by Mike McGroarty

What Are Those Tiny White Specs All Over My Plants?

Many plants are prone to being attacked by Euonymus Scale. You know your plants have scale or more specifically Euonymus Scale when you see little white specs on the underside of the leaves, and up and down the stems. At first this scale doesn't show much damage to the plant, but after a period of time the plants become stunted and just perform poorly and will even become an eyesore in your landscape.

The little white specs that you see are actually a protective armor that these scale insects build to protect themselves. It's a bunker of sorts and the scale insects live under the bunker, sucking the nutrients out of the plants leaves and stems. Because of the protective bunker they are difficult to control or eradicate.

In most cases it makes more sense to dig out the plants and throw them away if the infestation is very heavy at all.

Mike McGroarty is the owner of McGroarty Enterprises and the author of 2 books. You can visit his website at www.freeplants.com.