Andrew G wrote:
From the description of the "insect eggs" it sounds like scale. What
looks
like eggs are actually the scale, their protective coating, the insect is
under them.
You will find white oil or spray oil should kill them. Just make sure you
spray/cover all of them.

Oh yeah, I take it the "black" look of the branches are due to masses of
these scale? The only other option on the branches is sooty mould. Sooty
mould has a black powdery look to it. But the egg type looking things will
be scale.


Might be worth checking for ants too, especially if the tree is in a
pot. Ants like to hang out with scale and sooty mould and can make those
problems worse, plus add their own.

Jane