Can You Drown Scale on Your Plants?

Seeing scale on your plants, especially when it’s your first time, is a hair-raising experience. These waxy, odd-looking pests always come in massive groups and look as if they’re entirely unstoppable and impossible to eradicate. After all, how can you get rid of pests that practically have an armor of protection built around them?

You can drown scale by submerging the affected plant in water for at least 24 hours. Scale insects will not be able to survive without air for that long. They will drown and eventually die.

We will talk about two different ways to drown scale on your plants and what these pesky pests are. Then we will discuss other methods for getting rid of scale and how to prevent a scale infestation in the first place. Let’s start!

How To Drown Scale on Your Plants

Drowning scale insects on your plants is pretty tricky. You must be thorough with this approach and should be open to the possibility that you might lose your plant in the process. Too much water may harm your plant, but if you are willing to take the risk, this method can be highly effective.

To drown scale, follow these simple steps:

Take the affected plant out of its pot.
Discard the soil since this may be infected with scale as well.
Clean and disinfect the pot with rubbing alcohol or boiling water.
Fill a bucket with water. Make sure that the water level is sufficient to submerge your plant completely.
Submerge your plant into the bucket. Ensure all the leaves, the entire stem, and roots are entirely underwater.
Leave it for at least 24 hours. You will soon find dead scale insects floating in the water.
Throw away the water. Make sure that it does not get in contact with any of your plants.
Disinfect the bucket.
Place your plant under running water. Inspect the leaves, stems, and roots to ensure no scale insects are left.
Spray insecticide all over your plant.
Repot into a clean planter with fresh soil.

You might want to keep this plant away from your other plants for at least three weeks. This quarantine ensures that your healthy plants won’t get infected if there are still some scale insects left. Consider spraying with insecticide once a week for good measure.

The Hot Water Approach

You might feel unsure about submerging your precious plant in water for 24 hours. This action seemingly poses several threats to your plant’s well-being. Root rot, wilted leaves, and limp stems are probably some of your concerns.

Here is another way to drown scale insects on your plants. Consider initially testing this method on a single leaf to see how your plant will take it:

Prepare a bucket of hot water. The temperature should be at 140-150°F (60-66°C).
Pull the affected plant out of its pot.
Throw away the soil. The soil may be infected with scale as well.
Disinfect the pot with rubbing alcohol or boiling water.
Submerge your plant into the bucket with hot water. Ensure all the leaves, the entire stem, and roots are entirely underwater.
Leave it for 5-10 minutes. You will soon find dead scale insects floating in the water.
Throw away the water and the scale insects. Make sure they do not get in contact with any of your plants.
Disinfect the bucket.
Place your plant under running room temperature water. Inspect the leaves, stems, and roots to ensure no insects are left.
Spray insecticide all over your plant.
Repot into a clean planter with fresh soil.

What Are Scale Insects?

Scale insects are among the most annoying and tricky plant pests. They have a protective wax covering resembling fish scales (hence the name) and grow from 1/16 – 3/8 of an inch across. Their apparent immobility, dull color, and dome-shaped shell make them challenging to spot and eliminate.

Female scales, in particular, are wingless and motionless, with their tell-tale legs and antennae not visible to the naked eye. One might quickly dismiss them simply as dust on a plant’s leaves. They hatch their eggs under the cover of their bodies and their wax covering.

The eggs hatch into crawlers with legs and can move about the plant. Crawlers immediately search for a suitable place to call home, so they can begin feeding and growing their dome-shaped shells.

When crawlers choose one of your plants to be their new home and mature into scale insects, they will suck out the sap using their long, needle-like mouths. They may also secrete honeydew, which grows a black fungus that coats the plant’s leaves.

The affected leaves cannot efficiently photosynthesize to provide sustenance for the entire plant. They will turn yellow, wilt, then die. If you don’t swiftly address the scale situation, the plant may die, too.

Male scales do not have mouths, so they cannot feed. They look like tiny gnats. However, some scale species are hermaphrodites and can reproduce from eggs even without fertilization.

Signs of a Scale Infestation

Now that you know what scale insects look like and how they attack plants, it might be easier for you to spot them. The sooner you identify them, the sooner you’ll be able to eliminate them and possibly save your plant from an untimely death. The key is to stop them before they deprive your plant of nutrients.

Here are a few clues to watch out for:

Round or oval-shaped waxy bumps on your plant’s leaves or stems.
Honeydew (a shiny and sticky sap) on the leaves and stem. This substance is an indication that the insects are already feeding on your plant.
Black sooty mold. This mold is the dark fungus that grows from honeydew.
Yellow leaves. This color may be a natural occurrence, especially with a plant’s oldest leaves, but it’s time to investigate if you notice frequent yellowing, even on new leaves.

