Laurie, the scale can stil be in their crawler stage (babies) While you're searching for a shelled bug, these are w/o shells, so they're hard to see.
If possible, take plants to the sink or shower and spray away..then remove all those you can see..If you have Fish Emulsion around the house, add a capful to a mister and spray away. I wish you the best, Toni

Sadly, while three if the schefs are small enough to carry & put in the sink, the Mother Of All Scheffleras is huge and very, very heavy. And the three ficus are all very large & heavy. I shall have to do something in situ for them. I may be able to get them to the shower for one washing, but I know it's not going to happen every 6 days.

And just now I found honeydew on the Bird of Paradise I started from a seed several years ago... I'm afraid to look at the jasmine, plumeria & the ginger lilies.

I have waaaay too many big houseplants...

thanks! I think there is some fish emulsion here somewhere..

I've read on the orchid forum that scale have to be hit every 7 days because th ey can develop immunity to certain pesticides. Today you might treat with Bonide. In 7 days, you might treat with Bayer(malathion) and in another 7 days, you might treat with Neem or some other spray on pesticide. I would consistently hit it with alcohol, though, to kill the babies, which can be hatching every day with the number of scale you are describing. My heart goes out to you.....Good Luck and bring out the BIG GUNS! These are some dreadful, persistent little bastards!

GH

Be very careful about the kinds of pesticides that you use for house plants. There are very few that are safe for that purpose...certainly not any of the Bayer products or malathion. Bonide makes (or used to) an indoor pest product, but you have to look for it.

But are you even certain that you have scale on the Ficus? I don't think so. Might your 'problem' be guttation? Your description of this substance coming right from the center of the leaves, like dew drops, certainly doesn't sound like honeydew. If the 'dew' is watery and not sweet and sticky....you have nothing to worry about at all.

A great prophylactic measure, however, would be to spray with a rubbing alcohol and water solution, or your neem. BTW, I've never seen an scale infestation that could be washed away in the shower.

Growhappy, I'll try and find something besides the Bonide that isn't too toxic for the rest of us living in here. But I read somewhere that malathion can cause ficus to defoliate, so that one's out. It's hard to find things that are safe to use indoors.

Rhizo_1, I looked up guttation and I think that is what I've seen at times, especially on the ficus and I think I've seen it on the strelitzia, too. Sadly, what is on them now is very, very sticky, on every one of the plants. And they all got *worse* after I used the Bonide, which is very discouraging. I'm sure it's just something to do with the temp/humidity changes here, and not that the Bonide is like scale fertility drugs.

I'm about ready to launch a neutron bomb....

Thanks, all!

Laurie, it's time for war!! I know this isn't the time of yr to take outside, but if possible, do so and hose away. Some ppl swear doing this rids scale. I haven't had luck just hosing, but by using other methods, too, you should be able to rid those scale.
First, isolate the plants w/scale/honeydew. I wouldn't worry about the amount of sun they're getting at this time..I'd go over the plants w/fine-tooth combs, plucking as many of those suckers as possible. Last I'd spray w/either Fish Emulsion or a insectidal spray. This is war!! (S) Toni