Looks like magnolia scale to me.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=magnolia+scale&form=HDRSC2&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover

Yes, Definitely! The descriptions I found said more about foliage damage than branch damage.

Any treatment thoughts?

The treatments in articles are not very helpful. Some talk about stages. What life cycle stage does this look like?

e.g. "To control magnolia scale successfully, you must spray the insecticide (for example, malathion or acephate) at the right time in this insect's life cycle (namely, when it is in the crawler stage)."

Most say to remove branches. no. spring preventive. no.

i would look into systemic chemical intervention ... when battling scale ...

find the right product.. and use according to the label ... bayer may have such a product ...

ken

Look into horticultural oil. It kills by smothering, and has worked very well for my scale problems.

systemic good idea! Much more pleasant than gross toxic sprays. I know the product you refer to.

Would you expect that to have effect this year or next year?

Also I'll tell her hort oil next spring.

What about the sooty mold on some foliage now?

@mad_gallica, can hort oil be applied in summer at this stage? I was getting the impression spring ... only as a preventative.

It's a more dilute spray, but it can be used during the growing season. Just make sure to read and follow the directions. My bottle has a long list of what dilution is best depending on the plant, pest, and time of year.

I've occasionally had scale issues on my bay tree. Since we use it for cooking, systemics are out of the question, and it is a large enough plant that dabbing each scale with alcohol wasn't my idea of fun. After the scale died, the sooty mold washed away in a couple of thunderstorms.

She is picking up Bonide Horticulural Oil tomorrow curbside at Home Depot. I went to bonide to read the label and that product is gone. It has been replaced with this:

https://www.bonide.com/products/garden-naturals/view/210/all-seasons-conc

I have to assume it's okay to use growing season as stated The label does have a rate for magnolia and includes scale, so I guess it will do. I am surprised to see active ingredient is mineral oil (specialized type).

Is this what traditional hort oil is made from? Or is this some new fangled modern eco-friendly version of real hort oil?

Oh I get it.... It's just a labeling & marketing thing. Of course you can use hort oil any time of year. Calling it "& Dormant oil" threw me off and triggered my memories of actual Dormant (-only) oil.

And they've changed the packaging to emphasis *& Dormant*. I never noticed that before when it was in small print.

I also found an old container of it in my garage and the active ingredient was called "Petroleum Oil". The further clarification of it though is identical to the further clarification of their newly labelled "Mineral Oil". The latter of course sounds more eco-friendly. But it's the same exact ingredient.

Clever corporate folk with their big degrees.. :-)

HERE is my previous thread on this topic. I don't own any of these magnolias but it appears that they must be gone over carefully to inspect for scale. Scalecide is a refined mineral oil that I applied twice and it controlled the scale. It is also labled for mites.

Horticultural oils can be either petroleum or plant based. And the degree of refinement with the petroleum based ones often dictates the time of year when they are best applied. Dormant season oils tend to be somewhat less refined and heavier than superior or summer weight oils. And of course, mineral oil is a petroleum based product so I am not sure where the 'eco-friendly' aspect comes into play. All hort oils are considered a form of organic insect control.

Magnolia scale is a soft scale so application is not limited by insect life stage. Life stage applications tend to be more closely tied to the control of armored or hard scale. Because of their hard shelled exterior, armored scale is not easily impacted by any type of hort oil spray unless it is in the more vulnerable 'crawler' or newly hatched larvae stage.

Systemics will control both scale types but will take longer to be effective.

Thanks sam_md and gardengal48. Good info.

The eco friendly comment was that I suspect mineral oil may seem more preferable to consumers than petroleum. Most people (moi!) may not realize that mineral oil is petroleum based. Former sounds friendly (its under my kitchen cabinet and I use it to rejuvenate wooden cutting boards). Latter sounds evil and nasty and reminds me of the gas station!

My "dormant oil" experience was Volk oil, which I thought was pretty nasty when I used it on my apple trees years ago. On further reflection, maybe it was the sulfur I added to it

Back to the topic, is it magnolia scale because it's a magnolia or could it be some other scale? Can you tell from the picture? The other picture of magnolia scale looks reddish. It probably doesn't matter treatment-wise because both are soft, but I am curious. I came across the description "cotton cushiony scale" in one of my hort insect reference books for magnolias and the google pictures matched pretty well to this tree's scale.

Magnolia scale goes through some color changes depending on where it is in its life cycle but when readily noticeable, it appears white and fluffy as in the photos. It is a pretty common affliction of certain magnolia species. I am not aware of it infesting other plant types.

btw, the females will die after reproducing but will remain attached to twigs and branches so the infestation could look worse than it really is.

Gardengal48 Can you recommend a Hortoil brand to apply now? Wendy I am experiencing the same problem with my star magnolia.

Bonide carries an all season or summer weight oil. But there are are many other brands as well.

It really doesn't make any difference which one you use as long as it is labeled all season or summer weight