Question
My Sago has become infested with some sort of bug, they look sort of like small brown ticks with no legs. They are appearing on the bottom underside of the fronds and multiplying upward, only on the underside of the frond. I can brush them off with a tooth brush and think I've gotten all of them, then in a week or 2 they are back, I've cut the frond off only to find them later on another frond.
I live in northeast Alabama. The plant cone is about 3" in diameter and were purchased last fall from Wal-Mart.
Any help or advice will be much appreciated.
                                            thanx,DT

Answer
Hi Dale, Your sago  may have  what is commonly referred to as Asian Cycad Scale.  It is very common unfortunately on the Sago especially.  There is no known cure for this and the University of Florida is currently doing many studies on the proper treatment.  

One of the products Dr. Robert Stamps is testing with is called Atomic Grow.  It is a foliar spray and will dehydrate the scale immediately.  Atomic Grow is a non-toxic product and works very very well on scale of all kinds.   As it dehydrates the insects it loosens their ability to adhere to the plant.  They can literally be washed off with a gentle pressure.  At the same time Atomic Grow has a stimulating effect on the Sago and will actually increase the growth rate.  I have personally used this product in many commercial landscaping applications and it is simply fascinating.  It is also non selective so you can use it on your other plants as well.  There is also another disease going around that they felt there may not be sago alive.  However, we feel that Atomic Grow restores the health of the plant from poison and fertilizer abuse.
it will clean the plant and allow healing to take place.  Being organic you will never have to go back to poison products for any of your plant problems.   kathy