time to time! Spider mites are a wingless insect so they technically do not fly. When outdoors that can be blown by wind enough to be blown to adjacent plants. In an indoor environment with potted plants many times they can spread through us! If you get them on your hands, clothes, etc they can be carried that way. Thought they are small they can crawl from plant to plant given enough time. Left untreated they will get all plants if they are close enough to each other. I'm sorry to hear about your plants! The seem to attack some of my plants every year.
The More You Grow thanks for responding. As much as it pains me, I think I may have to toss quite a few of them out because these dang mites are faster than I am.. Thanks again!
7xelbuaD I've had many heartbreaking moments where I've had to throw out an infested plant. It kills me every time it happens. Had do it with 2 trees in this video ( one was an 8 year old tree I grew from seed) felt like burying a pet! 😵😭 everyone who had grown plants long enough have done it at least once and sadly it's usually not if rather its when will it happen! there's a few things you can do to get rid of them or at least decrease their numbers. Help what plants you can and once you get your mites taken care of grow some new ones! One of the few silver linings of losing potted plants around my house is that mean we have space to grow something new! Haha good luck with your plants and keep growing!
The More You Grow thanks for making this a bit easier, because I feel so bad for even thinking about tossing them. They are my babies. I can only imagine how you must have felt having to say bye to yours trees. They become are part of you! This sucks, just when I thought I had narrowed it down, I was wrong. I even gave them their own ICU in my basement, treated them with Neem oil, decent wipe down and they continue to wilt 😢 some people think I'm being overly dramatic. Who cares! I have over 150 houseplants and it's just a bummer. I keep wondering how did I miss this, I look them over every day and night and yet I missed these little nasty boogers. I'm going to bite the bullet and say my goodbyes and start again at some point. But that won't be until I'm sure the remaining ones are in the clear. Thanks for allowing me to vent. 😉🌿💚 p.s I think it may be the new soil mix I just started using. 🤔
7xelbuaD oh wow I didn't know you had that many others! if you have that many other plants I would definitely cut looses on infested plants that are beyond saving IMMEDIATELY. Don't even carry them through the house or where other plants are without them being in a bag and wash your hands and clothes you're wearing when you dispose of them and put them out in a trash can that is not in the house (dumpster, curbside trash, trashcan at another location). Treat these things like the plague! Those little buggers or their eggs can easily hitch rides. Some may think I'm a little overboard with all of that but I've seen how the can decimate plants within days and I would hate for you to lose anymore. That's why I had to get rid of my 2 trees that were heavily infested with scale and spider mites. Not because I there wasn't a chance I couldn't save them, but because they were so infested they were a hazard to the rest of my plants. Looking back I wish I would've tried quarantining one of the trees, but at the time I was things about my plants as a whole because they were quickly spreading to others (which I managed to catch in time). These plants become my friends as well for sure! Sometimes it takes tough decisions (what I call herd mentality) to save them all as a whole. Herd mentality meaning if we keep the really sick ones around everyone we may all end up sick. So if there's some you think you can save try quarantining them and being extra clean when going from sick plants to healthy (wash hands, don't let the plants touch your clothes) and remove plants that are beyond saving asap!
Yes DE will do some damage to them, however I didn’t have access any at the time and it was an outbreak that didn’t have a few days so I resorted to a fast acting solution to get things under control, and I only applied it around the outside of the pot to keep the ants from getting back in. Pesticides are always a last resort for me but those plants were in a crisis state. Great suggestion though!
No need to spend money on neem oil. You are trying to suffocate the bugs so any non-toxic emulsion will do. the easiest and cheapest option is to dissolve a couple of tablespoons of cheap full fat mayonnaise into a pint or so of water and spray that on with a cheap hand sprayer. Adding half a teaspoon of copper sulphate will give some protection against fungal infections too.
Just found you today and did not see until 6:25 that you're wearing a Texas A&M shirt. I wanted to assure you that this is not a mortal sin. jk enjoyed spider mite tape.
Hahahahaha oh man I lucked out until now, you happen to be the first Aggie joke comment of the channel so far 😜 like I tell people they didn’t let me on the football team so no one can be mad at me if it doesn’t go how people want 😂 thanks for watching and welcome to the channel! 👍
Thanks for your help. Excited to give this a go.. winter here in Australia. Do you recommend waiting till there’s more sunshine?
