Scale insects can infest and damage many of the plants we grow in our landscapes and indoors. They feed on the sap of plants, and a large enough population can weaken a plant, damage it or even kill ...

I should report an email to me regarding rabbit problems in landscapes. One reader suggests that she has always used mothballs around her plants and never had a problem with rabbits. Some of you might ...

A: Sounds like a classic case of magnolia scale - the biggest of all scale insects. These pests latch onto selected spots on the twigs and branches and proceed to build a shell around themselves for ...

I got an email with some pictures a few years ago asking me about magnolia scale, which is a topic I have written about for a number of years. I feel confident the insect was magnolia scale. The ...

Many gardeners, as well as the horticulturists at the Chicago Botanic Garden, had issues with magnolia scale last year, and it’s a pest to watch closely for in 2025. The Garden’s plant health care ...

You should have applied the most important insect spray of the year — dormant oil sprays — during the winter. Why then? Because that’s when insects susceptible to these sprays are most vulnerable. Why ...

Question for Dan Gill: I have a Japanese magnolia tree that appears to have a problem. I first noticed a black deposit on the leaves and branches. Looking closely, I see small waxy yellow blobs along ...

Q: We have two 13-year-old hollies on the north side of our house that have been infested with scale. The new growth put out since I pruned in March is unaffected, but I see there are white egg sacs ...

Q: Everything under one of my large potted plants on the patio is turning black. What isn’t black is sticky. What is wrong with this plant? A: From the pictures you sent me, we know that the black ...

I have a problem with white mold on my sagos. Can you tell me what to do about it? Two types of scales attack sagos, and one of them, the Asian cycad scale, is the most damaging of the 20 or so scale ...

There are many types of scale insects that potentially can become a pest on a number of landscape plants in North Florida. But the home gardener may not recognize these small-scale critters as insects ...

Q: I have a mature palo verde tree in my back yard that has what appear to be some kind of white scale on the trunk and several main branches — it almost looks like cement or mortar. On some of the ...