Wow! That is pretty bad. Somehow I cannot imagine that standing out there with a little scrub brush and scrubbing it off with soapy water ever would clear up the whole infestation. It covers too much of the plant for that option to seem remotely viable.

Have you decided if you're going to cut them back to the ground after they go dormant or give dormant oil a shot at that time or whatever? You know, they have superfine dormant oil meant for summertime applications, though I've never used one in our extreme heat. I've never been sure if they are formulated for regular summers like people have in much of the country or for our insanely hot, miserable summers.

They look like mealy bug, which is, I guess, a form of scale. Are crepe myrtles the only thing they effect? This may have been answered, I haven't been following the thread. What about neem?

They are a scale specific to crape myrtles. First seen in Texas over a decade ago, and slowly spreading northward. Crape Myrtle Scale was first seen in OK in Ardmore in 2012. It made the news here around that time, but I haven't seen it mentioned locally since then. Let me find and link maryl's other thread about it. I believe neem oil isn't effective, but I don't remember if I read that somewhere, or if maryl told me that, or if someone else told me that. Since it is relatively new, horticulturalists and ag researchers are still working on finding an effective control. Obviously it is better to catch it early, but hindsight is 20-20 and once it spreads, a person is really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Since maryl mentioned the infestation on her plants, I now check mine daily....not that I am paranoid or anything.

Original Post on Crape Myrtle Scale

I almost never see scale here on anything, even when a scale outbreak of a certain kind (like redbud scale, for example) seems commonplace across Oklahoma. I don't know if we have some sort of beneficial insect that feeds on scale here, or what.

Something in the Tulsa World was written recently about scale on crape myrtles. I do not recall much of what was said, but horticulture oil,(I think) was suggested. You might want to call the Master Gardener number.

I do not think horticulture oil should ever be used in the heat. I always prune my crape heavily, and cut off almost all of the side branches. I cut to about my waist (I'm 5 ft 2), but I don't think most people do that.

Also I think the crape needs to be sprayed more than once.

The articles in the paper are written by Master Gardeners, I think.

This is a lot of jibberish. I hope it helps a little.

Sammy

I check my crepe myrtles every day, you guys are making me nervous. First we get Witches Broom on knockout roses now scale on myrtles, what next.