Other Ways To Get Rid of Scale Insects

Getting rid of scale on your plants as soon as you spot them is essential. Any delay can have irreparable damage to your plants. These pests feed in multitudes, and they feed fast and voraciously.

Aside from drowning, here are other ways to get rid of scale on your plants:

Insecticide Spray

There are commercially available insecticide sprays proven effective for scale and safe for plants. However, if you want to go the organic route, you can make your insecticide spray at home. They are pretty simple to make. Remember to spray your plants weekly until you no longer detect any signs of scale insects on your plants.

Here are some options:

Alcohol Insecticide Spray

Scale insects react quickly to rubbing alcohol. They almost instantly die upon contact, so this is a favorite option for many gardeners. Plus, rubbing alcohol is almost always available in any household.

Follow these steps to make your alcohol insecticide spray:

Pour about 16 ounces (473 ml) of clean water into a jar.
Add 4 ounces (118 ml) of rubbing alcohol and 1.5 teaspoons (7 ml) of mild dish soap.
Mix until all the elements are well dispersed.
Transfer some of the mixture into a spray bottle.
Spray generously on your plant’s leaves, stems, and even on the soil.

Neem Oil Insecticide Spray

Neem oil is a trusted insecticide spray that works on many pests. Aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, and even fungus gnats can’t stand neem oil. This oil is safe enough to use as a pest maintenance spray for plants.

To make neem oil insecticide spray, do the following:

Pour about 16 ounces (473 ml) of clean water into a jar.
Add .5 teaspoon (2.46 ml) of neem oil and .75 teaspoon (3.7 ml) of mild dish soap.
Mix until all the elements are well dispersed.
Pour some of the mixture into a spray bottle.
Spray generously on your plant’s leaves, stems, and even on the soil.

Handpick

Insecticide sprays may sometimes prove futile since they may have trouble penetrating these insects’ hard shells. Handpicking may be the easiest and simplest way to ensure that you remove most of the scale insects from your plants. Handpicking ensures that you can remove as many of them as you need.

Follow these steps to handpick your scale:

Dip a cotton swab or old toothbrush in rubbing alcohol.
Dab or swipe the damp cotton pad or toothbrush over the swarm of scale insects on your plant. This action will loosen their grip and kill them.
Pick the insects off your plant.
Place your plant under running water. Wash away any honeydew and black sooty mold.
Spray the whole plant with your insecticide of choice. This targets crawlers and younger insects that have not yet developed their hard shells.

You may also pick them off your plants with just your fingertips or a tweezer. Also, it would be wise to follow up with an insecticide spray after handpicking the scale from your plant. The spray will target any scale you might have left behind and eggs and crawlers that may have survived.

How To Avoid a Scale Infestation

It is much easier to prevent a scale infestation than to rescue your plants from one. All it takes is one single crawler to get in contact with your plant. Scales are tricky to get rid of, so it is best to always protect your plants from them.

Here are some tips:

Be Wary of New Plants

Scale insects may sometimes arrive with new plants. They can spread surprisingly fast. Whether you bought these plants from a reputable garden or given them to you by a good friend, it would be wise to take extra precautions before fully introducing them to your garden.

Consider doing these things:

Quarantine new plants. Keep new plants away from the rest of your plants for three weeks. Regularly inspect the new plant’s leaves, stem, and soil for signs of pests or disease.
Don’t let your plants touch. If space is an issue and you don’t have enough for quarantining new plants, ensure a distance of at least 5 inches between your new and old plants. If there are any pests in the new ones, they’ll have a more challenging time jumping onto your healthy plants.
Spray new plants with insecticide spray. Go organic so you don’t shock and harm the plant. Hopefully, this will eliminate any pests lurking among its leaves.

Use Only Fresh Soil

Avoid using old soil when repotting your plants as the used soil may harbor scale or other plant pests or diseases. Before replacing your soil, ensure that your pot is sanitized with an alcohol-based spray because the pots can harbor pests and contamination. Ensure your soil suits your plant’s needs, such as drainage, acidity, and texture.

Final Thoughts

Drowning scale is an excellent option for ridding your plants of them. However, since scale insects are pretty tough and challenging to take on, you might have to consider other elimination methods to ensure that your garden is always safe from these pests. Proper maintenance is essential, too, in keeping your plants healthy and alive.