Dual Treatment for Crape Myrtle Scale and Powdery Mildew

Crape myrtle has white egg-shaped scale on stems, powdery film on leaves, ants trailing trunk.

Pest Complex

• Scale: White egg-shaped = armored scale. Ants farm honeydew.
• Powdery mildew: White film (not cottony/mealybug).
• Ants: Secondary—leave when scale gone.

Single Solution: Horticultural Oil

• SunSpray or biorganic oil smothers scale AND controls powdery mildew.
• Spray entire tree thoroughly (undersides, stems, trunk) until dripping.
• Repeat weekly 3-4×.
• Dead scale dislodge with hose spray.
• Ants: Spinosad granules if persistent.

Why Oil Works

Contact insecticides fail on armored scale. Oil's physical smothering bypasses chemical resistance. Dual action on fungal spores is bonus.