It was my hope that this last winter's unusually low temperatures would dispatch or at least put a hurting on "the croton scale". This unfortunately is not the case in my yard.
Here are the cultivars I just finished treating with Cygon because they had the scale:
Andreanum
Corkscrew
Christmas
Kentucky
Mrs. Snyder Disraeli
Reliant
Twist & Point
Van Buren
It is my observation that this scale really loves
Corkscrew and
Twist & Point. I will be using these as my litmus test plants, which means I watch these frequently. If scale is found on these, then time to look at the rest.
This scale is aggressive and fast developing. I urge all the crotonheads that were left with sticks from the cold, you need to monitor your budding sticks for this scale. It loves the new leaves and buds. If you have not checked your crotons in the last 5 days,
you need to do so now! It is often difficult to notice, if you see ants crawling on your new leaves and buds, look closer. This scale seems to be always attended by ants.
This has me really annoyed. I went and got 150 lbs. of 7-4-5 fertilizer for acid loving plants this morning. My plans were to plant my remaining cultivars and fertilize this weekend. Looks like it is time to break out the Bayers 3-in-1.