Dont pay to much attention to my natives outdoors because they’re very self sustaining, just realized my 7 FOOT white sage bush is INFESTED WITH SCALE. I’ve never dealt with such infestation outdoors and it’s seems way worse because it has no bounds outside lol. Gonna prune it back a lot tomorrow (👎😩) but what the f**k do I do. I don’t want to use pesticides.
This is the only pic I have from January before it sprouted like crazy
0 likesFor natural control, try to attract natural predators. Ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitoid wasps will all go after scale. Ladybugs can be bought at some nurseries or insect farms (though I've found just moving a few wild ones onto the affected plant to be pretty effective for aphids.) To attract the right kind of wasps, provide nectar flowers (in my experience, american asters are the single most used plant by a variety of wasp species.) Lacewings like nectar from fennel, cilantro, dill, sunflower, cosmos, and yarrow.
3 likesTry insecticidal soap or neem oil. Organic ways to rid it but you will need to keep pruning for a while until it bounces back.
1 like
Trim it back heavily and carefully dispose of the cuttings to avoid contaminating other plants. Sage grows well during the growing season. It will recover. Scrape off/wipe off the rest or as many as possible. Beneficial insects suggested by Waspinator and insecticidal recommended by Mamarod both work.🪴🍀
1 like