Quite easily. Spray with Windex or Formula 409, let soak for five minutes or so, and then spray off with a hose. Keep it out of the sun for a day or so and repeat as needed.

That's too bad, disappointing. It is so visible (I would be ashamed to give plant like that, and you even paid for it).

Is it aeonium? You probably can get rid of scale by wiping the trunk with a cotton ball or soft tissue moistened in rubbing alcohol and I would also check the leaves since it is possible for scale to be there - hopefully not. You have nothing to loose - if it doesn't make it for some reason, it wouldn't make it for sure without treatment. I think there are some chemicals available to fight scale, but it is usually realitevly easy to get off since it is visible (not like mealies that hide well). I would spray with a solution of r. alcohol and water after about a week or so, and maybe again after couple more weeks. Hopefully you can get refund or healthy replacement...Does it have roots?

Aeonium are having harder time coping with heat, so hopefuly it isn't too much stress on a plant. I would keep it also in cooler location, hoping it may help.

Edit: I see that Jeff posted other suggestions - perhaps they work better & faster than r. alcohol.

Thank you for your replies, yes, even though I've never seen scale first hand, I knew something was amiss when i opened the box.

It is indeed an Aeonium =D

Windex huh?....I'm off to give that a try!! I really want this plant to be ok!

Yes, the mother plant has roots, but 2 heads snapped off during shipping. To be fair, the 2 pieces that snapped off, were dried up and though the head is still viable, I think I'll need to cut it close to the top & root,

Good thing it's been chilly here the last 2 days, I pulled my other aeonium in from outside to give them a break from the summer heat. Right now it's 60-something degrees and no sun, no shadows anywhere.

I put it outside on the patio and it's just sitting there awaiting it's fate. I'm going to spray it up, then rinse off roots to pot up in gritty mix.

Since scale doesn't really move much, can I bring this inside to recover in a sunny window? I would still keep it a few feet from my resident aeoniums...

edited to add: Yes, I agree, can't see how seller didn't see this mess in the first place, but hoping for a refund.

I agree, I don't know how the seller could have missed this either if s/he knows healthy plants. It's clear that's not the case.

You know this plant's dormant now, right?

Rina,

Yes, it's outside on the patio in the middle of the cement floor, I hosed it down with Windex =D

I plan to hit it with a soft toothbrush to remove as much as I can see.

I also plan to keep it several feet away from my other plants, do you think that will suffice or should I keep in a totally separate room?

Dormancy, I surmised (from chatter around here) that these guys become dormant when outside during the heat of the summer. I don't think my resident aeoniums are dormant, but I brought them inside anyway. Was hoping to balance out the cool of the house with their demand for light since there are only 5 small plants.

I did notice the rosettes appeared 'closed' and appear to be sleepy, while mine seem to do the opposite.

As in, the other ones I have seem to spread open so that the lower leaves bend downwards, pointing to the ground. While newer leaves stay tight and compact in the center. This is why I'm supposing mine are not dormant.

I was hoping it would decide to break dormancy if the climate is correct. It came from California, so here on Long Island, I expect it's cooler.

My plan is to rinse roots of soil & pot up in gritty mix, bring into house where it's cool but light situation still high.

edited to add: soft tooth brush & windex worked like a charm. He's still sleeping on the patio for the night and I'll work with him some more when the sun comes up.

If several feet away, it should be OK - and especially after that Windex treatment, and the toothbrush scrub :)

I have Kiwi, balsamiferum and canadiensis - balsamiferum has reacted more than others so far. We are suppose to have some hot days (for us) ahead, so I think they will all go dormant. Here is a cutting of balsamiferum - closing up tight:

I don't know much about them and wonder if they could be forced out of dormancy by keeping cooler? Jeff knows likely...

Don't hit it with a toothbrush yet - rinse with high-pressure water and let dry. After it's been dried, then hit as needed.

Here's the deal with Aeoniums - like other Crassulaceae, they're opportunistic growers, but even more narrowly than say, Kalanchoes or Pachyphytums. Their primary growth period is winter, with the shoulder months on each side also a time of lesser growth, but in the heat of the summer they generally shut down and shouldn't be watered. There is at least one (A. smithii) which will almost assuredly rot if it gets ANY summer water, but others are more forgiving. Still, it's best to give it only minimal water, if anything, during the summer. Your cuttings should be misted only, once a week or so. You can keep them in full sun - you will start seeing them wake up in September or so.

I can't get over the amount of scale that is on this plant! I keep looking at it and I'm shocked every time. How disappointing I feel for ya:(

@ Kara: lol! Right????! I keep going back to the pictures myself!

I'd never seen scale in person, but as soon as I unpacked this plant, I could see something wasn't right with the stems.

Windex treatment worked wonders but I guess what scared me was the common advice to discard plant (google).

So far, so good. Hoping to hear back from seller, who described this plant as 'very healthy'.

At least 2 stems dropped off, not from damage during shipping, rather, I can see they're shrivelled, from the base, where they joined mother plant and I'm sure scale sucked 'em dry -__-

So far though, plant looks promising....at least to my naive, overly hopeful & untrained eye =)

Will update with pics later today

Welp....

I scrubbed it gently but could not remove all the scale. Repotted in gritty, including the 2 heads that had broken off.

I love the look of this plant, even though it's kind of ratty right now. I'm going to try to nurse it, but having no illusions, plan to toss if it limps along.

It's outside now, relatively cool day, no shadows whatsoever. I have it several feet away from all other plants & plan to bring inside to a cooler but still sunny part of the house.

I may end up setting up my bank of lights early this year if the light from the sliders aren't enough for it.

I got a large jade once that was covered in scale and had root rot. I tried everything to save it, and ended up just trying to save some cuttings. I actually have one plant from it. I will say that I was very surprised, months after I thought I had eradicated the damn things, I'd find some unhealthy tissue and lift it to find a scale or two. It took a while to finally be rid of the scale. Based on that experience I would keep the plant away from your other plants until you have 3-6 months without any scale sightings. That is what I did and I am thankful.

awesome =) thanks for the advice! I have some treatment or another that I used for mealies, it says it's effective on 'scale crawlers'.

So after having treated it as best I could, I applied the stuff and I'm hoping for the best.

If they're anything like mealies, just when you think you're rid of 'em -___- they make an appearance.

I'm hoping the plant will recover enough to get by. The roots were healthy & plentiful, not as plentiful as the scale though.

Womp.

=/

Update:

Seller is replacing plant with a similar one for free.

I'm doing the best I can with what I have right now. It's in an air conditioned room, pretty much pressed up against the glass of an south facing window that gets good indirect light most of the day.

We'll see how she does there.

So far, it's shed some lower leaves, dried up & I removed to keep things tidy.

Still plenty of scale present. I haven't watered since I washed the old soil from the roots, white cache pot is just for stability, mama's top heavy and roots just fill the pot.

About the scale, I can see white scale and dark brown bark colored scale.

Are these different kinds of scale?

Dead and alive maybe?

In other words, must I remove all the barnacles to successfully rid the plant of it?

I spray daily with alcohol and treated plant with a systemic powder that is effective on crawlers only.

I used a drink mixer straw to scrape the barnacles off.

They flake off rather easily & there's nothing under the little scale shells

I hope that's good, cause that's what I'm going with =D