Re: Scale

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....and many thanks to Allison, Brad & Natasha, Michael and Denis,

  I appreciate your additional input & will take all of it to heart.  Thank goodness, it doesn't seem to be a full blown infestation, I've only found it on a few plants, some had several, some only a couple.  I did run them to the shower & pick them off in a near panic, lol.  I have an older edition of Ortho's big Problem Solver book, but it's outdated enough that many of the products have been taken off the market.  I'm not always 100% organic, but I try to stay as close as I can to it.  Some critters (fire ants...) get the hard stuff!  I may try the soapy water... really soapy, then rinse after an hour or so.   I've always rinsed the soapy water off after about an hour.  Am I misguided thinking that the soap could 'clog' the plants 'respiratory system'?   I always wondered about that.   

  Wow, Michael,  those scale you mentioned sound like monsters!  These are tiny in comparison.  Is the oil y'all mentioned like the dormant oil spray for fruit trees?  I'll look into that, seems like I recall that you aren't supposed to use it above 50 degrees.  It's been a while since I sprayed my mom's plum trees, but something about that pops into my mind.   Maybe it's the citrus oil you're talking about.  Either way, I'll certainly look into all the possibilities.  I took the Master Gardeners course, but wasn't able to finish all my volunteer hours.  Now I've moved to another county.  I'll also try to go meet and talk to my new Ag extension agent up here.  They really didn't have any experience with tropicals/Aroids, so not much info to offer. 

  I'm going to go do some 'hunting'!   Thanks again for all of y'alls help. 

                                                                  Sherry