PS. Love your shirt/ring!
Fiona Hansen I do not recommend applying neem during periods of more sunshine, the opposite in fact. Neem should be applied to plants in the late evening or in areas of indirect light and not apply during times of night temperatures. Applying neem to plants in full direct sunshine can cause burning on the leaves (I did not know this once and found out the hard way. RIP kumquat tree lol) and applying neem at night will allow it to soak in more rather than volatilize off (since it is an oil). Additionally it also reduces the chances of bees and other day time pollinators being harmed by the neem. It’s also advisable to test a small area of the tree your wanting to apply it to to see to make sure that it doesn’t adversely effect the tree. Some plants are more sensitive than others 😊
Thank you for this question! I wish I had mentioned it in the video and I hope now others will see it here!
And thanks for the shirt/ring complement! Gotta support my school and I’m pretty proud of the ring. A&M makes you put in a lot of hours and work before they will let you earn it so we’re all pretty proud of it once we finally are able to receive them 😜
Thanks for watching and greetings from Texas! 😁
Great video. I’ve been fighting scale for 3 years. Your information is the best I have found yet.
I just discovered this scale issue on my ten yr old gardenia... Thank you for letting me know how to try and save it!
Thank you for the up close and personal of the scale!
Thanks for the tips. I had a big and beautiful Yerba Mate plant that I was growing out in my office. The entire tree dropped its leaves and the tips of the branches all dried up. I moved the tree upstairs and pruned back the dead branches only to find that the trunk was infested with scale. The still live branches are starting to sprout new growth already. I’m still waiting for the weather to warm up enough to move all my plants and trees outside and do a real deep soak with neem oil on the plants and their pots. I had a pretty heavy spider mite and aphid infestation on my lemon and lime trees but I got it under control with dish soap and water and a spray bottle with just water to blast them off.
good work hope it all work out for u happy smoking makes happy people peace and love John.
Thanks bro, have a lemon tree I've been fighting to save for ages.
It always gets covered in scale mites. I'm also told an insecticide works wonders.
I have a houseplant that I treated a couple of years ago and was fine until now. Make sure to reapply neem oil before the new hatchlings reach maturity and reproduce. You can physically remove most of the scale with some gloves and a paper towel. Then, apply the neem oil and reapply in 7 and 14 days. Neem oil solutions work best with a small amount of castile (or simple) soap added (because oils and water don't mix), the bottle label usually gives the ratio. Scale life cycles vary slightly from species to species so it's important for these reapplications to effectively control their spread. Also, your use of neem oil should be just enough to coat the plant and not any more as some plants are sensitive to this otherwise beneficial organic product, it can cause tissue death in the younger, more fragile foliage if put on too heavily. The hardest problem with scale control is that they also feed on roots, which protects them. With enough due diligence, you can really prevent the infestation.
Spider mites can be brought under control by spraying them with water frequently they proliferate in dry conditions.the small insects are called aphids the ants eat the excretions of the aphids called honeydew.spray your plants with a mineral oil and water solution for scale it’s easy and it works.
I did a stupid thing with an azalea that was infected. I sprayed it with clorox cleanup. I thought that bush was going anyway what the heck. It lived and came back beautifully. I was amazed. I know it’s not a recommended thing to do or real environmentally friendly but it freaking saved the plant. This was about three yrs ago. Love it. Nothing else was working. If you got nothing to lose try it, plus it cleaned any fungus off the bark. Spray it down heavy and let it dry. What’s to lose. 🐾🐾🐾
I feel the same way when I have to get rid of a plant, glad to see I'm not the only one.
I’m currently in a battle with scales and spider-mites on my baby citrus trees. They aren’t doing so well, but they aren’t dead yet and tomorrow I’m going to manually remove some of the scale insects. The spider mites already took my bonsai juniper, never again. Thanks for the tips!
I always try to manually remove as many as possible and apply some kind of deterrent (usually neem or liquid Sevin) too deter them from coming back. Good luck!
do it right and a smile will appear on your face important u need 2 be patience, John.
Dear,
Usually i mix a few drops of washing detergent mix with cooking oil or cononut oil... Then i just rub the mixture on the problematic places ...leave it for few minutes. , then i scrap it.. It helps but you need patience to do it..
I used simple washing up liquid applied with sponge and left for an hour then rinsed off with sponge and water....every week for a month....citrus trees are more prone but ficus trees are also affected.
