Whats eating my Cycas revoluta?

[Kristen]

Been spraying it with Plant Rescue once a week for 3 or 4 weeks. Doesn't seem to have made any difference. Should I wash the "bugs" off? The plant was bought in the sale (I'm thinking it arrived with bugs ... not seen these on anything else I have), and has been under MH lamp for 3 or 4 weeks - along with the other things that need some light.

[Dave Brown]

They are scale insects. Might be Cycad Scale. Only scraping off worked for me. Took ages.

[Kristen]

Thanks Dave. I'll give it a go.

[Yorkshire Kris]

Good luck.

[kata]

Will spraying soil/compost with Pravado not work?

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Looks pretty nasty , where did you buy the cycad from ?

Thanks for putting the pic up tho, something to watch out for in the future

[kata]

If it was mine, rather than pick off insects I would ditch the plant,

What if you did'nt catch them all and they spread to other plants.

Where did you have the plant growing?

Shame and good luck Kristen!

[Dave Brown]

I had them and they only affected Cycad. It was my big Cycas revoluta, so spending a couple of hours scraping them off with the flat side of a ruler, was better than having to to earm £300 after tax to replace it. Besides that I would have cut all the leaves off before I even contemplated discarding the plant.

[Nigel Fear]

Been spraying it with Plant Rescue once a week for 3 or 4 weeks. Doesn't seem to have made any difference. Should I wash the "bugs" off? The plant was bought in the sale (I'm thinking it arrived with bugs ... not seen these on anything else I have), and has been under MH lamp for 3 or 4 weeks - along with the other things that need some light.

Scrape them off, then stick it outdoors until the worse of the weather returns Kristen, then over-winter it in an un-heated greenhouse, or even a potting shed.
Unless it's already mid-fush it won't need any additional heat or light for winter,
Cycas revoluta can easily handle a few degrees below zero without coming to any harm, but the bugs should die off...They certainly won't feel like reproducing at least.

[Simba]

Either scrape them ALL off or squash them, but as Nigel says, scale insects don't like the cooler temps so the winter temperature drop should also kill them off.

[Andy P]

If it was mine, rather than pick off insects I would ditch the plant,

What if you did'nt catch them all and they spread to other plants.

Where did you have the plant growing?

Shame and good luck Kristen!

Considering this entire website is dedicated to growing tropicals under very challenging conditions and ensuring their survival, quite often against impossible odds, I don`t think your suggestion to `` Ditch it`` would be an option that any of us would subscribe to. Especially with the value of Cycads. Wouldn`t bother me if i had to spend hours picking everyone off one by one by hand- I`d make sure it lived. I`m sure there`s a better way though. There must be some insecticide that kills scale. Failing that - like Simba said - let the cold do it`s job for you.

[kata]

Andy,

Being anxious about the Insects spreading to other plants was my reason for writing that. Fine, they don't spread.

[Matcycas7]

Hi Kristen,

It seems even a brown scale insect won't look that big. It looks strange. Every time you drink coffee don't throw away those used coffee grounds instead make a coffee spray with water or wipe them with a sponge dipped in coffee water for best results as shown in this http://www.cycad.org/documents/Broome-Coffee-2007.pdf.
My Cycas attracts moth insect at home causing no harm. The Cycas flush image taken from an exotic hotel entrance. What's beautiful should stay beautiful.

[Kristen]

What if you did'nt catch them all and they spread to other plants.

Its been "snuggled up" to other plants under my grow light, and no sign of the blighters on anything else, so hopefully its only going to like this plant.

I'm going with scraping and then sticking it outside and bring it in on particularly cold nights.

[Andy P]

Have you tried spraying them with some Fairy Liquid solution? Used this method before and it sometimes works. It doesn`t kill any bugs but just makes it difficult for them to cling onto the plant. Maybe worth a go ?