Black balls on woody branch of Fragrant Olive

12 years ago

I had this fragrant Olive plant (Osmantbus Fragrans) for almost 7 months. It is doing great and is giving me continuous fragrant flowers. However, when I took a really close look at it today, I noticed on a few branches of the woody part of the tree, there are these small black balls 3-4mm in diameter. Some are clustered together, some are spots on the woody branches. I used a screw driver to pry some of them off the woody branch to see what they are. There is a pink powdery substance inside these little black balls. Does anyone know what these black balls are and should I be worried about them?

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Comments (4)

kemistry
12 years ago
That sounds like scale to me. I suggest that you try to remove them as much as you can and then spray the plant with a solution of rubbing alcohol and water (50:50) and spray it again in a few days.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Can you post a picture? I see that you are in Canada. So I take it that this plant is being grown inside? If so, and if these 'balls' are scale, you had better investigate any other plants you many have very closely.

If these do turn out to be scale insects (probably are), as soon as the temperatures in your location get warm enough for this plant to placed outside, you should begin treatments of horticultural oil. Oils have always been and will probably always be the best solution for scale insects. The oil helps smother all stages of these tough little creatures...adults, eggs, and nymph (called crawlers).
new2plant
Original Author
12 years ago
Dear Rhizo,
I have sent you an email with a photo of the black balls attached to the email. I am not sure how to upload a photo on this web forum. My email might be in your "junk mail"
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Just to answer this question....I have looked at the images and they are scale insects. They look disturbingly like a species known to plants in the Oleaceae family (like Osmanthus), but known to tropical/semi-tropical locations. Which means that these scale likely came in with a load of other plants all infested.

As with most scale insect infestations, a horticultural oil of some brand is the best solution. I'd remove as many of the adults as possible, by hand. They may already be dead, and just the empty exoskeletons remain.

Oil applications need to be fairly thorough. Just mix up a small amount and mist it on ALL surfaces of your Tea Olive; upper and lower leaves, stems, trunk, etc. Repeat according to the label directions (maybe every 10 days to 2 weeks).