If your shrubs are full of tiny white and brown bugs that don’t fly, you probably have scale. This insect infestation could kill your plants. We have seen a lot of scale on euonymus shrubs this year.
Scale are parasites. They feed on foliage and stems of woody landscape plants. A heavy infestation usually causes leaf drop and signifcant damage.
Unfortunately, by late summer it’s too late to do much to control them. That’s because these immobile bugs have a waxy coating that protects them from pesticides.
The best time to kill scale is in the spring before new growth occurs on the plant. Use a dormant oil spray – an insecticide – on the stems and undersides of leaves. If you miss this opportunity, make sure you spray the newly hatched crawlers in late May or early June, before they latch onto the plant and grow their waxy cover.
Euonymus scale is a parasite best controlled in the spring.
Scale can destroy a shrub.
Horticultural oil also is effective at killing crawlers on contact and has little impact on beneficial insects.
A few other tips to stay ahead of scale: • Clip off infested branches. • Choose scale resistant varieties. These include spreading euonymus (Euonymus kiautschovicus), dwarf winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus 'Compactus') and winter creeper euonymus (Euonymus fortunei 'Acutus').
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