Scale

Got back from holidays to find my favorite plant - the now famous 'Siam' (not it's real name) covered in what I always thought were aphid pods - all over the stem & branches. Ants everywhere.

I cut off a twig that had a good cross section of the different size blotches & took it down the garden center for advice. "Scale" she said & pointed me to the WMD section of sprays. I said I couldn't use them because I'm eating that plant...but there wasn't much else.

I ended up walking out with a bottle of organic 'Natrasoap' that she said wouldn't work...but then she was surprised that the plant was still producing pods given the level of infestation...& even more surprised at the size of the chilli plant. So I figured that apart from recognising Scale, she didn't really know much more.

I got home, I haven't used the Natrasoap. I did some googling & learned about the ants harvesting the honeydew that the parasitic Scale soak up through a straw. I went out to the plant & noticed that the Scale came off easily. I cut a small square of soft green pot scourer and brushed it all off..where there were branches that had heavy infestation I cut it off - the "Scales" lady said to cut it back heavily & also that I should use some old engine oil on the stem to stop the ants from climbing (she asked how big the stem was first).

I poured some organic dishwashing liquid on the stem & went back 2 more times today to check the plant, found some extra bits that I missed, gave it a good dose of liquid fertalizer, found some spider web like egg sacks under some leaves & brushed them off with my finger.

I suppose I still have a question unanswered - Is there an organic way of defeating scale? (there's a lot of Scale variants, but all the same)

Anyway I'll try to keep you posted on how it goes because I've seen a few people in here with similar bugs.

Oh, first hit on google, and it's an Australian site!

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/scale_info.html

Use isopropaling alcahol(sp?) on a q-tip and touch each one of those buggers with it (in a swiping motion). It eats away their outer shell, thus killing them.

Thanks, I got lost going through the aphids section on here - http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ and figured I didn't have it so bad after all.

I just went to check again this morning and all the ants have gone and a few lady beetles hanging around. There was never any live aphids, just the sap sucking eggs...and millions of them. Can't imagine having them all hatch with a dozen new plants in landing distance. The plant itself doesn't look too bad considering I lopped a few major branches and all the tiny holes it must have. Sure will miss my Siam fix..have been getting a pod every 2 days from it for months.

Update

By lunch time there were lady beetles, other odd beetles, tiny spiders and small hovering wasps all over the plant but the ants were moving back in force. This was war. I scratched off about 100 more scales that I'd missed.

By last light everything was gone but the ants...I watched them carrying infant aphids up the stem...can see why they refer to them as ant cattle.

So I mixed up a batch of Natrasoap in a spray bottle & tested it out on one of the bonsai habs that had a mild infestation, it didn't keel over, so I gave my Siam a good soaking. Picked a few green pods first to slice over my pizza and they weren't as mild as I thought.


Truth will be next day or two. I'll keep you posted

2 Days later & it all seems to have worked. The plant has put out about 20 new flowers & while theres still some ants running around looking for their lost cattle, there's also a few wasps, spiders & lady beetles - so the balance has returned.

I've now learned to keep a spray bottle of 20 ml per litre of Natrasoap ready in my garden stuff cupboard. If you see lots of ants on your plant - look for the small pods on the stem & under the leaves. Wait until dusk to spray.

P.S Natrasoap is not poison or harmful to skin, pets etc. & washes off in water.