[Archivist]

Scale (PDF of archived thread)

[Brittany Kordick]

Just updating this thread to confirm that, after deploying Golden Chalcid parasitic wasps in our orchard during the past growing season, we feel we can report success in controlling our San Jose and Oystershell scale populations. We initially noticed rising populations during pruning of our dormant trees a year ago, as we scrutinized individual limbs. Happily, as we dormant-prune this year, we can report that we are not seeing any active scale! The wasps were sort of a pain to work with, but are a well-regarded control for scale, so it’s nice to know that they were indeed worth the trouble and are a cost-effective non-spray option for controlling scale even on large acreage tree plantings.