Bait for ants? They are usually the culprits that bring the other bad bugs to your ixoria. I have a mature hedge planted in the mid 70’s when this house was built and it always has a few aphid just below the newest growth and if you watch it always has black ants harvesting the honeydew off the aphids. The hedge is mature enough that the bugs don't seem to hurt it much .

I was reading that the ants feed on the aphids, not so much the scale. Bait's may not work outside, especially with current rainy weather. I'll keep trying the neem oil otherwise I'll have to try something stronger.

when you fertilize the plants send out lush new growth that sends out a signal that says "lush buffet here...all bugs come here" ... unless it was organic fertilizer. That would be slow release and not so much a bug buffet. I would be interested in knowing how the neem work on the hard scale. It works better on soft scales. Adding some malation might be needed.

That's has crossed my mind. New growth more bugs. I need these to grow since they are for a privacy hedge. I'm going to give the neem oil a week or so. If it doesn't cut it I'll go to malathion.

I have three large Ixora in front of my house surrounding some Palms. I never fertilize them however I give the Palms fertilizer about twice a year. I do not have sprinklers so they manage the dry season without water

I took a look at mine after reading your post and did not find any scale. I did notice they have rust. I do hear they are prone to rust. I'll just leave them alone as they are very healthy looking.

They are just starting to flower.

Jane

What you have on your Ixora is called "soft brown scale". It's a sucking insect that will kill the affected areas of the plant. It and almost all scale is carried to the plant by ants. The ants then harvest the sugary excretions of the scale. You'll eventually get black sooty mold on the leaves below the scale. This is from the ants pooping.

Don't waste your time spraying with poison. Simply cut off the major infestations and toss them away. Spray the plant with a mixture of garlic powder, dish soap, and water. Repeat twice at 10-day intervals. If you have some ant spray, use it on the lowest part of the plant - closest to the ground - to discourage any more ants.

I remember rust being common. Word is Ixora's like soil on the acidic side so I give mine a acidic fertilizer for azalea and gardenias. Mine seem to look fine. If I hadn't looked closely I would have never known they had these pests and they sure are starting to grow fast. Unless my ixoras start looking unhealthy, I'm not going to worry too much.

First time I see such an amount of scale so it kind of freaked me out. They have a good dousing of Neem oil now so fingers crossed.

fawnridge,

Ant activity has definitely kicked up. Those basted ants have put them scale there?

Cutting off the the infested parts is gonna put me back a lot of growth but I may have to anyways.

I did use ant spray at base of one plant. I even have ants occupying some pineapple plants.

Also seeing this on the very newest leaves:

Here are my ixoras planted in 1970‘s by my parents but i have taken care of them most of my life from teenagehood til now. They are about 5 ft tall would be taller but my mom always liked them short enough to see over while preferred tall enough to be a privacy screen. They need a side cut as i like them nice and neat on the sides and wild on top. They have frozen to the ground many times but always came back. After hurricane charley my dad and a helpful friend cut down a palm tree that over hung the driveway and rolled the heavy trunk right over the ixorias at the end..it didn't even phase them...they are tough little bushes.

As I've heard, healthy ixoras can usually survive most pest attacks.