I just found out I had a scale problem with my young Meyer lemon plants. I removed them with paper towel and a tooth pick for hard to reach areas. Sprayed with insecticidal soap. I hope they don't come back. Thanks for making the video.
Be what I would recommend! Best of luck!
I live in Temple. I saw that A&M shirt so if it works for you, hopefully it will work for my fig tree and other fruits and veggies I am trying to grow.
Could you please post that update video? Thanks!
I've been using neem oil on my lemon and lime tree but I didn't think about using the insect tape to get rid of the ants. I also didn't know I needed to get rid of them and why and how they work together with the mites and scale bugs. thanks for the information.
Yes sir! Most of the time they get to your plant because of the ants. Busy little homesteaders killing my stuff 😂
You actually showed me the bug! I’m not sure what I have but there looks like rust spots and my leaves are being devoured on one of my plants! Now I can go see if this is what is eating my plant or something else. Always a battle, don’t you agree? Yes - love Neem oil but be sure to be 100%. I kept asking for it at one of my hardware store and they kept sending me to the mixed products. Then I found it myself in the hydroponic area. Thanks for loads of info!
Never ending battle! I have insect problems again this year mostly due to nutrient and watering stress while I was gone to college, but doing my best to go to war with them with a few new methods
do coffee grounds, white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, or cow milk (lactose intolerant pests), either together or some type of mix, get rid of spider mites or other pests?
Oh man, it so sad that you had to get rid of your trees. I just realized that they took over my orange tree very bad. And it's 25+ years old. My oranges are currently large. My plan is to let them grow, pick ask my oranges, and trim my tree down and clean it like you did. I hope it works and hopefully I can save it. Tfs your experience.
Thank you for your tips! I've been nursing a sick Oleander tree that a friend of mine gave me about two years ago. They're beautiful! Last summer, it was blooming for months and I absolutely adored it. So sad it has a scale infestation and it took me a while to discover that those little black dots aren't part of the bark. :( I hope it bounces back. Cheers!!
I have tried soapy water spray to kill the ants, white flies, and scales of my citrus, hibiscus trees,and ixora plants in my garden. And I also have sprayed on the scales with the hot water spray on the scales and white flies by connecting the hot water hose into the hot water faucet in my garage.
Neem oil is ok, but it may kill beneficial fungi and does affect bees if they happen to ingest it. You could consider using a naturally-occurring soil fungus called Beaumeria bassinia that is available in powder form and can be diluted 1g per litre to male a safe and effective targeted insecticide without fear of collateral damage.
Right. Why I normally only apply neem after dusk and avoid flowering areas as much as possible to try to reduce as much contact with bees etc as I can. I have not heard of the Beaumeria though and will have to check that out! Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching!
@@TheMoreYouGrow I've only recently come across it in my pursuit of an organic pesticide that will control the invasive Asian yellow-legged hornet, which is threatening to invade Britain (where I live) right now. Current practise is to use wide spectrum insecticides, which is insane IMO. I found Beaumeria on ebay in the USA at a reasonable price, but insanely expensive here. I reckon you could buy a small batch and cultivate it yourself, and never have to buy it again!
I had a lemon tree that was infested with pests, you name the pest my lemon was housing it. I pruned the heavily infected branches and changed the soil to start with and then applied pest oil religiously for three days. Changing the soil also definitely killed all the ants and were not existent the following day. I didn't worry about any good insects being affected as I doubt any good insects will come to my tree until its back to good health anyway..
Lol I call my house plants my pets too, my friend makes fun of me when I say that, but when you take care of a plant for years and watch them grow they become pets. I have a bit of a scale bugs infestation that has jumped to most of my house plants and I'm all worried already, I'm not buying anymore plants this summer until I know for sure I have cured the ones I have
I'd love some advice / guidance on (1) treating scale insects and (2) preventing scale insects. I have scale insects on four of my cacti. I haven't seen them on the rest of my cacti and tropicals, but I want to treat the infected plants and begin regular preventative treatments for the other plants.
(1a) Treatment for infected plants: I think the four cacti that are infected can be salvaged. I'll first unroot the plant and cut the infested parts off, which are mainly the bottom of the plant. Then I'll remove as many insects as I can before spraying / rubbing the plant with rubbing alcohol. Once the rubbing alcohol has dried, I will apply a treatment of Provado to the outside of the plant. I'll allow the newly-cut and newly-treated plant to dry at the cutting before repotting it. It will be repotted with fresh potting soil and a pot cleaned with bleach.
