I had that problem with a US vendor...still fighting the scale...very annoying. I will not order from them again. The trees were pretty, well-developed, and they shipped quickly, but all three had scale. I'm sorry for you!

Yeah, that's a bummer Stefan and Laura... I have scale as well but never noticed which if any trees it came in on... except for 2 trees actually now that I think of it.

Stefan I got 4 flora exotica trees last year and only the australian finger lime suffered with some scale, and none of the 3 or 4 I got this year have it so I don't think all of their trees come with it. The ones I got from Perry were big briteleaf ones so maybe in future try and get those?

Honestly it would probably be a best practice to isolate all new trees and treat and thoroughly examine them before mixing them with your existing collection. This is something I will try and remember to do next year.

Like we do with new chickens right Laura :)?

I faced the same thing with citrus from Humber . it's especially difficult to manage inside at least that's my experience . u have to give repeated good drenching of neem oil + soap. There are more synthetic options but with all ur plants being at home I wouldnt recommend that .

I got a few trees from Perry last year no scale issues . I usually keep new plants isolated as well n do precautionary spray.

Thank GOD I never got any with scale...

I did although get one tree from my local greenhouse which was a 'Ruby Red Grapefruit' a few years back, and never in my mind would of have thought they would sell me a SPIDER MITE infested one in which they were fully aware it had, which is why it was cheap, at that which attacked every clean tree I had in my plant room. It took me 3 years to get rid of them for good..Now I buy anything I get now while they can be outside and treat them for pest and check then over, I will isolate too..Would you believe they fully knew they were selling me an infested tree? I was so beside myself and vowed to never ever buy another tree while mine are indoors..

One year when ordering a couple fro Logee's in the winter, I received then infested with every bug you could think of..Maggots, gnats, thrip, full grown and nymphs, and spider mites! All at once..They are located in Conn. and in the two days they got to me, most of the leaves were so destroyed eaten, at least then I knew to look for bugs..It was disgusting.

It can happen from any vendor at any time..It's a good practice to isolate until you are sure....I don't think there is one Merchant that can promise us pest free plants or they would be making a false statement.

That is true Mike. I think the Santa Teresa I got from FW was the first to have scale...and they are great there. I was just annoyed that all three had it from that vendor. Hobby...before I got to the end of your post about isolating, I was already thinking it...we do it for chickens...and parakeets (or we were supposed to), implementing it for new citrus is the way to go. I will do that from now on for sure!

I spent a solid 3 hours going through my purchases from Perry with a cotton swab dabbed in alcohol to remove as many scale insects that I could physically see. I then sprayed everything down with Safer's Insecticidal Soap. The most infested plants are the cuttings, the Persian Lime had 20+ scale insects on it. But the large citrus are not immune... Being color deficient I have a difficult time seeing them, but with the amount of honeydew present I knew something was going on.

I will dose everything in neem oil (once it arrives from Amazon) and again with the IS the next time I water. Hopefully I've caught things early enough...

I should be receiving 4 new citrus from Fruit Trees and More tomorrow or Wednesday (cocktail grapefruit, Tarocco #7 blood orange, Washington navel orange and a seedless kishu mandarin). I will isolate these and spray them well upon arrival. Thanks Hobby for the advice.

Laura have you got rid of them yet for the most part?

Dev anything else besides the neem and IS to get rid of them?

Good luck! Be VERY vigilant and make sure to soak the undersides and tops of leaves along with all the stems. I've even sprayed the top of my mix down a little. I thought my cocktail grapefruit was well and long and behold, just yesterday I found a patch of scale hiding in one upper leaf that was curled. Be very thorough and be prepared to repeat the spraying. I've sprayed mine even when I do t see anything just to be sure.

It's something you often have to manage but won't totally eradicate Stefan, so don't be discouraged, like Laura said be vigilant. Great minds again Laura!!

i also received trees from fruit trees n more and I have seen no sign of scale so that is promising.

