Hi! I just got this dieffenbachia from a grocery store and found these white spots on one of the small leaves near the soil. Could anyone help me to identify if they are scale insects? Should I be worried? I inspected the plant and haven’t found this on any other leaves (yet…). The plant looks otherwise healthy.
Those look like scale to me 😬 I’d quarantine your plant immediately from your other plants and get some supplies ready to treat it. A typical treatment for scale is with isopropyl alcohol on a toothbrush or q-tip on affected leaves, then spraying the plant down with insecticidal soap every couple of days for the next few weeks, and inspecting it for any new scale. I’m sure some fellow Planta people will come in with some good bug killing recipes in the comments for you too. In the meantime, quarantine this plant and check the rest of your plants for them. ALL the plants. (I know that might sound exhausting if you have a lot of them, but it’s important to check even the most unlikely ones rather than risk a larger infestation on your hands). Best of luck in the fight against the scale 🫡
2 J'aime The last thing I want to add is that I’d highly recommend adding Bonide’s Systemic Houseplant Insect Control Granules to the top of the soil and wearing gloves when treating this plant. Dieffenbachia have a sap that can be very painful to some if it comes in contact with your skin, so any latex or gardening gloves are key with working with this one. The granules will be absorbed by the roots and help kill any scale for up to 8 weeks. If you’re new to granules, read the directions for the amount and lean on the lighter side to reduce the risk of adding too much of it to the top of the soil, then water it through thoroughly. This method can wait until watering day so you don’t overwater your plant, but it should help lower the risk of them coming back. You can reapply after 8 weeks if necessary.
1 j'aime Hi Adrian, thank you so much for these information! Very much appreciated! And I have sprayed down and isolated the plant as you suggested. I haven’t put it together with other plants yet so fingers crossed it has not spread…Bonide is not available in my area but I will definitely see if there are other systemic pesticides if the infestation gets worse 🥹 Would you suggest washing the plant and the roots and changing the soil? Does that help with scale?
1 j'aime Changing the soil could definitely help, and inspecting the roots for any damage or signs of distress isn’t a bad idea, but scale don’t tend to burrow in the soil like other pests, so you might just need to remove and replace the top layer of soil where any nymph scale might travel to get to another leaf or stem. They attach themselves to stems and leaves, not roots, so as long as your roots have been healthy, the plant’s root system should still be intact despite the scale. If you manage to find systemic granules, that also will do the work for you in terms of protecting the roots, since the roots will absorb what’s in the granules to kill any new scale off that tries to feed on the plant.
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