Not only am I not drawn to them, I hate the little buggers!! 🙂
Ian B was part of last nights royal pruning session. I had been caring for his big Chinese Elm and brought it out for a chat about how I had brought it back to life (CPR & jump leads 🙂 ) When we started examining the new flush of buds we found the biggest Scale Insects I had ever seen!! These where sorted today with a nice spray of insecticide. Before I did this I took a few photos in case anyone hadn’t seen them before. Nothing else seems to have them. I guess they grew super sized in the heat of the tunnel.
Here’s a few of them and you can also see the sticky white stuff they produce.
and evidence of the new buds.
Bonsai Eejit 
cork bark elms seem to be particularly vulnerable to these little blighters too !!
not too bad to spot on the trunk but more easily missed when they get up in the canopy of branches as they often do , nice pics !!!
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Dear me my larchs leaves are a pale green because of lack of watering but I water it constantly it’s does my head in I don’t know what I’m going to do when I go on holiday
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Jamie, pale green is the colour of Spring foliage on Larch. It would get droopy needles if it’s not getting enough water. If you are worried about your trees during holidays, someone in the club will mind them for you while you are away. That’s what the club does.
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What insecticide did you happen to use? I just inherited a zelkova that looks identical but no sign of the larger ones just the small red ones dug in to the bark, I was told to scrape them of and spray solution of veg. Oil, dish soap, and water but doesn’t seem to be doing anything any hop would be appreciated, thanks!
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Hi Eric, they can be tricky little buggers to get rid of!! Some people say the only way is to remove by hand, squish them! I used Provado Ultimate Bug Killer http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/products/product.aspx?productid=58&categoryid=13 I added a little Horticultural Soap to help penetrate the waxy coat they have. A drop of washing up liquid will do this as well. You need to spray a few times a few weeks apart as eggs can hatch and you get a new batch to deal with. Hope this helps. Thanks for checking out the blog.
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