Magnolia Scale

What is Magnolia Scale?

(Neolecanium cornuparvum)

Magnolia scale is the largest soft scale insect native to the US. Scale insects do not look like most insects you are used to seeing. Scale insects typically have a protective outer covering as adults and only move during their juvenile “crawler” stage. Magnolia scale is a soft scale, meaning the outer protective covering is soft and waxy. Magnolia scales produce a secretion called honeydew. It is sticky and becomes black and sooty, creating quite the mess under a magnolia tree.

What to look for? – i.e. Signs and Symptoms

Magnolia Scale in the adult stage is easily spotted, though individuals may be mistaken for plant buds to the untrained eye. Adult magnolia scale females appear on the tree branches and stems as shiny brown, elliptical and convex ‘shells’ up to 1/2 inch in diameter.  When alive, females are soft and leave a reddish stain when crushed. Before maturation, they may appear to have a waxy, white substance around their shell. These insects secrete a sticky substance called honeydew. This secretion is often the first thing clients notice, as it attracts other insects such as bees, yellow jackets, and ants to the area, coats decks or furniture that may be under the tree, and turns black from sooty mold. Another sign of magnolia scale infestation is branch dieback. 

How does Teacher’s Tree Service manage Magnolia Scale?

Teacher’s Tree Service has all the tools and experience to help keep your magnolia tree healthy and flowering beautifully.

• Maintaining and Improving Tree Vigor:  Keep your magnolia tree appropriately watered and fertilized to ensure it has the nutrients it needs to thrive. Teacher’s Tree Service offers a custom blend of balanced fertilizer plus biochar and humic acid injected in the root zone of your tree for optimal uptake of nutrients. 
• Regular Pruning:  Maintain your tree’s health with regular maintenance pruning to encourage good structure, vigorous growth, and elimination of any dead, diseased or weakened branches. 
• Insecticide Treatments:  If your magnolia tree is already infested with scale, we may recommend a multi-step treatment regime to control the scale population and ensure the recovery and longevity of your tree. Our plant health care team times treatments to target vulnerable life stages of the scale, and monitors progressive control of scale and recovery of each tree that we treat.