just got a fig tree from friend,about three ft tall. looking at it closer i realize that it got scale . what is the best way to getrid of it, i don't want to put it by my other figs ,i live in ohio and they are in dormant stage now in the garage. is it worth keeping this plant ,i don't want to infest my other trees they are doing great

I had a problem with scale last year with a plant that I kept indoors over the winter.  If you search under my username you will find a thread about scale.  I had to bare-root the tree a couple times and soak in neem oil to finally get rid of it.  

For a tree of that size that is dormant in the garage it seems like a good chance that the scale might not make it through an Ohio winter if your garage gets down into the 20s.   Maybe others will know if freezing cold kills scale.  It is good to keep the tree away from your other ones just in case it is warm enough in the garage for the critters to start moving around.

Actually here are the two threads on scale that I participated in:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/scale-attack-6723589?pid=1285959792#post1285959792
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/what-the-heck-is-this-7273630?highlight=scales&pid=1286342131

From my experience very hard to get rid of .

After checking some sites:

From few sources on the web they say brush it with a brush soaked in baking soda and canola oil mix.
I tried it this winter And maybe it will break their life cycle.
If not ill try neem oil.

Canola and neem oil smother them , and it is needed to repeat every three weeks.

Keep them quarantined


Rewton how did you find neem oil ? anygood?

I got scale on just 1 small tree I purchased. I just squished the suckers. I'd say about 20-30 over 2-3 weeks. They never came back.

I used to use malathion to easily control scale on figs.
A quick spray on the dormant figs in early spring controls them well.

http://www.ortho.com/smg/goprod/ortho-malathion-plus-insect-killer-spray-concentrate/prod180018
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/malagen.html
but there are precautions that must be followed.


Now I have bee hives to set up this spring, not sure how I will control scale without hurting my bee's.
Is there a product that works first try and is non toxic to bee's?

Doug

My grandmother grew up in Letonia. I doubt this winter will take care of scale, due to el nino. I endorse the neem/horticultural oil method and several applications to catch hatchlings.

Eli, I tried a bunch of different approaches to get rid of them and it took a while.  A couple times I was convinced they were gone then a couple weeks later I would find that a scale or two reappeared.  I think bare-rooting and soaking for 5 minutes with a solution of detergent and neem oil finally did them in although I think I may have had to repeat the bare-root procedure twice!  It wasn't fun but now I have a nice Vasilika Sika (VS) tucked away in the garage.

I had great success defeating scale on plum and cherry trees. Pick off what ever you can and soak  the tree with dormant oil, you will need to stay on top of it until its all gone. You can even add a little Malithon to the mix, realistically, there is no way to properly defeat this without some chemical/spray.



 

Hi Nebo,

On such a size tree, you can just rub them off with your finger.

I am fighting scale on my indoor citrus, I am using cotton swab w alcohol and individually wiping branches and leaves. It seems to be working well. Rewton's Neem oil also works. Putting the plant outdoors for a few days in this mild weather could also do good. Scale only appear in my greenhouse in autumn.

Scrub scale with toothbrush dipped with rubbing alcohol to remove. Spray tree with hose. Apply neem oil on the stems and leaves. Make sure you get under leaves well. Apply neem every week for a month since eggs will still present. This is what I do for citrus trees and should work with any tree. Good luck Chad

I ave 63 trees, can you imagine how long that would take?
I agree with "realistically, there is no way to properly defeat this without some chemical/spray."

I'm going to spray all my figs with a spray during the winter only.
We have fairly warm days still while all my trees are dormant.

That will have to be my only time to do it so as to not hurt the bees.
The way figs split when ripe all get attacked by honey bees.

So I figured to plant enough to let the bee's make some fig honey next fall. :)

Doug

Hi,
I often heard of alcohol (90°) and neem oil being rubbed on the trees.
At this point, I would use lime (construction material, not the fruit) (ever seen those white washed trunks in gardens ?) on top of the dirt. Lime will dessicate them if they come and go to the dirt. Rub some on the trunk and on the branches. Scales don't fly . they need to crawl. Ants travel with them...
I would do it now while the fig tree has no leaves ... It is less work ...
You can wear gloves and crush them too on such a small tree.

I had a lemon seedlings that scales helped getting killed - bad sun exposure, lack of fertilizer and being root bound did the rest I suppose.
At that flat, the public trees would drip sticky drops like dirty honey ... From their scales - they were just covered. So I gave up on my lemon seedling... But this year, I started some new lemon seedlings at my new flat with no infested trees in the street.
Two years ago, I had a pear tree seedling on the outside windowsill at another flat and at Spring time I spotted some scales on the tiny tree. I crushed them with the hand and that was it. The pot had taken my Zone7 winter and scales were still alive ... before I spotted them. I haven't seen a scale since then and the pot is now at my garden. I was really careful to kill them all before I moved the pot as to not spread the scales. But ok, the seedling was a flag pole of 4'' / 12cm.
I used to crush the scales on my lemon tree, too. At that time, I didn't know about the lime trick ... I'm not in a hurry to use it on scales. But,  I'm already using lime on ants and moths/caterpillars. And it works (so far, knock knock on wood) great to my great surprise.
Whatever you choose, don't let them spread !

thanks for all the comments and solutions on scale, i ended up spraying it down with horticultural oil,its recommended for fruit trees with scale,will spray every seven days until they are gone. got the tree separated from the others its in my basement,in cold dark corner.the fried that gave me the tree said that it didn't have a good fig crop on it. at three feet its not going to have a a lot of figs anyway. its a texas everbearing variety.dont know to much about the variety . will give it a try in spring far away from my other figs.five years ago i didn't know anything about figs or growing them now I'm obsessed with them, they are like potato chips can't have just one!!!

Every seven days? you can do this twice for the whole year and be good to go. Avoid spraying when leaves are out.

All my fruit trees gets this twice, in late Winter and then again early Spring. I add a tablespoon of Malihion or something equal like Peach Tree Borer killer to the mix.

on the container the oil came in it s directions say every 7 days until gone. im afraid to use malation on the fig. besides , being in the house i don't want to smell that stuff, and it will give my wife something else to complain about. if its still around in the spring scale that is i will give it a oil bath with the malation outside

I apologize, I forgot you were bringing it in. You are correct, no Malahion or anything but oil inside.

The second thread suggested by Steve has lots of good advice:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/what-the-heck-is-this-7273630?highlight=scales&pid=1286342131

This is also a good paper from UC Davis about scales:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/PESTNOTES/pnscales.pdf

Pick the scales off.  Spray with Alcohol/Water/Dish Soap mixture followed by a good spray of Neem.  Worked like a charm.