I have a 10' bay laurel tree that has soft shell scale. I've tried spraying and even washing the entire plant by hand but have never been able to get rid of the pests.
It also has some sort of fungus or something?
This tree is a 35-year old "friend" and I don't want to get rid of it as some here have suggested. Do you have any ideas? I do move it outdoors in the summer but the scale is probably in my house by now. Thank you!
It's sometimes difficult to control scale with a spray if the insects are established and past the young soft stage. I use Bayer Tree and Shrub as a soil drench on many plants. It works as a systemic that way and may be effective on your tree. I use 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) per gallon of water and drench the soil. I try to drench any plants that have to come in over the winter before I bring them indoors.
Pick up some Bonide Houseplant Insect Control.
Its a systemic and works well on scale.
Paul
Bonide works well too. The effectiveness seems to last for about two months.
Anecdotally, I cured a scale problem on a Ficus elastica(rubber tree) houseplant by leaving it outside for several months in the warm weather and regularly spraying it vigorously with water (we have a rather rainless summer.)
My theory was that there might be predators outside which are not found in the indoor environment, but I'm not sure if it's that or the regular hosing down which fixed the problem.
The 'fungus' is probably a sooty mold that grows on the sugary droppings of the scale insects (as they suck sap from the plant). Those alcohol wipes that you can buy in drugstores work well on small plants affected by scale - but, of course, you can't wipe every leaf of a big plant. I have successfully sprayed with neem oil for Camellia scale, so it might be worth researching whether that is a good solution for bay trees. It's important to spray both sides of the leaves, as well as the stems.
