I'm spending these long winter evenings wiping scale off my citrus and bay trees. I thought I gave all the trees a good shower and dose of insecticidal soap before they came inside, but I guess not.

Where do these PBN's (pest, bother and nuisance) come from? Should I be looking for something flying, something crawling, something in the soil or do they just magically appear overnight?

Once I clean all the gazillion leaves and stems, any recommendations on the best way to prevent having to do this incredibly boring task again?

Many thanks for your advice. And thanks for this new forum (I was wondering where you all had disappeared to

Welcome to the forum Felpec. Sorry but I don't have any in the house. Even my potted trees only make it into the garage for a few nights each winter. Maybe some of the others have more experience with indoor trees.

Laaz, thanks for all your hard work setting this forum up. I know how much effort it takes to take on a project like this.

Felpec, I currently have 52 varieties of citrus growing in containers, that are inside a large Coorado greenhouse. What I do for scale, mealy bug, aphids and spider mite control is spray the tree with a forcefull water spray. I use a brass nozzel on the end of a garden hose and adjust the nozzel untill it just starts to form the cone shape. I hose down the underside and top side of the foliage, and all branches. You do get a little wet, but it works very well. For scale you sometimes need to put the nozzel end two or three inches from the insects. This method causes very little if any damage to the foliage. I have not use any insecticides, soaps, or manual removal in years. I check my trees about once every week to ten days. Winter months have, of course, a lot less insect problems. Take care. Millet

I like Millet's approach but if the weather is cold or you can't use water pressure....I use the horticultural oil(s) with good success. Apply early or late in the day, avoid applications during hot, direct sun. Cover entire plant; leaves and stems. The critters...I don't know where they come from...they just come. Scale, aphids, white flies, mealies....the oil will take care of them all. Read and heed the lable directions, some plants are sensitive. So far so good....no burn or negative results after years of use.

One winter day, I was so angry at this critters and applied horticultural oil three times in one week. The citruses that I sprayed on dropped their leaves just before spring time. It was ugly to look at. And to add insult, the scales were still there. I use malathion mix alternating with oil now, and it is much better.

JoeR....I must admit that you've got me beat! I've never applied oil three times in one week. Are you applying indoors or out? Many "hard"
pesticides have/leave an offensive odor that I can't stand in my gh, plus I have birds in there. I'm sure that you know, others may not, even when you are successful in killing scale they seldom dislodge from the plant. A quick flip with your finger nail will tell you if they're dead (loose) or alive, still tightly attached. I still say oil is a good tool.