Pests are a natural part of gardening, whether we like it or not! Depending on the season and the weather, your garden can suffer from caterpillars, scale insects, mealy-bug, grasshoppers and a myriad of other insect invasions.

Ants

In my garden I used to have an annual invasion of scale insects. They didn’t limit themselves to any one plant species. It seems that they were happy to attack all manner of plants including gardenias, eggplant, ferns, citrus trees and fig trees. They particularly loved attacking my ferns!

It may have something to do with the fact that I seem to be living atop an ant farm! Ants and scale have a particularly nasty co-dependent relationship.

If left unchecked, a scale infestation can result in the death of your plants from loss of vital nutrients. Also, the black sooty mould, which also accompanies such an invasion, can get in the way of the plant photosynthesising.

So, what can cause a scale invasion?

Scale and others pests mostly attack plants that are under stress or already weakened. I have found that it is beneficial to check that the plant is getting enough nutrients. This isn’t just adding more fertiliser. What you may need to do is check the pH of the soil (What is the importance of Soil pH for plant growth?) If the pH is wrong the plant may not be able to access nutrients. Even if they are present!

I don’t like using pesticides to control scale

I don’t like using pesticides, so each summer I used to go through vast quantities of organic pest oil! Each winter I would spray my citrus plants with lime sulphur to try and kill off the scale as it over-winters. I managed to eliminate scale from my garden, except from my ferns! And you can’t spray ferns with pest oil or Neem as they kill the ferns!

Scale

Also, if you apply pest oil on a hot day you can cause almost as much stress to your plants as the scale is causing!

Until one day! I was soo exasperated by ongoing scale attack on my ferns, that I decided to experiment with a biodynamic pepper! (see Biodynamic Peppers).

The result was almost immediate! By the next morning the scale were still there, but the ferns were looking like they had a new lease on life. And it has continued to work, controlling the scale!

You can also continue to use Neem oil as it seems that the Neem oil penetrates the leaves to poison the scale from within, while at the same time the oil covers the outside of the scale and suffocates it!

If doing this, also add a few drops of whatever vegetable oil you have in the cupboard to the Neem oil to help it settle on the plant and not be washed off immediately.

So, if your garden is suffering from an attack of scale, why not try using a biodynamic pepper as well as spraying with Neem oil. See also beneficial insects Good Bugs in your garden #1

If my experience is anything to go by, your scale problem will be resolved! I will be only using Neem oil from now on for all future infestations. Let me know how you get on by leaving a comment.

Happy gardening 🙂

Rohanne, your Edible Gardening Guru

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