PLANT SCALE. Ask any house plant owner and they’ll tell you that these words can send chills up even the most experienced plant care owner’s spine. But don’t worry, while a scale infestation is a 911 situation for ANY house plant owner, this all natural plant scale treatment will help your plants recover in no time at all.
First determine: Is it scale bugs?
Before starting any pest treatment plan, it’s crucial to first determine if you are dealing with the pest that you think you are. Spider mites, for example, are often classified by leaving a fine webbing between the leaves of plants. Fungus gnats, for example, leave a fine fungus on the top layer of soil and are those pesky things flying out of your soil when watering.
Scale bugs, in contrast to all of the ones listed above, often appear as small, rounded bumps on soft plant leaves or stems. Most bumps are brown colored, but these can range from white or black.
One of the most common types of scale insects that affect house plants are the mealybug, as seen in the photo below.
Other symptoms of scale insects include a white, sticky mixture on the bottom or undersides of plants. This mixture is the waste by products of the scale insects. Pretty disgusting, right?
All natural plant scale treatment
Now that you have correctly determined if your plants are struggling from a scale infestation, you can begin the all natural treatment process.
The first step in plant scale treatment is to isolate the affected plant. Plant scale is HIGHLY contagious and putting it in an isolated area during treatment will hopefully curb the spread of the infection. Be sure to keep an eye on any neighboring plants for the next few weeks.
Next, you can start physically removing the bugs from the plants. Now, this might be a little disgusting, but it’s the best way to remove them: use your fingernail! With a little force, they can be easily removed. If you’d rather not use your fingernail, a q-tip soaked in rubbing alcohol works nicely too!
After you’ve removed the bugs from the plant, take your house plant to the shower and give it a gentle rinse. Make sure that the water pressure isn’t too intense and that it’s not too hot. You don’t want to scorch your plant leaves! This will help remove any bug that you may have knocked away in your clean up process.
Once your plant’s shower is complete, wipe the leaves down with a mixture of Neem oil and water. Wipe plant leaves to remove any excess oil. This will kill any remaining scale larvae and insure that the scale insects don’t come back.
**Never apply Neem oil to plant leaves in the morning. The Neem oil can cause plant leaves to burn, and that would definitely make a scale infestation worse!
What did you think of this all natural plant scale treatment? Comment below and let me know what you thought!
