Hi everyone,
I'm currently house sitting for a friend and I'm helping take care of her plants.
She has a mini Oleander tree plant and I noticed recently there's these weird somewhat flat dots/growths on several of the leaves.
A few things I've observed (in case it helps ID these dots):
- they flake off when you scrub the leaves with a paper towel soaked with slightly soapy water.
- I found a house spider while I was scrubbing the leaves (most likely a Yellow Sac Spider because I'm in Quebec). However, I looked it up and the eggs of this pest don't look anything like these growths (so I don't think they're eggs?)
- Using this diagram: https://englishan.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Parts-of-Leaf.png , I can tell you that the dots are mostly appearing on the "midrib" and the "veins" of the leaves.
So yeah, I just want to know what these growths might be in case I need to take further action?
by Outrageous-Scene7518
10 Comments
Looks like scale to me
this looks like scale. a pest.
Scale. Soak a Qtip in rubbing alcohol and spot soak the bugs. Let it sit for a bit and attempt to scrape the bug off. They can be pretty tough so repeats may be needed.
Rinse down the entire plant to help eliminate any young ones, they’re smaller and mobile.
Keep an eye on them and continue to remove when you see them.
scale.
q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol 70%, dab on, wipe off w/ same q-tip. check stems too, look for small ones, repeat regularly, mebbe weekly, (depends on life cycle, but weekly should be good) till all gone (there are eggs likely you can’t see or find, so have to kill ’em as they show up, hence weekly or thereabouts). then periodically check as good maintenance practice.
hth
That’s definitely scale- am insect pest that is a real pain in the ass, but also treatable. Someone above suggested qtips and rubbing alcohol- do this. But make sure you cover as much of the plant as possible. Young scale are much smaller and almost translucent (make sure to get the underside of the leaves, too).
Good luck!
Omg i have one of these on one of my plants too and i thought it was just some kind of sticky substance not a bug š® i was wondering why my young plant wasnt doing good
!scale
Thats Scale.
You can Squish them with your Fingers they canāt bite you.
Once you have squished them all, use no more than 70% Isopropyl Alcohol on a Cottonball & wipe it all over the plant.
Quarantine this plant.
Check all other plants & repeat the process in a week.
Scale pick it off itās eating your plants
Scale, get a q-tip soaked in alcohol and scrape off all you see.