I am very paranoid about the rest of my plants getting the scale insects, especially as we begin to enter Autumn - I'm in the Midwest and I don't have much time left before I have to begin transitioning my plants inside. I've been planning on replacing most of their soil anyway and including a rock / pumice mix, which is justifying what I think I can do.
(1b) Treatment for non-infected plants: I'm going to essentially do the same thing I did with the infected plants. I'm going to unpot all my plants, inspect the plant (root included) for scale insects, and spray the plant with rubbing alcohol and Provado before repotting in new soil and a pot cleaned with bleach.
(2) Prevention for all plants: I am already regularly inspecting my plants, which is how I first noticed the scale insects. I don't have many leafy plants but will be sure to inspect under leaves, between cactus pads, etc. I am also thinking that whenever I water my cacti, I'll water them with a diluted solution of water and Provado.
Do y'all have any recommendations for a more effective treatment? I know (1b) is a little excessive, but if I lose some of these plants, it's highly unlikely I'll be able to replace them for a while.
Those insects are so nasty! They keep coming back and destroying my beautiful plants! :(
Sorry to hear that!
Where is the updated video on this?
did it work? i'm trying to save my lime tree from the scale
Use a sharp knife to scrape most of them off. I did this today. When the rain clears up I'm going to spray my trees with an insecticide.
... if you have a potted tree try treating the entire tree pot and all ... or ... as indicated ... then put a thin dry cleaner bag over entire plant to the floor... this creates a micro climate and kills the bugs ...tobacco water with a dash of dish soap is always worth a try too ...
@@willgaukler8979 can you explain more about a dry clean bag for the whole plant. Not sure what you mean. Thanks.
I finally got tired of fighting scale on my container citrus trees. Threw them out. Lost a lot of money on them. I've had limited success using neem oil for spider mites. I have had good results in my greenhouse using Azatin xl .But it is expensive.
OkieRob hey thanks for the info! I’ll keep that in mind. The way I tell people is neem will not get rid of things usually it more prevents them from coming back as bad once you get rid of them/get them under control. My best solution is manual removal. It’s usually very effective, but most wont spend the time I will on a plant usually 😜 thanks again for the info on the spider mites and thanks for watching!
Can I use the diluted Neem oil on a Plumeria?
Was an update ever posted on your results? Thanks!
I never got around to it but I can say that the lemon tree is happy and healthy. I have had scale on it a few times since then, but early intervention kept them under control unlike what you see in the beginning of this video haha will post an update soon!
Good info mate. Trying to get rid of my scale at the moment in a potted lemon tree. Cheers
Yeah when the infestation is like I just remove them manually but if it’s sever I remove as much as I can and apply neem (be sure to not use it in hot temps if possible (night and early morning)). Another thing I didn’t mention (but will this spring) is ordering lacewings and ladybugs. They can do a number on them and keep their number down
@@TheMoreYouGrow that's a great idea. Im at a point where i could probably at this stage get them all off by hand. Just read up on neem and seems to be a great product for a multitude of applications. Thanks for the info mate. Doing a great job.
Yeah it really doesn’t do much for killing insects but does well for deterring them. Lots of good application! Thanks for watching!
My philodendron xanadu has small yellow/brown spots all over the leaves, but the stems seem fine. I took one of the leaves to my local nursery and was told that it was scale. I purchased a triple action spray at the recommendation of an employee (she seemed really knowledgeable). My plant doesn't look anything like yours with scale do, so now I'm questioning if it actually is scale or something else.
Hard to say without seeing them. But they look like little brown or black zits on a plant to me. If you crush one you’ll see it’s an insect
how the heck did you let those beloved plants get so infested dude?
Cosmo Ruckaz I was gone to college for about 2 months and my parents aren’t plant people enough to know what scale is lol
I had a Thai basil plants that were infected by scale, so I cleaned them outside this summer, trimmed them down as much as I could, and sprayed them with dish soap and water for a few days..
I haven't seen any on them. But, Two spider plants suddenly had them! I threw them out, just incase the bugs were in the soil...
I haven't' seen any on any other plant.. yet....
