how to get rid of scale honeydew on leaves

[lycheeluva]

one of my tangerine trees and a small mango tree has a ton of scale honeydew on the leaves.
I dont tink hosing them with water is going to cut it- any other ideas how I can remove the honeydew and the scale

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

Hi lycheeluva,

Hosing them should do the trick!!!

What about manual removal? I do it all the time with my lemon tree!

BTW here's a pdf on scales...
http://urbanrancher.tamu.edu/retiredsite/bugs/b6097.pdf

[stressbaby]

Gerry,
I have battled scale, I feel your pain.  On a small scale, I have found that a quick and easy method is rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip.  It not only kills the scale and cleans the soot off of the leaves, but it is very satisfying because you see immediate results!  If the infestation is larger, or sometimes as a follow up to the alcohol treatment, I will use a spray of horticultural oil.  You have to be careful about how often you use this treatment, and I generally won't do this more often than about 3 times a year.  In between, neem oil applications seem to help a lot as well.
Robert

[CoPlantNut]

If you've killed off the scale and are just left with the honeydew, spraying with water will take it off although it may not work in just one spraying.  If you use warm (80-100 degree) water to spray it will dissolve a lot better than using cold hose water.  Let the water sit on the leaves to dissolve all the sugars and re-spray to rinse it off before it dries.

  Kevin

[lycheeluva]

thanks for all the replies. will try them

[puglvr1]

Here's another possible option...

http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&cId=SEARCH&productId=3047703&cm_mmc=SCE_gps-_-gps-_-gps-_-ORTHO%2016%20Oz.%20Volck%20Oil%20Spray%20Dormant%20Season%20Insect%20Killer%20Concentrate&CAWELAID=1023640036

[CoPlantNut]

Here's another possible option...

http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&cId=SEARCH&productId=3047703&cm_mmc=SCE_gps-_-gps-_-gps-_-ORTHO%2016%20Oz.%20Volck%20Oil%20Spray%20Dormant%20Season%20Insect%20Killer%20Concentrate&CAWELAID=1023640036

I would not suggest using that on anything which isn't completely dormant; I have had bad luck with it in the past.  I believe it is not as refined as some of the other non-dormant horticultural oils, and it tends to damage leaves.  Pure paraffin oil or neem oil don't seem to damage leaves like the Volck does, if you can keep the plants out of direct sun for a few days.

For what it is worth, I grow under lights like you do and I've had great luck with neem oil or 'Sunspray' horticultural oil for eliminating scale, and under the lights I've never had it burn leaves, as long as temps are below 85 degrees or so.  I do have a light-mover though; fixed-position lights may have "hot spots" that could burn oil-coated leaves. 

Scale and spider mites are the two insects I've never been able to completely eliminate, but vigilance and regular water sprays keep them at bay.  That being said, I have at least one scale-infected miracle fruit plant that I've been attacking with a q-tip and alcohol daily. 

My new mangosteens and achachairu came with oyster scale and one of my new pitangatuba seedlings came with mealybugs.  None of these were apparent when I inspected the plants on unpacking; they usually come in as eggs and only show themselves a week or more later.  Preemptive spraying with oil and strictly quarantining new plants is always a good idea, if you can manage it...

  Kevin