Scale Insects
Immobile bumps on stems and leaves that drain plants and breed sooty mold.
In Florida, Scale Insects (Coccoidea) rates as a moderate concern. Rhino Pest Management, licensed (#JB242881) and insured, covers lawn & ornamental service throughout Florida's Treasure & Space Coast and holds a 5.0★ rating over 16 Google reviews. Free, no-obligation estimate: (772) 589-6842.
Photo: no rights reserved (CC0) · iNaturalist (research grade)
Small, immobile, shell-like or cottony bumps (1–5 mm) clustered on stems and the undersides of leaves. Soft scales secrete sticky honeydew; armored scales look like tiny crusty discs.
Citrus, palms, hibiscus, gardenia, holly and many ornamental shrubs and trees throughout the landscape.
- Bumps along stems and leaf veins that don't brush off easily
- Sticky leaves and sooty black mold
- Yellowing, wilting or dropping leaves
- Ants farming the scale for honeydew
Scale drains a plant's sap, weakening and slowly killing ornamentals, citrus and palms, while the honeydew fuels disfiguring sooty mold.
Is this urgent?
Not an emergency, but don't sit on it. Scale Insects establishes indoors and gets harder — and slower — to clear the longer the colony has to spread. Treated early it's a routine visit; left for a season it usually takes more than one.
Rhino's lawn & ornamental program treats scale with systemic and contact products and addresses the ants farming them, on a recurring schedule that keeps the landscape healthy.
Our Lawn & Ornamental Service service