Now I spray most of my plants every second day with dish soap and water..
I'm thinking of buying Neem Oil, but most places don't carry them.
Thinking of getting some on Amazon?
+mrfoltz If you're not seeing any signs of scale on the remaining plant there's no need to apply soapy water to the plant. What the soap water does is theoretically suffocate the insect by creating a film, which prevents them from breathing. So applying it really doesn't prevent the scale. The soapy water that often could actually damage your plant more than its helping. The neem on the other hand I apply on a schedule and it does act as an insect preventative. That's actually its primary use. You can usually find it at your average lawn an garden supply store/department pretty easily (I got mine from Lowe's). I'd recommend checking there first if you have one pretty close by just to save on shipping, but Amazon is definitely an available option! Good luck with your plants and thanks for watching!
There is no Lowe's up here in Canada... And I checked a few places.. nothing.. :(
mrfoltz Then online is probably your best option after all. Like you saw in the video, what I usually do with scale is I manually remove as many of the scale insects as I can by just crushing them between my fingers with a paper towel. After I've removed as many as I can I spray the plant down with the neem oil at the recommended rates on the container. It also let you know usually how often to spray. I say this because if you spray it too often the neem can actually harm your plant a little
I'm very interested to see if your approach worked! I have a couple of lemon seedlings that I'd like to get settled outside, but I have been battling a relatively small amount of scale on them with insecticidal soap for almost a year now. I spray down the plants, and then a month later I see signs of scale again, and spray them down again. I'm wondering if I should toss them or try your approach.
Holly Atkinson I can say that the trees in this video made a full recovery! the most effective thing I’ve found to do with scale is to manually remove as many as you can by wiping down all the undersides of leaves and all the stem with a moist paper towel. Crush all that you can and wipe them away. After this apply neem oil in some form of spray bottle at the concentration recommended on the bottle. The neem oil isn’t so much to kill the scale, but more to prevent them from getting another outbreak. Manually removing them does take more time but I’ve found it gives you great results especially if the plants are small enough that it is feasible. I had to go and remove the a few times but I eventually got their numbers down where they could be controlled. I only got rid of some because they were so completely infested that I feared that they would spread to my other plants before I could get them under control. Hope this helps and good luck with your trees!
Thanks very much for the update and your advice! I'll give it a try
I used organic neem oil. Mine seem yo be all on the stems. What do those things turn into, ?
Caroline Maslin yeah we hi get scale they are on the stems and leaves close to end of the branches. That’s their adult form. Some times they end up in a winged form I believe where they travel to other plants
My lemon tree is having the same problem this year
I wiped the scale insects off with wet wipes and my tree is fine now.
Thanks for the tip, will try that.
how often i spray and until when
How is the tree doing now?
It’s doing great now! Will do an update on it this spring when it warms up enough to get it back outside 😊
Hey! Im having spider mites on my indoor Bonsai tree(zanthoxyllum pipertium). Purschased it a week ago, it must have been infected in the shop. Im going to use something chemical that is against scale insects. Or shouldn't I? One of my friends recommended it, she use it for plants, although not for bonsai tree, but she thinks it can work.
Ive seen an alternative, like pushing them off with water every 2-3 days, and i actually started killing them by hand, killed 5-6 adults and 20 eggs. (I carefully pick them off and then killing them with force) its not the most effective way, and water did a good job, but i fear it not enough to completely perish them.
What do you think? Should i continue with water and hand, or try that chemical? Do you know another way? Are spider mites have any natural enemy, that will eat their eggs?
Thanks in advance!
Sorry for the late reply. I’m not entirely sure what the best solution would be for bonsai trees, they are a bit different care wise. I would suggest just looking online a bit for spider mite solutions for bonsai. Neem oil may be effective for bonsai trees but I’m not entirely sure
research the tree. not just bonsai
sprinkle cinnamon powder for ants the smell and texture they wont cross it just sprinkle around base of plant don't use chemicals
Thank you. This video really explains in depth 👍
0:52 looks like mealybugs, found mostly in Hibiscus, But here its not white color🤔
Thank you for your help
I had to wipe my lemon tree down two hours later I don’t think I could toss a tree even if it was infested I think I would have tryed to drowned them in a 55 gallon drum and then repot it with fresh soil 👍
Those damn ants! I knew they were trouble. Honestly I was wondering why my plant got scales and the ants make sense because they have just been infesting my apartment 😩
Very informative video
Is there an update to this video? cannot found it!
