How to treat Lilly Pilly scale infestation?

Rosana1

Hello everyone,

I came back from a week away and found my Lilly Pillies looking sad, very sad. Looking closer I found lots of these black dots stuck to leaves and branches plus a sticky glowing look on the leaves. Looked it up, learned they were sclaes and could be treated with certain sprays, etc.

It's been two weeks, I have been removing them with my nails and have sprayed leaves and branches with eco oil insecticide bought at Bunnings, recommended for scales and other issues.

Although it has improved, I still find scales in my morning check up. So my question is: am I doing the right thing? Does the spray kill the scales or does it work only as a preventive method for further infestation? Is cleaning the leaves and branches with my nails a good method? It is kind of tiring….Do I spray only once a week?

The plants look very healthy otherwise, with lots of new growth, but many branches are bare now, especially the lower ones.

Hope you can help,

Kind regards,

Rosana

JacobZ

Hi @Rosana1,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

Eco oil works by smothering the insects and preventing them from breathing. Unfortunately, it does not prevent the scale from returning, but with repeated applications, the population can be controlled and once you break the reproductive cycle, they shouldn't return.

You are definitely on the right track, and it sounds like your efforts are already making a difference, but scale can take a bit of persistence to fully control so keep up the regular spraying and monitoring, and you should see continued improvement over time. I'd suggest you continue with weekly applications till you are sure they are gone. Manual removal is also effective, but you need to make sure they are not still alive once they've been removed. If there are lots of them, just spraying eco oil is probably the better option. Be persistent, you will get them under control.

In the meantime, you might like to give your lilly pillies a good water with a plant tonic such as https://www.bunnings.com.au/seasol-600ml-concentrate_p0086799 to give it a bit of a boost.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob