For scale on citrus, I always used Volck dormant oil spray. If used at a lesser rate of dilution, it would not harm the citrus, usually lemons. Oil coats the scale which effectively suffocates them. Works every time, plus left the lemon trees nice and clean. I believe Neem oil would work the same way, plus be toxic enough to do in the ants.

There is another kind of scale that attacks citrus.  Haven't yet seen it on figs.  It's white and cottony.  Always a battle!  But the kind pictured in this thread is the worst because it's kind of camouflaged.  It sort of matches the wood.  When the trunk starts moving with ants, we get out the neem.  The cottony scale is easier to spot, and it rubs off with alcohol.

Suzi

Are you sure that the cottony ones aren't mealybug, Suzi?

Well, figgary, the citrus forum ID'd it over at Garden Web a couple years ago, so I'm pretty sure.  Never saw it at all last year, but there was a lot of this kind.

When we moved here 2 years ago, we took over some really neglected plants, and we were in shock at the many pests thriving here.  We discovered something new every day.  One day we pulled this huge vine off a fence and discovered a full size lemon tree under it!   Never saw it at all last year, but there was a lot of this kind.  Scale seems to love that lemon tree in particular.  AND my Paradiso fig! 

Suzi

Hi Steve,

You are right, I don't measure the dish soap, just get it nice and suddsy. I have done this with garden transplants, house plants, and a young fig tree which came out of Cali, I wanted to insure that if it was harboring the dreaded mites that they wouldn't spread anything to my trees I started from cuttings(the other plants were bought with various undesirable hitch hikers and it was these plants that I experimented on first). The tree and plants I treated never skipped a beat. I have never immersed a fig tree that small. I guess the risk would be with the age of the roots, are they mature enough to handle excessive moisture or are they at the age that they just get soggy, turn brown, and die back.

Hope that helped.

Best way I found to get ride of them. Is liquid black soap 5 tablespoon in 1 liter of water and i add 2 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. Keep a close eye on those little guys they are realm bad. But with this recepy have been getting the upper hand. Good luck

Found more scale on a plant today.  It's no more than a rooted cutting (Brooklyn Hand Grenade) but probably about a year old already.  It was a goner that I nursed back to health and just recently started to put on leaves.  Took it outside and picked the scale off.  Drenched it with Neem Oil and brought it back inside.  The real problem is that it was sitting on a heat mat right in the middle of my newly rooted cuttings.  They all have lots of new, fresh green growth.  Thinking of spraying new growth with alcohol/soap/water mixture.  Anyone have experience with alcohol/soap/water mixture on new green growth?

Today I immersed my fig in "dishwater" as described by Calvin above.  Most, but not all, of the soil came off of the rootball.  What is remarkable is that beneath the soil line I found about 6 scales.  So no wonder they kept coming back!  Those were removed and hopefully all of the critters are dead.  Just to be safe I'm quarantining this one a bit longer.

Oh boy.  I don't know how much more this little guy is going to take.  It's already been through so much.  Definitely not going to submerse the newly rooted cuttings.  Might start looking to a pesticide alternative.

If you go the pesticide route try malathion, as mentioned by Rich earlier. I have used it successfully on orchid scales, but not sure how figs will react. Spray out side! You may have to follow up on additional sprayings.

Thanks Dave.

Good paper on scale by UC IPM:

Scales

Unfortunately, the scales are back even after totally immersing the plant and rootball in warm, sudsy water for 15 min!  I would toss this plant if I had another copy of this particular variety.  The only thing I can figure is that I missed a scale on the rootball somewhere and the soapy water wasn't enough to kill it.  I'm not quite sure what to do next.

Steve - Did you try Neem Oil?

No, I initially tried a spray with diluted isopropyl alcohol and a little dish soap then the total immersion.  I think I will do the immersion again and this time make absolutely sure I get all the scales off below the soil line.  Then after I pot it back up I will spray every four days or so for a couple weeks with either neem oil or insecticidal soap.  I'm really tempted to immerse it in a malathion solution but don't want to have to think about malathion when I eat the figs!

[Fingers Crossed]  I haven't seen any scale since 2/16.  I've used Neem Oil on the plants that had scale
and have been maintaining with alcohol mixture when I water.  Worried that it's going to pop up on my
rooted cuttings but haven't seen any yet.  

When spraying with Neem (outside) I soak the whole plant and all of the leaves, top and bottom.  I also
give the soil a good spray.  Even move the top 1/4 inch or so around and spray again.

Bare rooting seems too drastic drastic to me.