May 14 2008
STICKY PALM TREE SCALES - What they are and how to get rid of them!
I noticed today that my 4 ft tall majesty palm tree was absolutely COVERED with small, circular, brown colored scales! I’m not sure how I hadn’t noticed before because there are a ton of them! Especially on the new chutes. As it turns out my majesty palm has “Palm Leaf Scales”.
- What are Palm Leaf Scales?
Palm leaf scales are actually an insect! I know I know. Looking at them, as I assume you’re doing if you’re reading this, you would never guess it! They are small brown scaly looking bumps that can appear almost anywhere on your palm tree but tend to focus on new fronds. The tiny, legless and headless insects attach themselves to a palm tree and suck out moisture! They are both common and damaging to palms and are very difficult to kill.
- How do I get rid of them?
As I said, they are very difficult to kill! If you love your palm as I do you’re going to have to be persistent. You can try to scrape them off yourself, and depending on how many there are, have some success doing so. If your palm tree is really covered with the scales then you can strap some gloves on (they look nasty!) and go to town but my feelings are you’re going to miss some somewhere. That being the case here’s what you do.
- Get yourself a small spray bottle, some rubbing alcohol and some dish soap.
- Mix up equal parts rubbing alcohol and soapy water.
- Now what? Yeah. Go spray your tree thoroughly.
- Repeat Often.
You will definitely see a difference with the number of scales on your palm tree but keep in mind what I said. They are really hard to get completely rid of so stick to it and good luck! I’ll let you know how my majesty palm does.
After a few weeks, actually about a month, of spraying my palm with the above mentioned mixture I believe I’ve finally beaten the nasty little critters. I would spray them a few times a week and have had great results!
My plant as this scale problem and I’ve started using the above recommend treatment on 5/16/09. I’ll let you know.
My 5 ft bottle palm has a major scale problem and I just completed my first treatment of the above stray. Hope this works, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks!
Larz, Thanks for the insight, I started this same treatment in my heavily infested indoor palm tree I hope I can still save it… I will let you know. Treatment started 11/01/09 planing to spray 3 times a week.