Beech scale

[mpriley02]

Has anyone seen or treated for beech bark scale? It sort of looks like wooly adelgid on the bark and is usually fatal to beeches. We'd like to treat for it in some beech stands, but were wondering what was the best approach. We use Imicide (imidacloprid) on hemlocks for adelgid and Vivid (avermectin) for scale and mites on several species, but neither are listed for beech scale. Thanks for the help
Mike

 

[Mark Chisholm]

Mike,

Here's what my friend Nick had to say:

"Mark,

Pirone's old book (1978) mentions sevin or malathion on the crawlers, and a dormant lime sulfur spray to the bark and branches. He also mentions that this infestation is usually a precursor to Beech Bark disease (Nectria coccinea var. faginata and Cryptococcus fagisuga). The fungus kills the bark under the feeding scale, and then the scale dies because the food source is no longer there. Pirone warned about oil sprays not being reliably safe on beech trees, but that was probably considering the older formulations.

Rich Buckely (RCE Plant Diagnostic Lab) recommends horticultural oil applications to control this pest.

Nick"

He's:
Nicholas Polanin, Agriculture & Resource Management Agent
Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Somerset County
Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey

Hope this helps Mike.

 

[mpriley02]

Thanks for the info Mark. We'll try the oil and see what happens. Hopefully we'll get enough of the scale before any real fungal damage occurs.