The Schefflera Arboricola is a fairly 
easy Midwestern houseplant to care for. When I lived in Florida, there was one growing in my front yard, right in front of the chimney. My Midwestern version is a smaller scale!
This time of year my butt has just about been kicked by Old Man Winter. I’m soooo over winter. My houseplants have had it also. Here I am, a horticulturist and should have noticed this earlier. I did see the shiny leaves, but I thought it was just where I had over-sprayed some horticultural oil. Nope, not that lucky. From a distance, these guys are hardly noticeable. However, just get a bit closer and you’ll see them all… Huddling on the midrib.
Next I noticed my sock stick to the floor… The floor was sticky. Remember there are signs and symptoms to all plant problems. The shiny leaves and sticky floor are signs of a honeydew producing pest. Signs are observations that are directly related to the problem. A symptom would be the leaves showing some spotting.
Here’s the little guys close up, along with their honeydew which is just a sweet name for poop. In the wild, opposed to the tame of my living room, ants would be attracted to the sweet honeydew and protect the producer. Ants have been known to herd aphids (another honey-doer!) and protect them in little colonies. I’ve seen it, pretty weird!
We’re not going to have freeloaders on my plants! I promptly dragged ‘Sheffy’ into the shower for a rinse. I would have preferred to use horticultural oil, but I was out. I did have an organic insecticidal soap.
Spray the plant down with water first, as the longer the soap spray stays liquid, the better job it will do smothering the pests.
Just for the record, using dish soap is not acceptable for a cheap substitute for horticultural soap. Now-a-days, the dish soap is not soap anymore, detergent is the main ingredient and modern soap lacks the fatty acids that are helpful in killing the insect.
Another few good tips to aid the recovery of your plant from scale:
- Don’t over-water.
- Don’t fertilize – forcing fresh growth is stressful on the plant and the pests like the new stuff better!
- Place in sunny location.
- Try to remove the honeydew, as sooty mold will grow on it.
- Don’t be afraid to prune when needed – I cut many branches down to just lessen the surface area.
- About once a week, spray off the plant and reapply the soap or oil.
© The Naturarian
great tips on removing scale!
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Thank you! Been fighting with this little army for a few weeks. Fingers crossed, looks like an early spring… That means I can put the plants outside and let nature take care of them!
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Spring is officially coming, three more weeks!
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I’m optimistic!! Up here, 3/20 is just a date. Uuuuusually, it snows =-(
HOWEVER, after today, the weather-wizards think it will stay above freezing for the rest of spring!
That doesn’t mean no snow, but it won’t stick 😉 HAHA!!
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It’s always better to be optimistic Holly.
But I’ll never forget mom telling me that there was three feet of snow on the ground when she came home from the hospital in mid March, after giving birth to me. (a long time ago)
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I rescued mine but no idea how… there was not only one leaf on that plant, I put it outside to bring it to the compost pile und suddenly new leaves appeared… maybe our wet and humid weather is the trick and not only ticks but all other evil critters run away ?
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I feel many ‘inside’ pests can be gotten rid of by putting them (the plant) outside. Inside pests are very fragile, generally have no inside enemies and in my house right now, warm & dry. Go and change any of those ‘cushy’ parts of its environment, they’ll croak.
Your weather surely helped in that situation, however wet weather can give you other issues like fungus and viruses… yea….
I don’t know a whole lot about ticks, aside from “EEEEAW!!!” =-O I’ll mark that down as a post topic! (TY) It will be interesting to learn about what conditions make for a light or heavy tick season 😉
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Yeah – just a sweet name for poop! 😀
Ants are herding aphids on some of my honeysuckle at the moment! I’ve been too hot to go and spray them, but I better do it soon.
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Isn’t that aphid herding hilarious? Well, until you realize there’s aphids on your plants… =-(
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Absolutely! 😀
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Very useful information. I must get some plant soap. My problem is spider mites. they only go for some plants.
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Spider mites are no fun. I’ve only dealt with them while in college, in the large greenhouse.
The houseplants I do keep are generally easy care… This is the first time I’ve had an ‘infestation’ & at least I think its only on this plant. Fingers crossed.
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