Greenhouse figs and black scale and mealy bugs (?)

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HarveyC

Registered:1212433117
Posts: 3,294

Posted 1390355183	Reply with quote #1

It's too crowded in my greenhouse to keep a close eye on every plant but I've been noticing a problem of black scale building up so today I brought out all the plants (had 35F for a low but up to 74F in the afternoon) and sprayed with neem oil. A few plants were infested much worse than I realized and one plant had mealy bugs or maybe cotton aphids, a new problem for me. What do others use for control? __________________ Harvey - Correia Farms Isleton, CA (Sacramento County) USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14 http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics

blueboy1977

Registered:1375760370
Posts: 459

Posted 1390356001	Reply with quote #2

I believe the wooly bugs your referring to are good bugs eating the aphids. __________________ Rob Zone 9a/9b were the too meet. South Houston Tx Growing: Black Madeira, Smith, LSU Scott's Black, Improved Celeste, VDB, MBvs, RDB, Unknown Peach/Apricot, Salce, Malta Black, Texas BA-1, JH Adriatic, Atreano, CDDN, CDDB, CDDG, Strawberry Verte

gorgi

Registered:1188888396
Posts: 2,864

Posted 1390357634	Reply with quote #3

Last summer I bought 3 (ebay) fig starters that had some (hard to notice) scale on them twigs. What later first came to my attention, was some white funny stuff like in your pic, and ants feeding on them. I first sprayed with neem oil - both ants and fluffy white stuff survived. After a couple days, I used the heavy artillery - malathion; and within min/hrs, all were dead. What I am not sure about is if the white stuff were mealy bugs or scale (crawlers)? __________________ George, NJ_z7a.

rcantor

Registered:1309799312
Posts: 5,727

Posted 1390357764	Reply with quote #4

Nah, those are probably mealy bugs. If it's just mealy bugs I use rubbing alcohol and spray it on. For scale Neem oil is probably better and it should kill your mealy bugs, too. __________________ Zone 6, MO Wish list: Galicia Negra, De La Reina - Pons, Genovese Nero - Rafed's, Sbayi, Souadi, Acciano, Any Rimada, Sodus Sicilian, any Bass, Pons or Axier fig, any great tasting fig.

bullet08

Registered:1284496248
Posts: 6,920

Posted 1390357811	Reply with quote #5

2% soap spray. just ordered dr. bronner's pure castile soap. found one scale and a female with eggs. did visual inspection yesterday and today. i haven't found others, but if there is one, there has to be others. heard neem oil doesn't work all that well. __________________ Pete Durham, NC Zone 7b "don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash." - sir winston churchill "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." - the baroness thatcher *** all my figs have FMV/FMD, in case you're wondering. * * and... i don't sell things. what little i have will be posted here in winter for first come first serve base to be shared. no, i'm not a socialist...***

HarveyC

Registered:1212433117
Posts: 3,294

Posted 1390358993	Reply with quote #6

Quote: Originally Posted by blueboy1977 I believe the wooly bugs your referring to are good bugs eating the aphids. Whatever it is seems to be too flat with no obvious presence of a body to be wooly bugs. I don't see any aphids. Gorgi, I've used malathion and sevin (in different instances) before also and may resort to that, spraying outside again. Both seem to control scale pretty well. Pete, Bass has told me neem oil works pretty well on scale. We'll see! __________________ Harvey - Correia Farms Isleton, CA (Sacramento County) USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14 http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics

GreenFin

Registered:1331268315
Posts: 684

Posted 1390359019	Reply with quote #7

The citrus trees I got from 4Winds last year had scale, which then passed to my mango and guava. Fingers and neem oil didn't eradicate them, so I dug the trees out of my aquaponic grow bed, took them outside away from the fish, and sprayed them out the wazoo with Sevin, let them sit a day, then sprayed them again. That was in the spring, and I haven't seen any scale since. On a related note, early this winter spider mites got a foothold in my greenhouse figs. Neem oil wasn't enough, so I was going to order predator mites. But then the polar vortex hit and all the fig leaves fell off, and now I can't see any spider mites, so I'm wondering if I should wait and order the predator mites in the spring. __________________ James, zone 6a Kansas (zone 10 greenhouses); wish list is in my profile http://www.FigCuttings.com

