Euonymus scale......pretty bad infestation......your shrub may not recover even if you try to apply horticulural oils etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Euonymus scale

I think that's the worse infestation I've ever seen. This couldn't have happened overnight, and like the previous poster says, I don't know, even if you do get control of the insects if this one will recover. Are there hedges of this plant, a solitary plant, or what?

I've had good results with treating it, on a euonymus ground cover, but I had to whack it down to almost ground level, clean up every bit of the infected debris and burn it, and then cover every square inch of what was left of the vegetation with hort oil. I got it first time around, it all grew back and stayed clean from then on. If you wish to grow organically (and even if you don't care and wish to use chemicals) you start adressing the situation before it get out of hand. Simpler, less work, less chemicals, less chance of spread and better chance of success.

There is no way you will be able to control this problem without "chemicals: since even Insecticidal Soaps are "chemicals. It appears to me to be Scale that those plants have and the most common method of control for them is a horticulture oil, a "chemical". Dormant oils are not recommended for growing plants.
There is some evidence that Neem Oil (another "chemical") products might be a control. The link below does list some synthetic control products that one can ignore.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scale control

this is EXACTLY why . i got rid of all my euonymus .. isnt that what this WAS??? .. scale is endemic on them ... [and not a bug, i dont think]

life too short ..

if you cant find a different plant to fit the space.. you arent trying too hard ....

get angry at it .... it let you down ..... get rid of it.. think of it as an opportunity for change.. change is good ...

ken

ps: here is something to hum while working:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqmlffA9U9s

OMG .. its giving me a flashback to Trollies movies.. lol ...

Here is a link that might be useful: and apparently it is horrific on this cultivar.. because arent most of these pix.. your plant????

Hort oil can be summer weight or dormant..........both are effective against scale and although a petrochemical and perhaps not purist organic, is a very 'soft' treatment. Ken, you don't like fruit trees and you don't like euonymous, and there are a few other things....but they can be grown quite successfully and don't automatically pull scale like magnets. I have hedges of them, ground covers of them, and single specimen and only once in twenty five years had to treat for scale on one bed. That's not a bad track record.

The whole thing in a nutshell is to actually look at your plants when you see the first symptoms they are not thrifty. It's called scouting and that is when you catch a problem early before it becomes a situation. Chueh..........I'm not giving you a hard time. I have had to remind greenhouse workers to stop and inspect plants on a routine basis.

Ken, scale is a 'bug'. One of the harder ones to control if left to get out of hand.

Ken, you don't like fruit trees

==>> i have a half dozen or so fruit ... i just dont spray .. dont care.. and suggest to dreamers.. that their crop will never look like store stuff w/o proactive IPM ...

scale.. i was wondering if that was an exoskeleton ... more along he line of a mollusk .. which arent bugs.. per se ... and too lazy to look it up ...

in the case above.. this scale has been building for quite a few years.. that infestation did NOT occur this year.... and if i.. with 30 years of experience.. can NOT time out precise repeated sprayings of oil... then one might suggest the OP.. as a novice.. isnt going to be able to either ...

and when it comes down to doing ANYTHING.. repeatedly ... i usually just get rid of it ... ergo.. no more privet for me.. too many teenage nightmare trimming the family ones...

is OP is up for the challenge... go for it..

but the easy answer is.. get rid of it ..

ken

ps: actually personally ... if this were a $100 exotic specimen.. i would go systemic hardcore bayer tree and shrub.. one application.. done forever.. but OP doesnt want chems .... but this plant is NOT exotic .... nor worth the cost of cure ...

It's certainly not some rare exotic, but you don't know how much area, time or expense they have in this planting either. Putting some time and effort into saving this is their call to make, though I do endorse your perspective. I have bushels upon bushels of apples here. So many that it has been difficult to give them away. They are pest free, and large and totally organic. I'm not dreaming this, I've made a living at growing for twenty four years and don't have all the answers, but just because you didn't have luck at it doesn't mean someone else won't. We are drowning in beautiful fruit, so I'm saying that when opinions like this are offered, they should be also accepted as an opinion. I do enjoy your posts, let it be said, only they are more like editorials than the news. ;-)

Thank you for all your replies. I understand what you were saying. I looked it up (thanks for the link). If I am not reading it wrong, the scales seem to target more on stressed euonymus and bittersweet. I have bittersweets closeby. My question NOW is to prevent them getting to bittersweets and other euonymeuses (they are almost like a hedge. So far, two of the euonymuses are infested.

If these two are far gone, despite of still little great chance to be saved, then that's it! I am just worried about the infestation spread.

A..Is burning the only way?
B..Do I apply the hort oil or neem oil on other euonymuses which are not infested yet?

c. this mid summer, tons of flies circling around the euonymuses. It never happened before. Is it because the scales have started infesting producing the honey-like substance that attracted the flies????

No, burning isn't the only way and may even be illegal in some areas. The residue needs to be cleaned from your planting site well, however. No, for the oils......they work by suffocating pests and if there is nothing on them to kill it's wasted effort. Neem can be a short-term preventive, however. Scale and aphids and some other insects do exude honey-dew and I can see flys being attracted, I know some wasps seem to be. If it were mine, I'd cut the affected ones very close to the ground and treat the stubs. Just getting that out of the proximity of your healthy stock is going to make it easier to deal with lighter infestations on the surrounding plants. Then you should have a very close look at if/how badly the other plants are infested. If you choose to treat any/all of these, be aware that a lot of the chemicals listed for scale control are only effective when they're in their crawler stages. If you use oils, coverage has to be EXCELLENT and then as Ken mentions systemics like imidicloprid.

This illustrates why I call euonymus, "you wanna miss" out on this plant. They look like that every year right about this time. And scale is hard to control because you have a narrow window in which to get the crawlers, and that window is probablynow closed.

For scale, you will have to use some sort of chemical: horticultural oil. Use it at the dorman strength over winter, and after the plant goes dormant. There is every chance it will recover. And then, if you want to keep that kind of shrub and don't want to be dealing with scale again, bite the bullet and give it a systemic next year, one that will prevent an infestation.

This illustrates why I call euonymus, "you wanna miss" out on this plant. They look like that every year right about this time. And scale is hard to control because you have a narrow window in which to get the crawlers, and that window is probablynow closed.

For scale, you will have to use some sort of chemical: horticultural oil. Use it at the dorman strength over winter, and after the plant goes dormant. There is every chance it will recover. And then, if you want to keep that kind of shrub and don't want to be dealing with scale again, bite the bullet and give it a systemic next year, one that will prevent an infestation.

Got it. Thanks much. I am sorry that I did not make it clear about what to burn earlier. I would cut down the shrub low and treat it. Where do I take the affected part to? How do I dispose it other than burning it? That's a dumb question anyway to me, because there is no place for me to burn anything in my yard....

Many would suggest double wrapping the trimmings in plastic bags and putting them out for your yard waste pickup.

I see. Thanks