Name that Nuisance (BUG!)

Horticulture
1

I have 3 young Texas Ebony that have been growing pretty well, but not flourishing. For the past 2 years they’ve been slowing down despite all my efforts. Now i’m suspecting some sort of infestation.

There have always been a few of these little black dots on each plant since i got them. I didn’t think much of them because they weren’t numerous, didn’t increase, the trees did okay, and i could never google anything that looked like them. Now i see that there are substantially more and they tend to line the branches like a scale.

What am i dealing with and how do i get on top of them before i bring the trees indoor for winter (central Pa, USA)???

Thanks!

j-

Branch1
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Branch2
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Close up
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2

You say ‘like a scale’.
Have you eliminated scale as a possibility?

3

Have you tried to remove them with your fingers at all? What’s left underneath could be an indication of what it is.

4

Looks like scale to me

5

It certainly could be scale…but it doesn’t resemble the scale i’ve encountered before. These are tiny (1mm max) and black. The scale i usually deal with are >1mm and brownish and usually come off pretty easily with a swab dipped in alcohol. These little guys will come off with a finger or scraper, but not as ‘easily’. Once removed, there’s no trace they were there or it’s too small to see. Any concerns with a systemic for Texas Ebony? I’ve got a couple flavors of imidacloprid and a granular disulfoton.

Thanks!
j-

6

I only say scale because those look like the dead scale I had on a tree after treating it with Sevin. I think I’ve used a systemic with my TE. I just don’t recall, but I wouldn’t hesitate. I haven’t seen any adverse affects from using the stuff so far. :crossed_fingers:t4: I’ll actually be using some on my TE very soon (hopefully today) as I get my tropicals ready to come indoors. If you wanna wait a week I can report back.

7

There are tons of types of scale, but I’m not 100% sure what this is. If you want to browse images of scale to compare it to, you can head here: https://www.forestryimages.org/browse/Archivethumb.cfm?Arc=4

1 Like
8

Gee thanks Nate…thats an incredibly useful, yet thoroughly depressing web site. :wink: Who knew…hundreds of different scale just waiting to attack. I’ll go with the collective impression of the thread. If it quacks like a scale and doesn’t move, like scale, it’s probably scale (most similar to black scale per that disheartening forestry site).

Thanks all!

j-