RichinNJ

Registered:1374784282
Posts: 1,687

Posted 1390359303	Reply with quote #8

Mealy bug solutions for orchids... http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=511

needaclone

Registered:1346812939
Posts: 604

Posted 1390359903	Reply with quote #9

For scale I used horticultural oil mixed with a small bit of malathion for good measure. Just the horticultural oil may have worked, but I wanted to be sure. Blasting them off with a hose also works to some degree. I did an initial treatment and then a followup treatment about a month or so later. This was last winter. In the spring I found one scale left...it was "dug in" on the main trunk just below a branch. Tenacious little bugger. Jim __________________ Clarksburg, NJ - Zone 6b Wishlist - A wise man recommended: Nero600M . Malta Black . Tacoma (Takoma) Violet . Gino's . Adriatic JH . Vista Mission . Florea . Atreano . ...also...RdB, Bethlehem Black, Negronne, Grise de St. Jean, Livano, Col de Dame Blanc/Gris/Noir, Vasilika Sika, Longue D'Aout, Italian 258, Pennsylvania 6-5000

rafaelissimmo

Registered:1335639347
Posts: 1,473

Posted 1390360177	Reply with quote #10

Here's an old post from Gardenweb by Pitangadiego! http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg0113140227394.html __________________ Zone 7b, Queens, New York

HarveyC

Registered:1212433117
Posts: 3,294

Posted 1390362417	Reply with quote #11

Well, I don't agree with Jon's comments on GW. Insecticides can be very effective on scale. I've had some infestations in the past and Sevin is especially very effective (and lists scale as a controlled pest). Also, my plants are too fragile to be blasting with water and the plants at this time of year are growing too slowly even in my greenhouse to be able to drench them with water. What's odd is that it's been months since I've seen an ant in my greenhouse even though I've been looking for them. I've never seen scale on figs outside of the greenhouse (except when I moved these plants temporarily out of the greenhouse). __________________ Harvey - Correia Farms Isleton, CA (Sacramento County) USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14 http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics

Grasa

Registered:1347083219
Posts: 1,819

Posted 1390366509	Reply with quote #12

First time I ever heard of this creature was in another post here, but now, I got serious educating myself. These are pretty nasty bugs, however, seems that the 'scales' visible are already dead, right? and there are many kinds out there also... their larvae is likely what you are seeing with the foamy white spots.. nasty. Here, this article seems helpful. I hope you get rid of them as they will spread to everything.. try ladybugs - these are amazing creature and prey on the nasty bugs. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7408.html "...distinguish live scales from dead or parasitized ones by flipping over the female scale body or cover using a sharp tool. The dead scales from previous generations can remain on plants, and sometimes a large proportion of scales are dead or parasitized by natural enemies..." __________________ Grasa Seattle, WA

HarveyC

Registered:1212433117
Posts: 3,294

Posted 1390372875	Reply with quote #13

I don't see any dead scale, just different stages of black scale. I scraped several off to turn them over, etc. And I looked back at the white things and they are mealy bugs and some spots that are apparently where mealy bugs had once been feeding (?). I've read before that introducing ladybugs usually isn't successful and it's also a business that finds its supplies by removing ladybugs from the wild, so I don't really think that's a good thing to do. __________________ Harvey - Correia Farms Isleton, CA (Sacramento County) USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14 http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics

Aaron4USA

Registered:1375832059
Posts: 2,969

Posted 1390410272	Reply with quote #14

HarveyC just wash them one by one with warm water under the sink give the branches and leaves a gentle rub while you wash those buggers away. then spray entire package (the plant branches, leaves and the soil) with heavy Cinnamon tea. in 2-3 cups of warm-hot water add 1 hefty tsp of cinnamon powder and steer. then pass the tea through gauze and use the infusion to spray on the plant and the soil and the pots.

HarveyC

Registered:1212433117
Posts: 3,294

Posted 1390412732	Reply with quote #15

Oh yeah, my wife would just love that! If the figs come into the house I'm pretty sure I'll be moving out of the house. __________________ Harvey - Correia Farms Isleton, CA (Sacramento County) USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14 http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics

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