can you scratch it off w/ your fingernail easily????? your sure it's scale?
.... Dont some ferns sprout "spores"- if that is the right nomenclature- from
the leaf surfaces?
Do you have a magnifying glass/jewlers loop?
Behalf Of Shelley Harvey
Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2002 5:23 PM
To: OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Scale? on a fern
Yes, I can, and no, I'm not sure it's scale! When I discovered it,
I have scale (I think, small round bumps on the leaves?) on a button
fern (pellaea rotundifolia) which I have in a pot indoors. I'd be
grateful for any suggestions on how to get rid of the scale (and what
caused it, could it have been on the plant when I bought it?)
There also appears to be scale on the branch tips of a red oak
(leafless now, in winter, which is why I've noticed these bumps).
I've rubbed some off and they are quite dry - could it have been a
past attack? I'm a concerned for the health of the tree because
we're now in deep drought, having only had 12mm rain since Easter,
and that mostly came as fine drizzle, nothing soaking. I have a pin
oak nearby, and that doesn't seem affected at all. The area under
the oaks is well mulched as I have a large hellebore collection there.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Shelley
--
Shelley Harvey
Faculty of The Sciences
University of New England
Phone: 02 6773 2726
Fax: 02 6773 3376
email: sharvey@pobox.une.edu.au
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Yes, I can, and no, I'm not sure it's scale! When I discovered it,
the potted fern was sitting on a glass table which had a sticky film
on the glass around the pot (I may not be a great housekeeper, but
I'm sure the sticky film was from the plant, not my laziness!).
Shelley
> can you scratch it off w/ your fingernail easily????? your sure it's scale?
--
Shelley Harvey
Northern Tablelands of NSW
Australia
email: sharvey@pobox.une.edu.au
I was wondering that, too. could it be spore sacs??
susan
billevans wrote: can you scratch it off w/ your fingernail easily????? your sure it's scale?
Shelley Harvey wrote:
Scales (or scale insects) are a type of sucking insect pest in which the
adult females become sedentary on the plant, covering themselves with a
waxy domed protective shell(which may in differnt species be any colour
from black through browns to a sort of straw colour, those I know on
ferns are a light brown) under which they live permanently. Young female
scales and males of any age are tiny and mobile and usually occur
around the area where the sedentary female scales have settled.
Some scales are quite easily controlled by a smothering oil spray.This
covers the young and the males directly and indirectly smothers the
females by blocking up the tiny breathing pores in their waxy shells.
The only other approved organic treatment would be to scrape them off
with something sharpish, perhaps a fingernail, but this is generally
more easliy done on the larger species and ones I have seen on ferns
have all been pretty small.
In fact ferns are about the most difficult plants to treat if they get
scale, particularly as sometimes the oil will damage the fronds.
Perhaps the most effective treatment is to cut off the worst affected
fronds, leaving only the most healthy ones and just try to clean up
these. In fact many people claim it is no good trying to save a fern
with scale and one is far better to throw it out and start again.
As to how it got infected, I should think it was most likely already
just starting on the plant when you bought it. In the early stages
infestations are very easy to overlook.
> There also appears to be scale on the branch tips of a red oak
> (leafless now, in winter, which is why I've noticed these bumps).
> I've rubbed some off and they are quite dry - could it have been a
> past attack?
In some species at least, If I remember correctly adult females may die
in winter but leave behind eggs under the scale domes which hatch out in
spring into all mobile young allowing the females to spread out and
colonize new areas before settling. if this is the case, which seems
probabale, the most effective time to spray would be during spring when
the young would be getting around the branches looking for a perching
place.
I'm a concerned for the health of the tree because
> we're now in deep drought, having only had 12mm rain since Easter,
Certainly the local trees will already be under considerable strain
without coping with insect pests.
I have a pin oak nearby, and that doesn't seem affected at all.
Either it is not susceptible to the scale, or the infestation has not
spread so far yet. Either way I should keep a close watch on it for
trouble.
Moira--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ, "two and a bit" islands surrounded
by water in all directions - 5000 miles to Chile to the east,
Australia 1500 miles NW, South Africa 6000 miles to the west.
Thanks for the responses, I've looked up every reference I can find
and it definitely is scale on both the button fern and the oak (but
different kinds) and I've bought some white oil for the fern. Given
the size of the oak I'll have to wait until it rains and give it a
bit of TLC.
thanks
Shelley
--
Shelley Harvey
Northern Tablelands of NSW
Australia
email: sharvey@pobox.une.edu.au
