Hello,

Last year I bought an orange. A while later I noticed brown things on
the leaves. At first I thought they were insects and I expected them
to run away when I touched them, but they did not; they were stuck
there. Then I thought may be they were the eggs of something. They are
brown and only a fraction of an inch in size, and whatever they are
you can scrape them off. The problem is they are all over the stems
and on the leaves too.

Last year I decided to cut back all the affected parts, which left me
with hardly any tree left. This year the plant has grown back but so
too have the things. What are they? I also find the plant is sticky to
the touch.

Thanks for your help.

In article ,
writes:
|
| Last year I bought an orange. A while later I noticed brown things on
| the leaves. At first I thought they were insects and I expected them
| to run away when I touched them, but they did not; they were stuck
| there. Then I thought may be they were the eggs of something. They are
| brown and only a fraction of an inch in size, and whatever they are
| you can scrape them off. The problem is they are all over the stems
| and on the leaves too.
|
| Last year I decided to cut back all the affected parts, which left me
| with hardly any tree left. This year the plant has grown back but so
| too have the things. What are they? I also find the plant is sticky to
| the touch.

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick wrote in message in reply to...
| Last year I bought an orange. A while later I noticed brown things on
| the leaves. At first I thought they were insects and I expected them
| to run away when I touched them, but they did not; they were stuck
| there. Then I thought may be they were the eggs of something. They are
| brown and only a fraction of an inch in size, and whatever they are
| you can scrape them off. The problem is they are all over the stems
| and on the leaves too.
|
| Last year I decided to cut back all the affected parts, which left me
| with hardly any tree left. This year the plant has grown back but so
| too have the things. What are they? I also find the plant is sticky to
| the touch.

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Yes, I agree with Nick, common problem with all citrus, shame you cut the
tree back as they can be removed with a fingernail (messy) or blasted off
with a sprayer full of water with a drip of washing up liquid. Go over the
whole plant leaf by leaf and stem by stem making sure you get the tiny ones
in the cracks. Takes time and you will get wet too.
After a couple of weeks repeat the procedure and inspect your plants closely
in future for this nasty pest which is persistent.
The stickiness is their waste product. :-)

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

On 29 Mar 2004 14:16:27 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Thanks for the help. Do they live in the soil too? Should I remove the
top inch or so?

On 29 Mar 2004 14:16:27 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Thanks for the help. Do they live in the soil too? Should I remove the
top inch or so?

On 29 Mar 2004 14:16:27 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Thanks for the help. Do they live in the soil too? Should I remove the
top inch or so?

On 29 Mar 2004 14:16:27 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Thanks for the help. Do they live in the soil too? Should I remove the
top inch or so?

wrote in message ...
and Nick wrote:

They are scale insects. The best way to get rid of them is to
scrape them off. Repeat at weekly intervals until they stop
coming back. They live on both the leaves and stems.

Thanks for the help. Do they live in the soil too? Should I remove the
top inch or so?

No they don't but it's worth just taking a look down the trunk below the
soil if they are that bad.
Once off the plant they are unable to crawl back as they lose mobility once
attached to the plant as tiny youngsters.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 23:41:23 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

Yes, I agree with Nick, common problem with all citrus, shame you cut the
tree back as they can be removed with a fingernail (messy) or blasted off
with a sprayer full of water with a drip of washing up liquid. Go over the
whole plant leaf by leaf and stem by stem making sure you get the tiny ones
in the cracks. Takes time and you will get wet too.
After a couple of weeks repeat the procedure and inspect your plants closely
in future for this nasty pest which is persistent.
The stickiness is their waste product. :-)

Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

In article ,
writes:
|
| Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
| guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
| a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
| what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
| live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
| yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

On a smallish plant, I strongly recommend using a blunt (and small)
knife. It gets rid of scale very effectively - you don't have to
remove every scale, merely crush it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 23:41:23 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

Yes, I agree with Nick, common problem with all citrus, shame you cut the
tree back as they can be removed with a fingernail (messy) or blasted off
with a sprayer full of water with a drip of washing up liquid. Go over the
whole plant leaf by leaf and stem by stem making sure you get the tiny ones
in the cracks. Takes time and you will get wet too.
After a couple of weeks repeat the procedure and inspect your plants closely
in future for this nasty pest which is persistent.
The stickiness is their waste product. :-)

Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

In article ,
writes:
|
| Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
| guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
| a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
| what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
| live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
| yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

On a smallish plant, I strongly recommend using a blunt (and small)
knife. It gets rid of scale very effectively - you don't have to
remove every scale, merely crush it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message
Yes, I agree with Nick, common problem with all citrus, shame you cut the
tree back as they can be removed with a fingernail (messy) or blasted off
with a sprayer full of water with a drip of washing up liquid. Go over
the
whole plant leaf by leaf and stem by stem making sure you get the tiny
ones
in the cracks. Takes time and you will get wet too.
After a couple of weeks repeat the procedure and inspect your plants
closely
in future for this nasty pest which is persistent.
The stickiness is their waste product. :-)

Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

It's the high pressure blast from the sprayer that does the job which is why
you must keep pumping it up to full pressure while doing the cleaning. The
washing up liquid just helps a bit and also removes that sticky stuff at the
same time.

Don't bother with biological control for one plant, it's much too expensive
and probably won't work too well.
--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

wrote in message
Yes, I agree with Nick, common problem with all citrus, shame you cut the
tree back as they can be removed with a fingernail (messy) or blasted off
with a sprayer full of water with a drip of washing up liquid. Go over
the
whole plant leaf by leaf and stem by stem making sure you get the tiny
ones
in the cracks. Takes time and you will get wet too.
After a couple of weeks repeat the procedure and inspect your plants
closely
in future for this nasty pest which is persistent.
The stickiness is their waste product. :-)

Thanks for your help. I'm sure I tried washing up liquid before, but I
guess I did not persevere enough. Now that I know what they are I did
a search on "scale insects" and have seen pictures and that is exactly
what they are. I also read that you can buy ladybirds and wasps that
live off them. The wasps need a warm temperature, so I cannot use them
yet, but I am wondering about buying the ladybirds.

It's the high pressure blast from the sprayer that does the job which is why
you must keep pumping it up to full pressure while doing the cleaning. The
washing up liquid just helps a bit and also removes that sticky stuff at the
same time.

Don't bother with biological control for one plant, it's much too expensive
and probably won't work too well.
--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars