Doesn’t look like scale to me, it lacks the brown head. It can be scraped off with a finger nail but the needle is damaged slightly under this white waxy substance.
Any ideas?
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It might be needle cast. The white stuff would be sap that has oozed out of the needle from the little spot where the fungus penetrated the cuticle. You’ll probably end up with a brown or yellowish band around the needle at that spot.
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Looks like sap that has dried. Scrape it off and smell it.
Then you will know if it is sap.
Is it all over the tree or in one area?
Is there any trees above?
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The spots are spread out over the entire tree and they’re no trees above. It does smell like sap when you scrape it off and the the green below is damaged but the needle doesn’t die. The tree has had the spots since last spring but there are far more now.
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did a bird just poo on your tree perhaps?
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It still looks like probable needle cast, but whether it is or isn’t you should be spraying with Daconil as the new needles start to open this year to protect from re-infection. Spray per label directions.
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Needle cast wouldn’t have white resin spots. Tan and brown are usually the colors associate with needle cast.
What has your fertilizer regiment been?
Possible that the tree is pushing vast amounts of reserves out of the needles?
I have had one of my juniper do this from “pedal to the metal” fertilizing.
Just a thought