Pest group
Scale insects
Bumps on stems and leaves that do not move — soft, domed and sticky with honeydew, or hard, flat and dry (armoured).
Which one do I have?
- Brown soft scaleCoccus hesperidumThe scale insect people actually find indoors: flat, oval, yellow-brown, sitting along the midrib and stems, and leaving sticky honeydew and black sooty mould on everything below.Houseplants · Citrus · Orchids · Hibiscus · Monstera & aroids
- Cottony cushion scaleIcerya purchasiThe scale behind the most famous success in biological control. In 1888–89 a few hundred vedalia beetles from Australia rescued California's citrus industry from it, and they still keep it in check today. Outbreaks now mostly follow sprays that kill the beetle.Citrus · Evergreens & shrubs
- Euonymus scaleUnaspis euonymiAn armoured scale that crusts the stems and leaves of evergreen euonymus with tiny brown females and masses of white males. The leaves go yellow-spotted, then drop, and whole plants can die. Two crawler generations a year give two chances to spray, and switching to a tolerant species is the lasting fix.Evergreens & shrubs
Still not sure? Answer four questions about the damage and the picker will separate them.
macro · scale insects, side by side
At a glance
- Species
- 3 profiled
- Controls
- 0 beneficials
- Settings
- Indoors, Under glass, Garden, Field
- Crops
- 6 host crops
Scale insects by crop
Each page is one species on one host: the host-specific control, rate and threshold.
- On houseplantsBrown soft scale