Oil is, well, IMHO, only so-so for scale control. It works if you coat every surface really well, but it's hard to get into nooks and crannies. Oil is the rotary phone of scale treatment in my opinion, basic and functional but hardly up to date. Any scale infestation I ever treated with oil always came back afterwards.

Treat it with the systemic insecticide imadicloprid, found in Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub. It will completely eliminate the scale in about 2 weeks. This is the "I-phone" of scale treatment.

I don't see any advantage to cutting it back. Just water it really well, it should bounce back yet this year.

wow! this is news to me-thanks so much. I was reading about oil the whole time & know it is still very difficult to rid of the scales.

In fact almost my whole garden is infected: Jasmine vine, ferns, etc etc.

I am besides myself..so upset.

Thanks so much & will try. Do you know if it is environmental friendly? Thanks again.

Environmentally friendly, well, yes and no. I say that because this entire class of systemic insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, is controversial because it MAY play a role i n "colony collapse disorder" of domestic honeybees. There has never been any research that proves definitively that these insecticides actually have contributed to this disorder.

I use quite a bit of the Bayer Advanced on various plants, such as my ash trees to prevent Emerald Ash Borer, on magnolias and peaches for scale, and on all of my potted houseplants. And I am a beekeeper. I've never had any issues or problems. Even if the compound WERE implicated, it would be because of massive widescale use on agricultural crops such as cotton, rice, and potatoes. Small scale backyard use, such as treating a plant or two, isn't going to have any effect.