Hello everyone,

I recently noticed small 1mm sized transparent bugs climbing along the bark of my tree as well as some in the soil. I don't have a clear picture of the bugs, because they are so small. I've attached pictures of the bark, though. Also, you will notice that my tree has these odd bumps that appear on the bark, which look like scabs. There is a small white bug on one of the brown scabs in the first picture. Are they the eggs of the insects? I'm not sure what's causing this, but i'd sure like to get rid of it!

I also saw what seems to be mold or fungus growing on the bark. It has been humid the past few weeks and that's when I noticed the mold/fungus. It looks like the tree is bleeding from the mold. Please help!!

I live in Hong Kong Zone 11, which is quite humid right now, but I've tried to keep the tree healthy, i don't know what's going on!

Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 

Ok, confirmed, they are scales. Going to pick them off and rub alochol on the tree. Any other solutions to this problem? I believe they are also the cause of the mold.

It seems ants are farming the scales in my container. Anyone have a solution to get rid of them?

alcohol on a q tip will work just gotta repeat the procedure in a week or so to be sure you get them all. Just put the alchol on each scale insect don't rub it all over the tree. 

That's good info.  Thanks Bary.

kevung...best of luck with your treatment.

Thanks for the tips guys! As you saw, it was a pretty heavy infestation and once I picked them off, I put alcohol on cotton and went over all the leaves to get rid of any babies. (since my tree is still quite small). The tree didn't mind the alcohol and is growing fine now. I still get the occasional small one, but maybe 1 every week, which is about 99% better than before. 

As mentioned above, alcohol may not be the best route.  It dries the plant cells, especially leaves.  I'd consider using horticultural oil.  There's one called Sunspray that works really well.  It's a highly refined parafinic wax oil that reduces the chance of burning leaves.  It's still not recommended in high temperatures, but you can use it on green growth.  (There are other brands out there too.)  Dormant oils are only to be used on plants without leaves.  It will badly burn green growing plants.

@ bonsaigai...Michael, would 'neem oil' be useful in this situation?...I purchased some back during the winter for possible use this summer, in case my plants get attacked.

Yep.  I've used neem on scale too.  It will require the higher concentrations listed on the bottle.  It may be a safer bet to spray when the temperatures are below 70.  Better safe than sorry.  Check the instructions on the bottle for temperature recommendations.  I like neem as it's also a decent fungicide.

I forgot to mention, a little horticultural soap will be a good spreader sticker for oils.  

I had them on a potted citrus tree. I got a damp rag and wiped off all that I could find. Then I hosed the whole tree off making sure to get under the leaves too. Then checked it again and wiped off the ones I missed. When I got all that I could find I then sprayed it with neem oil. Some of the leaves fell off but it eventually grew back.

For what it's worth, I had purchased/adopted two trees this winter that turned out to be badly infested with scale.  I treated them in early Jan with a combination of horticultural oil and a bit of Malathion.  (Since they were badly infested, I decided to "not mess around" and I gave 'em the one-two punch combo.  Others have reported success with just the oil, and even just picking them off by hand or hitting them with a strong jet of water.)  I hit them again in April with the oil/malation combo.  Right now I don't see any sign of scale on either tree.
  One of the trees was beginning to bud/leaf out in April, and some of the smaller leaves were affected by the oil.  (Actually, I'm not sure if it was the oil itself or if it was the combination of sun and oil.)  If you end up using oil, I would move the tree out of the sun so you don't fry it.  Both trees rebounded well and one will probably give me my first fig of the season ;-)
Jim

Try listerine mouthwash. Hopefully you have that in hong kong. Dab it onto a tissue and then wipe the scale off. The ants hate it too. Oil won't be so good in your hot weather right now.