Haven’t made an update, but can say the tree has overcome the infestation and is doing wonderfully. I will do an update on it sometime if I get any time (in sort supply at the moment 😅😂)
My 35 yr old Barbados cherry
I think is too far gone
This doesn’t feel good 😔
I am pretty sure I saved my tree along with the rest of my plants and trees from a potential scale infestation this year. We recently moved to our new property and we transplanted our big two y/o young maple tree here. I was admiring my tree when I noticed one of these nasty looking things. It looked like some sort of growth since it was so adhered to the branch. I didn't know what it was at the time, so I went to poke it with a stick to see if it was possibly a growth or maybe even a type of fungus since it didn't look like any bug I've ever seen in my life. It looked just like what you had, but absolutely huge. It was a bit more than a quarter inch to a half inch! When I poked it, it oozed a sort of puss. I was so grossed out. I looked for a long time and continued to check my tree and plants and so far have not found another. Yet. Looks like it was a hitchhiker that hitched a ride to the new home and planned to start and grow its family alongside mine.lol glad I didn't end up blowing it off as something insignificant. Anyway, I am also glad to have found your videos helping me identify it as a bug. Lol tfs!
Thanks very informative video
I wiped the scale insects off with wet wipes and young tree is fine now.
Has anyone tried submerging the plants? Maybe submerging for an hour or so would drown the scale insects but not kill the plane.
Thank you for this video! It was very informative.
I’m in Belgium and have just figured out that the reason my orange tree has lost almost all of its leaves is due to spider mites. I’m hoping to save it but I’m afraid it ma be too far gone now!
I’ve lost a few that way, once you get spider mites bad enough it can be a never ending battle and still not totally get rid of them. I wish you the best of luck though!
Could scale insects look white in color? Maybe my Japanese Maple has lichen instead.
There are similar insects called mealybugs that are white in color and cause similar damage to plants as scale. I can say for sure without seeing myself but that could be a possibility
The More You Grow Thank You. I will look up mealy bugs. I don’t see a way to post pictures on you tube unfortunately.
The More You Grow It does look like mealy bugs! I hope the neem oil works on mealy bugs too. I sprayed s lot in the tree a few days ago.
Cushiony Cotton Scale. It's now the bane of my existence!!! It's attacked my hibiscius and lantana.
Hi brother if this happens again just know its your soil attracting the ants weak soil brings ants is first sighn your soil needs something
charles bump could u explain a little more I have never heard this before? Thanks cheers
good video ... I do use neem oil ... very effective ,,., good job
use peppermint oil in water and spray on plant
Thanks this was very informative!
Thank you for this video. I tried the neem oil in a sprayer just like yours and it gummed up on the walls of the sprayer and clogged up the nozzle. Do you have any tips for that?
Hmm I’ve never had that problem with neem oil before? Not sure why that would happen. How long did it stay in the sprayer before that happened? Has the sprayer been used for anything else before you had neem oil in it?
You need to strain the neem oil before you put it in the sprayer
I was tought to mix dawn dish soap with the neem oil . with out it the neem did not mix with the water. Hmmm I have used it on my house plants this way for years. it makes your plants shiny and pretty. hmmm
mix in the neem oil in hot water then add to sprayer the hot water helps to break the neem oil up because its really thick cold water wont break it down
I have both of these pests infested on my plants and it’s really scary 😦
It’s the worst 😩
Great video thanks!
Really helpful thank you
Do spider mites fly? I had it on 2 plants but now it has spread to about 12 plants. All indoor plants 😕... uugghhh
7xelbuaD howdy! I know your pain!! Spider mites are the few things that cause a deep rage in my life from time to time! Spider mites are a wingless insect so they technically do not fly. When outdoors that can be blown by wind enough to be blown to adjacent plants. In an indoor environment with potted plants many times they can spread through us! If you get them on your hands, clothes, etc they can be carried that way. Thought they are small they can crawl from plant to plant given enough time. Left untreated they will get all plants if they are close enough to each other. I'm sorry to hear about your plants! The seem to attack some of my plants every year.
The More You Grow thanks for responding. As much as it pains me, I think I may have to toss quite a few of them out because these dang mites are faster than I am.. Thanks again!