Hang in there and keep up the treatments.

Mike, I hope you told Logees about your infested plant and they sent you a new one.

In defense of the nurseries, keeping a 100% pest free operation is impossible and so some infested plants will be shipped. Quarantining the plants is an obvious solution but that is something that I should do but have not done.

By the way, I have not sprayed with neem or insecticidal soap or any other insecticide since April and have had no infestations. I did spray with fish emulsion a few weeks ago but am not convinced of its insecticidal properties. Maybe I have been lucky.

Vlad. FE is a good alternative to neem. Being an oil it's a contact spray so it smothers pest. The residual after it dries doesn't do much.

Stefan - One year I had a v bad infestation that time i used Pyrethrin conc mixed with Neem n IS . Also I have read Malathion being used as well . Both are contact pesticide , so whatever comes in contact is toast but therez always some that r missed , also I personally wouldnt use when therez fruit

Vladimir, you are lucky..I had an infestation of insects every time I brought mine in for years at the end of summer, until I started using F.E..You have to use it regularly and start early..I have not had an issue with any of my trees for the past few years unless I missed a tree with it here and there..That one was infested...Same with my Orchids and dozens of Hoya...With Hoys, mealy in particular....I hope your trees stay bug free all winter for you)

Mike, they are fine all summer but boy do they get infested in the winter which is one reason why my wife insisted on my getting a greenhouse. "NO MORE STICKY STUFFY ALL OVER THE HOUSE!"

I know right?

You will LOVE that feeling when you can spray oils and pesticide anytime you want, and not have to worry about a thing.

You will also love it when you can water when you want, top leaves, under the leaves and your pots, which helps keep your trees clean and pest free and raise the humidity all you want without getting water on anything in the house. Wait until you spray water every where and the sun is out, even in winter..It gets so warm and humid in there..Smells good too...You won't even have to use coasters or dishes under your pots..Oh, you are going to love the freedom pal...By the way, get a fan at Walmart while you can because they are all selling out..You will need a constant breeze in there to avoid disease and which also keeps mite populations down!

I can't wait to see when your greenhouse is all set up and full of your favorite trees)

So I was watering my pink banana and I found mealybugs hiding in between the stem and some of the fronds. I have also found hard scale insects, in addition to the soft scale.

Does anyone know if the hard scale insects will be affected by insecticidal soap? For horticultural oil, does any one have some suggestions on brands to use?

I'm actually considering letting some ladybird beetles lose in the plants. I'm pretty much losing this battle to the scale insets. =(

Hi Stefan I am treating for scale now. It is way too early on to be admitting defeat to scale so let me encourage you, you can keep it under control.

See mikes thread about starting a spray regimen? Use hort oils and neem and also manually wipe scale off as well, I use a moistened paper towel to wipe up and down the stems and in both sides of the leaves. Last season I was gagging at the amount of tiny scale babies that were accumulating on the napkins, yet they had been invisible on their own to the naked eye.

Persistence is the name of this game so perk up! The oil smothers manually and the neem works manually as well as a systemic. Plus the physical removal and you will be on a good path.

I find the insecticidal soap to work better on aphids than scale personally.

Hi Hobby, it's very difficult for me to spray everything. I have so many plants, and it looks like the scale may have hatched in my apartment recently because it's spreading to some of my old plants I've had for months without any problems.

I have neem oil ordered. I'm going to check out Mike's thread.

I'm considering purchasing Lindorus lophanthae, "the scale destroyer", a ladybug or ladybird beetle from NIC. I've been purchasing soil nematodes and gaeolaelaps gillespiei (a soil mite, similar to dust mites but these will eat them too) to control my fungas gnat problems. They have been especially effective. But I want to try neem oil first, but I can't spray this on my ferns, or it will kill them... according to various internet sources... so what to do?

flora exotica is a company that scams people out if money — buyer beware