WSU Extension

Hortsense

Common Insects & Mites
 
Aphids 
Asian lady beetle 
Bark beetles 
Brown marmorated stink bug 
Brown soft scale 
California gallfly 
Conifer aphids 
Cottony camellia scale 
Cutworms and loopers 
Earwigs 
Eriophyid mites 
Exotic longhorned beetles 
Fall webworm 
Inchworms 
Leafhoppers 
Leafminers 
Leafrollers 
Lecanium scale 
Oystershell scale 
Pamphilid sawflies 
Pear slug 
Root weevils 
Sapsucker damage 
Shothole borer 
Skeletonizers 
Slugs 
Sowbugs, pillbugs, and millipedes 
Spider mites 
Spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) 
Tent caterpillars 



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Caption: Oystershell scales
Photo by: Unknown
  
Common Insects & Mites : Oystershell scale
(revision date: 4/14/2015)


Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for successful plant problem management.

Biology
Oystershell scale is one of many armored scales that attack landscape plants. They are usually found on the bark of trunks, branches, and twigs. Rather small and flat with hard shells, these scales blend well on the bark they feed upon. Their resemblance to an oyster is enhanced when they become numerous, because clustered they resemble a bed of oysters. Oystershell scale produces little or no honeydew.
Management Options


Non-Chemical Management
  • Lady beetles, parasitic wasps and other natural enemies help control scale populations outdoors. Avoid use of broad-spectrum insecticides which kill these beneficials.
  • Prune and destroy heavily infested twigs or branches, if practical.
Select non-chemical management options as your first choice!

Chemical Management
IMPORTANT: Visit Home and Garden Fact Sheets for more information on using pesticides

Scout for crawlers. Certain insecticides are effective for control of scale crawlers only. Apply to control the immature crawler stage, usually in late spring to early summer. Refer to the fact sheet for oystershell scale on a particular host for registered pesticides.

Images

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Caption: Oystershell scales
Photo by: Unknown