People often complain about two different problems on their Jade plants: scale bugs on jade plant and jade plant scaly leaves. If you can separate the brown scale on your jade plant by your nail without any damage to the leaf surface, your plant is infected by one of the tourable houseplant pests: Scale bugs.
In this post, I, a horticultural consultant, will discuss the scale bugs on jade plants, however, if your Jade plant is involved with scaly leaves (you cannot remove them from its leaves), it is another problem and you should read my other post.
Ok, first, let’s find out what are these brown scales on your jade plant. let’s get going.
What is This Brown Scale on My Jade Plant?
- The culprits: Scale insects. The names of scale bugs on jade plants refer to the shell-like coverings which protect the insect body.
- Scientific name: various species from the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha
- Host: Many plants from indoors to outdoors, from cultivated to wild plants, from herbs to trees, from leaves to stems, and so on.
- Main symptom: spotting Scales stuff on stems and leaves which often is along with sooty molds on foliage
- Most active: Year-round
However Scale varies in colour, shape, and size, but most often appears as small, brown, rounded lumps on your Jade plant leaves and stems. Scales are grouped into two main groups:
- Armoured or hard scales: they have a shell-like, stiffer, or parchment-like wax that does not attach to the scale’s body. They do not produce honeydew.
- Unarmored or soft scales: Soft scales are larger, more rounded, and secrete honeydew. They can move around more easily than armoured scales because they’ll retain their legs.
I think most of the scale bugs on jade plants belong to the Armored or hard scales group.
How to Get rid of The Brown Scale on Jade Plant?
Tips you must know before starting to control Scale bugs on Jade plants:
As I told you above scales are hindered by the protective scale covering the insect. Scales measure up to ⅛ inch long and can be round, oval, or oyster shell-shaped, predominantly brown but can range from white to black.
- ➡ The point that you must know about the controlling scale bugs on jade plants is their females may produce hundreds of eggs beneath their shells; So, if you spot only one brown Scale on your Jade plant, you must remove it as I tell you in the following.
- ➡ Another point in controlling Scale bugs on jade plants is their eggs later hatch into tiny translucent crawlers about 1/100-inch long. So, Scales are only mobile in the first moments of their life, until they permanently latch onto the plant’s foliage. Hence, if you spot an infested plant in your house you must quarantine it to prevent other infections.
However, these unprotected crawlers migrate to new feeding sites where they become attached to the plant and develop their own protective waxy shell-like covers. They feed by sucking sap and some can weaken host plants. scales are trouble tiny bugs on houseplants.
Get rid of The Brown Scale on Jade Plant
Here you can find a list of things you can do to control Scales on your Jade plant. I recommend reading all treatments and then selecting the best according to the facilities available for you.
- Quarantine: Separate the affected plant from the rest of your collection while it recovers, taking special care to ensure that none of the plant’s leaves are touching another plant’s.
- Remove them with Alcohol: soak a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and then knap lightly infested scale with it.
- Soap spray: Mix 1 tablespoon of mild dishwashing detergent with 1 quart of water. Spray the plant or wash the leaves and stems with a soft cloth. Please do it on one leaf and if you don’t spot a scorch sign after several days, perform it all through your plant.
- Insecticide: I recommend using an insecticide made for houseplants because they are low toxic for humane. Insecticidal Soaps, Pyrethrin, Rotenone, Resmethrin, or Acephate can work well. You must apply the above insecticide thoroughly and repeatedly, every 7–10 days, until the scale is gone.
- Spray in the evening to avoid sunburn.
- Organic horticultural oil spray: they often work well for armoured scales.
- Remove infested leaves: Prune away leaves that are badly infested. Collect them into a plastic bag and throw them away.
Conclusion
I told you the brown scale on your jade plant if separated from the leaf surface by your nail is a scale bug, one of the most trouble pests if you don’t control it early. You found out they are sap-sucking insects (similar to Aphids and Mealybugs) with cause your plant to get weak and weaker and your Jade plant leaves to fall.
I showed you several ways to get rid of brown Scale on your Jade plant from homemade treatments to the use of Pesticides. If you have any problem with your indoor plants, tell me about it in the comments, and I will help you as soon as possible.
Elahe Rabiei
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.