Garden Pests and Diseases: Please Help - Shrub infested/infected and in trouble!, 3 by ladysoth

ladysoth wrote:
So, is this a pest, maybe scale? Or some kind of mildew? And what do I treat it with? I've been recoving from foot surgery and stuck inside for almost 4 weeks so I'm not sure when this started, but it's bad now - nearly all the branches of this shrub (some kind of mock cherry or something - can't remember the name) are covered and the leaves are drying up and falling off. Honestly I was shocked when I saw how badly the branches are covered.

Wish I could get a better close up but my camera blurs on close ups. The "stuff" is white, and fuzzy looking but is make up of little individual things that kind of look like microscopic fuzzy peices of lint. Each is rice shaped. I see no movement of any of them. I'm thinking it's scale, but I'm not certain. I had a scale infestation many years ago on a shrub but they looked more, well, scaley. Any ideas, and also what to treat with or if it looks too far gone for treatment? I'm so bummed - you take a month off from the garden and look what happenes :( I'm honestly not even sure I'll be able to treat it as I'm still in a cast and on crutches.