GARDEN / pests: Body armor encases euonymus scale Home Edition

• Published in: The Atlanta journal-constitution
• Main Author: Howell, Jim
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta, Ga Atlanta Journal Constitution, LLC 16.04.2004
• ISSN: 1539-7459

When I was a young faculty member at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, a caller said that his euonymus plants had a bad case of the measles. He had euonymus scales. My department head, Ham Tippins, told him that the best control of euonymus scale was to cut down the plant and replace it with something else. At the time, that was not a bad solution. There were few if any resistant euonymus varieties, and other control procedures were not very effective, because scale populations would often reach such numbers that death of the host plant was often the result. Identification: Euonymus scales are small juice-sucking insects with a paperlike armor that protects them from many predators and insecticides. The sacklike adult females are rarely seen, because they lie beneath these coverings, which are dark brown, about 1/16 inch long, and resemble tiny oyster shells. Male covers are white, slightly smaller, a bit more elongated, with three longitudinal ridges. Adult males are small winged insects that leave these tiny armored covers in search of females for mating.