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michaelangelo Brainerd, MN May 22, 2008

I am hoping someone can tell me if what I'm finding on the Hibiscus in this photo is contageous and someting to be concerned about. I know very little about plants and nothing about hibiscus. I had this one in a bright sunny window all winter in a room we leave vacant and very cool in winter. It developed these loose tiny specs on its leaves and now those specs are on the leaves of another nearby plant. They don't move so I don't think they are an insect. The biggest problem is I want that sunny window now for some young herb plants but I am afraid to place them in the window for fear of a contageous disease problem. Any information is much apprecuated.

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) May 30, 2008

I suspect scale, which is an insect, but it only moves when it is in the crawler stage - too small for you to notice with the naked eye. The crawler mates, sticks its needle-like mouth into the plant to suck its sap, covers itself with a scale and lays hundreds of eggs under that cover. The crawlers that hatch from those eggs begin the cycle all over again. You have a very bad infestation. My first suggestion is to trash it and start all over. That's what I would do. If that is not agreeable with you, then take it outside and start spraying. Horticultural oil will suffocate the crawlers, but since they hatch at different times, you will need to repeat at regular intervals. The scale will not fall off when it is dead, so you'll need to watch the new leaves to determine if any scale is still alive. If they remain clean, you may have won the battle for now. I would then repot the plant in fresh soil.
Scale is a hard insect to get rid of.....

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