Oh No !!! Bad Findings

[Moose]

It appears that my Imidacloprid treatments of my crotons is wearing off. It makes sense that as a plant grows, the imidacloprid concentration within the plant will diminish. Time is another factor. Seems that the faster growing crotons need more Imidacloprid.

Multiple overnight lows in the 50's F and lower 60's really slowed my crotons down. I was very happy that the plants were "hardening off" for the cold season and that my garden was scale free. Temps have really warmed up and new leaves are budding. Checking all the budding leaves revealed croton scale attempting a reestablishment accompanied by ants. Fortunately very few big fat green females were found. Looks like I caught them early. The ants must have been busy as I found croton scale evidence on about 35 plants in random places around the garden.

Everything got "nuked" with Dimethoate yesterday afternoon. Hopefully this treatment will get me through the winter. I plan on applying Imidacloprid in late March 2013. Supposedly it will help with the spider mites too. A very bizarre observation is that I had spider mites during our very active rainy season. Now that we enter the dry season, I can't find any. Hmmmm, now that I said that - the spider mite outbreak is sure to happen any day now.

Just a heads up to check you plants for scale.

 

[Phil Stager]

Moose - don't go confusing the squishy green scale with the true crotons scale which is the real )(*&^%$#@!!!!. It's too early to look up the Linnean names. But the squishy green scale insect is easily controllable with an agricultural oil to smoother the buggers and a bit of any old insecticide to kill the ants associated with it.
Continued use of the same old insecticide,or even the same class of insecticide, eventually leads to a small highly resistant population - which then becomes bigger and bigger and we then have some super bugs muching on the plants..

 

[palmisland]

Moose, Apparently Imidacloprid has no effect on mites. In fact some articles I've read says Imidacloprid increases mite reproduction. I can deal with the scale, but the mite outbreak i had a few months ago was a tough one to get a hold on. Also the Imid. also kills the mite's natural predators.

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

The Tau-fluvalinate component in Bayer's 3 in 1 is what kills the spider mites. I did an article for the Croton Society bulletin several years ago about this.

Bayer's 3 in 1:
.47% Imidacloprid
.61% Tau-fluvalinate
.65% Tebucponazole
98.27 Other ingredients

 

[koki]

Lately I've noticed bees and wasps feeding on my crotons. Not sure if it's mealy bugs or scales. For this reason I'm going to lay off the 3in1, b/c 3in1 unfortunately kills bees. My plan is to switch to soaps and oils and to spray them more frequently.

 

[keith]

Phil, I know you say the green squishy scale is not the real croton scale, but it is what everyone down south is constantly fighting. I fear your going to have a major problem with this scale. Just so you know, one of your crotons I got from you the other day was covered with baby scale. [ It is now a stalk no leaves, has been sprayed twice and is still in the garage waiting to be sprayed again along with the other plants

 

[Phil Stager]

Kieth - which croton?? hauling crotons back and forth across the state is also a good way of spreading pests...

The scale insects - several species of which infect crotons (and a lot of other ornamentals) - are here to stay - along with the ever-present red spider mites. The mindless application of insecticides may offer some local temporary relief, but that is it except for the survivors who are probably highly resistant to the insecticide and whose progeny will continue to be highly resistant. That's probably one reason why the term Integrated Pest Management is more common now.
Lots of good specific info is available from IFAS on Phalacroccus howertoni (aka croton scale) and on Philipedra tuberculosa (a squishy green scale) and Philipedra crecentriae (the newest squishy green scale).

But if anyone is looking for a quick and easy cure to all scale problems - IT'S NOT THERE! The best we can do is control the little buggers - preferaby with natural predators and then with the intelligent use of insecticides (i.e., read the directions).

onward through the fog....

 

[fawnridge]

I'm already dealing with Croton scale on the same plants as last year. My Ethel Craig, the worst hit, had several branches with scale. They've been lopped off. Soapy mixtures failed completely in my garden and the only thing that seems to keep the scale under control is a mix of Organicide and Malathion.