A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum scale on Crown of Thorns

Good afternoon,

I have a crown of thorns plant that has scale on the leaves. I am looking for the best way to treat this plant. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Petrine

Hi Petrine.

I'm so sorry to hear about your plant. I've never had scales, but I've read of a few things that are supposed to work. You can use a q-tip to spot dab them with rubbing alcohol or listerine (the yellow kind). I have also read that neem oil should work. I don't know if the neem works for both hard and soft scale though.

if you mix up a mix of soap (about a teaspoon), alcohol (rubbing), and about a quart or so of water, you can spray it down, and it will loosen them so you can clean them off. hateful creatures they are. the problem is that i've never gotten them all, and finally just threw away the plant that was infected. pot and all.

I've only had them on a hoya, which is viney rather than stiff stemmy, and very succeptable to scale. I cut it way back and sprayed with cede-o-flora. In my experence this works well on scale and mealies, the only bugs I have been bothered with. Good luck. Don't let them spread, which they will if not isolated.

margaret, i'm glad you told me about that stuff. i had them on a rubber tree, and was glad that it was "just a rubber tree" 'cause they are easy to propagate.

Some people use systemics for indoor house plants. Be absolutely sure it's for the indoors though because it's a very strong chemical. If you have kids or pets, you should probably avoid it. I've seen one in the nurseries made by Bonide. From what I understand, it has a very strong smell. I've never had to use one (knock on wood), but I'm glad to know it's available.