White fuzzy 'thingies' on weeping fig.

My cousin sent me the attached photo with the following comment. I don't know what the "thingies" are on her weeping fig. Can any of you ID this? Thanks for any help you can give me to pass along to her.


"Attached is a photo of leaves from my weeping fig which I've had for about 10 years. I keep it indoors. This plant has always had little white "thingies" on both the top and underside of the leaves and the leaves become sticky. I've often wondered if it is a type of small scale that has infested the plant or if this particular variety produces a sap that sticks to the leaves. Through the years, I've sprayed with detergent, water and alcohol; insecticide spray; and dormant oil but nothing seems to help. Overall the plant seems to be pretty healthy except for this malady."

Looks like mealy bugs.
Carol

Carol, I was thinking the same things but she has tried spraying them with all the stuff she mentioned above and nothing has worked. They just keep re-appearing.
If they are mealy bugs is there something she can spray on them to kill them (that she hasn't already tried?)

Those little brown bumps are the culprit - scale. I think the white stuff is the sap dripping from the fig. When my fig got that, I went over it very carefully, and flicked all of those bumps off with my fingernail. I didn't want to spray in the house, so I watched it carefully and kept flicking off any more that I might see. There are a lot of eggs under that scale, and if you don't get them all, they will hatch into little crawlers, meander about, settle in and form another scale. They suck the sap.

Unfortunately, that hard shell prevents penetration of pesticides. But the pesticide will get the crawler.

The leaves are sticky because any undigested excess sap is eliminated by the scale, and it weeps down onto other leaves. If she can take it outside, spray it down with a soapy water to get rid of the sticky. It will also kill any crawlers it hits.

In either case, both are difficult to kill! Alcahol and oil sprays are supposed to either smother or dehyderate them,but both take many applications. The only other option I know of it systemic poisons.
Carol

Thanks, Carol and Ceejay! I will pass this information along to my cousin. Hopefully, it will help her to get rid of the scale, etc.

Marilyn

My weeping fig is quite sticky right now. I will look for scale, it is now too big to drag to the shower as I have in the past. It is such a nice plant, I have had it a good long time.

Can I spray inside with insecticidal soap, assuming I still have some left?

Thanks for any and all help.

It should be, but read the label first.

You will be killing only the crawlers (hatched out under the scale and emerged). The soap doesn't penetrate the scale. Go over the plant thoroughly and flick off the scale with your fingernail, and then use the soap. You'll need to repeat this at least once - about 10 days later. You will not get all of the scale the first time around!

Another product you can use is horticultural oil. It suffocates, and I believe it to be a little more effective. Soap must hit the crawlers to kill, and once it dries, it no longer is effective. And it is very difficult to hit all of those minute guys. Oil remains effective longer, since it doesn't dry as quickly.

Thanks for the tip. I have never used horticultural oil. Will give it a try.

You can make your own insecticidal soap with just plain water and Dawn dishwashing liquid. It works well for those cases where you need to use an insecticidal soap and it is cheaper than commercial brands. I don't know why it has to be the Dawn brand but my source said other brands don't work? Right off hand I can't remember what the ration is of Dawn to water but it isn't much. I will try to find where I have that written down and post it here later. In the meantime, maybe somebody else will know.

I use the dawn all the time on any household bugs. Just make it soapy and the water slippery. I use a qt sprayer and about a tablespoon of Dawn.

That sounds about right, soferdig. I couldn't remember if it was 1 tablespoon or 2 of the Dawn. Have you been having a bad winter thuis season up there in Montana?

Nope pretty nice mild winter with good snow cover melting right now. We are in the best (Mildest) part of Montana. We did have a deep frost on Oct 4th that took away fall in our area by killing all green before it turned colors. Probably lost a few plants with that -5F those 3 days.