7xelbuaD I've had many heartbreaking moments where I've had to throw out an infested plant. It kills me every time it happens. Had do it with 2 trees in this video ( one was an 8 year old tree I grew from seed) felt like burying a pet! 😵😭 everyone who had grown plants long enough have done it at least once and sadly it's usually not if rather its when will it happen! there's a few things you can do to get rid of them or at least decrease their numbers. Help what plants you can and once you get your mites taken care of grow some new ones! One of the few silver linings of losing potted plants around my house is that mean we have space to grow something new! Haha good luck with your plants and keep growing!
The More You Grow thanks for making this a bit easier, because I feel so bad for even thinking about tossing them. They are my babies. I can only imagine how you must have felt having to say bye to yours trees. They become are part of you! This sucks, just when I thought I had narrowed it down, I was wrong. I even gave them their own ICU in my basement, treated them with Neem oil, decent wipe down and they continue to wilt 😢 some people think I'm being overly dramatic. Who cares! I have over 150 houseplants and it's just a bummer. I keep wondering how did I miss this, I look them over every day and night and yet I missed these little nasty boogers. I'm going to bite the bullet and say my goodbyes and start again at some point. But that won't be until I'm sure the remaining ones are in the clear. Thanks for allowing me to vent. 😉🌿💚 p.s I think it may be the new soil mix I just started using. 🤔
7xelbuaD oh wow I didn't know you had that many others! if you have that many other plants I would definitely cut looses on infested plants that are beyond saving IMMEDIATELY. Don't even carry them through the house or where other plants are without them being in a bag and wash your hands and clothes you're wearing when you dispose of them and put them out in a trash can that is not in the house (dumpster, curbside trash, trashcan at another location). Treat these things like the plague! Those little buggers or their eggs can easily hitch rides. Some may think I'm a little overboard with all of that but I've seen how the can decimate plants within days and I would hate for you to lose anymore. That's why I had to get rid of my 2 trees that were heavily infested with scale and spider mites. Not because I there wasn't a chance I couldn't save them, but because they were so infested they were a hazard to the rest of my plants. Looking back I wish I would've tried quarantining one of the trees, but at the time I was things about my plants as a whole because they were quickly spreading to others (which I managed to catch in time). These plants become my friends as well for sure! Sometimes it takes tough decisions (what I call herd mentality) to save them all as a whole. Herd mentality meaning if we keep the really sick ones around everyone we may all end up sick. So if there's some you think you can save try quarantining them and being extra clean when going from sick plants to healthy (wash hands, don't let the plants touch your clothes) and remove plants that are beyond saving asap!
Used coffee ground will help keep ant out.
I will have to give that a try, thanks!
Use lacewings and predator mites !!!!
Only cold pressed neem oil is effective
GROOSSSS!! Hope it worked.
Thanks great video are use diatomaceous earth around the trunk and the ants won’t cross it
Y not put de in it which might take a day or 2 to kill off the ants but diatomaceous earthwoks well even on fire ants
Yes DE will do some damage to them, however I didn’t have access any at the time and it was an outbreak that didn’t have a few days so I resorted to a fast acting solution to get things under control, and I only applied it around the outside of the pot to keep the ants from getting back in. Pesticides are always a last resort for me but those plants were in a crisis state. Great suggestion though!
No need to spend money on neem oil. You are trying to suffocate the bugs so any non-toxic emulsion will do. the easiest and cheapest option is to dissolve a couple of tablespoons of cheap full fat mayonnaise into a pint or so of water and spray that on with a cheap hand sprayer.
Adding half a teaspoon of copper sulphate will give some protection against fungal infections too.
nice
SOAP EM UP BOYYYYY!!!!!
Is this work i am searching your update video.?
Hey there! I never got a chance to video it but it worked great and still have this tree to this day😁
Neem oil
👍🏼 gig’em
Nothing like being ready to make your video, huh boy?
W...t...
Just found you today and did not see until 6:25 that you're wearing a Texas A&M shirt. I wanted to assure you that this is not a mortal sin. jk enjoyed spider mite tape.
Hahahahaha oh man I lucked out until now, you happen to be the first Aggie joke comment of the channel so far 😜 like I tell people they didn’t let me on the football team so no one can be mad at me if it doesn’t go how people want 😂 thanks for watching and welcome to the channel! 👍