"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...
On May 26, 12:49 pm, Pam Moore wrote:
On Thu, 26 May 2011 09:02:26 +0000 (UTC), Ann Lancing

wrote:

I have scale insects on a cultivated blackberry. The infestation was so
bad that I cut out all the stems.
Will it come back with the new shoots, if so how can I kill them?

Yesterday a friend discovered scale insects on my stephanotis. I had
seen some clusters of flower bud appearing, after 3 years of waiting.
The friend inspecting the plant and found the scale. ( I don't see
such things easily becauseof my sight.) She cut off the worst affected
leaves for me. Now how do I deal with any other scales there may be?
I don't think a systemic insecticide will work as the leaves are waxy.
Is it a case of wiping the bottoms (LOL) of all the leaves? I heard
once on GQT that whisky is the thing to use, on a bit of cotton wool.
Any other suggestions?
The plant is twined round a circular wire, and quite a tangle of
leaves.
Incidentally I got fed up with training the long shoots around in a
circle so this Spring I started cutting them off. I wonder if this
has triggered flowering.

Pam in Bristol

Whisky or more normaly Meths is used for Mealy bugs as it disolves the
waky coating they have,

You will find an old tooth brush as effective as anything for squashing
adults but it seldom gets rid of the problem, as the plant is indoors make a
large bag out of net curtaining to go over the plant and order the bio
control insects for scale (the bag stops them wandering off)

The original poster's plant is outside, this is more of a problem and I have
noticed a lot of scale around this year mostly Camellias and hollies, the
problem may well reduce during the summer as things start to eat them.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk