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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 8/17/2008
Posts: 3
Location: New York
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Just noticed that our Ponytail palm has white fuzzy dots all over it, and we're trying to figure out what they are, and what to do about it. Please see the attached image:  These dots are all over the place, and especially concentrated at the base of the leaves - second picture.  They seem to have black dots in the middle whwere they are more concentrated. Any suggestions? Is my plant lost? Other then the dots it looks healthy. Was told these are most likely scale insects, but when we started attempting to peel them off we realized that they were almost everywhere. Does anyone have any advice as to how to proceed? We are located in an apartment building in Manhattan, so bringing the plant outside is near impossible. Thanks in advance.
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 8/17/2008
Posts: 3
Location: New York
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Was told this was not a fungus, but was scale.
I scrubbed as many of the bugs as possible, and tried a fungicide / insecticide without much luck. It was so pervasive throughout the plant that I decided to gamble and tear all of the leaves off the plant and see if it grew back.
Now the waiting game begins...
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 8/17/2008
Posts: 3
Location: New York
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Ripped all of the leaves off of the plant, and it began growing again. Continue to spray the plant with soap and water as I can spot the little white bugs (size of a pin head) walking around on the leaves.
The bugs must have come with the soil. Any suggestions as to how long I should continue with this strategy before giving up? I trimmed the plant down to three growing branches, and the plant looks relatively healthy aside from the bugs crawling all over it.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 137
Location: Ankeny, Iowa
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I would suggest trying something stronger then soap and water, it won't kill them off. If I were you I would try something like Schultz insecticide. If you keep using soap and water they will keep coming back and you will eventually lose the battle and it will, if it hasn't already, infested all of the other plants in the house.
Operational Manager at Earl May Nursery and Garden Center in Ames, Iowa
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/20/2009
Posts: 54
Location: Cape York QUEENSLAND
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White Oil is the answer , harmless to humans and pets , will kill the wooly insects on your plant, spray all over the plant, get under all the leaves too. Read the instructions on the bottle on how to dilute the white oil and put your brew in a spray bottle .A garden supply shop will sell White oil.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 5/29/2009
Posts: 21
Location: los angeles
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That is a very heavy infestation and scale is one of the most difficult insects to get rid of because they develop hard shells as an adult that protect them from your insecticide efforts. No matter what you treat it with, you need to wipe off as many of the insects as you can (don't worry they won't bite humans, but I'd still wear gloves because of the ick factor). You also need to quarantine the plant if you have other healthy plants nearby. The scale will probably keep returning unless you use a really strong insecticide, which I don't recommend because they are bad both for you and the environment. You may be able to control the scale but you'll want to wipe off any insects as soon as you see them returning.
Personally I would probably throw it out and start over with a healthy plant, but it all depends on how much effort you want to put into it.
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