Question
Hi Melissa , I am a renter and I try to take good care of the landscape and yesterday I trimmed my hedges and I looked under one to rake the trimmings out and the entire trunk and limbs were covered in these tiny white puffy shell looking things. Would you know what it is? Can I get rid of it? And can I save this shrub? It looks like it is trying to spread to the two shrubs on either side of the sick one, so can I save it or do I need to pull it out before it kills all of them?
I don't want to spend much money because my landlord won't reimburse me, but I hate to see this shrub die.
Ginger
Midland Texas
97+degree days!!

Answer
Dear Ginger, I sympathize with the heat.  I also am in Texas, and have been painting my house this week.  I have to start at 6am and stop before noon because of this heat.  Anyway, I digress and you will love this answer because it is a pretty inexpensive cure.  What you have is scale, a non-moving insect which attaches itself to the stems and sometimes leaves of plants and sucks out the juices.  Most insecticides won't work on scale because the shell like covering protects them from chemicals.  The trick is to smother them, so you spray with a lightweight horticultural oil (use SunSpray if you can find it) or you can use one of the biorganic oils.  Get a small pump-up sprayer and mix the oil in (unless you find SunSpray which attaches to your hose) and spray the plants thoroughly, making sure to spray all the way inside the shrubs until they are all dripping wet.  You will have to spray several times about a week apart to thoroughly get rid of them, but this method will work.  You will know the scale are dead when a moderate stream of water from a hose will dislodge them.  Kudos to you for taking care of your landscape.  I hope this information helps, but be sure to write back if you have more questions.  There must be a lot of scale this year, because I just answered a question on scale (also from Texas ironically) and here was yours waiting for me.  Good luck, Melissa