Tea scale, Fiorinia theae Green, is a very destructive pest of camellias and hollies. It is a small scale as the adults are about 0.1 inches long and covered with a hard, brown, wax cover (Photo 1). Males have a white, waxy cover while females are gray to brown. Both usually develop on the undersides of leaves (Photo 2). Leaves infested by this scale will develop yellow blotches (Photo 3) on their upper surface. Crawlers of this scale appear in the spring in the southern states and timing of controls to eliminate this pest are best when either the bloom of honeysuckle or tulip popular starts. This timing can vary, so pay attention to these events if you need to apply a crawler spray.
Another technique to time your crawler spray is to use double-sided sticky tape on several small stems. This tape will catch the tiny crawlers as they emerge and move to another site on the plant. According to Michigan State University Extension, tea scale have multiple generations in southern states, but we probably only have one generation here in Michigan, thus making it easier to control this pest as it probably does not overwinter on plants here.
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