White Spots on Sago?

[Surfrider14]

Hello everyone, there are some white spots appearing on my sago, I was wondering if anyone could diagnose them/recommend how to take care of them? They are covering the bulb, which has not opened in 6 months, as well as the fronds. They could be nothing, but I love this sago, and losing it would be awful, as it is in a very prominent location in front of my home. Thank you. 

https://ibb.co/mqLvkq

https://ibb.co/bXTgQq

https://ibb.co/cmM1Qq

[Palm Tree Jim]

Scale. 

If I’m not mistaken, Florida has some very tough scale infestations on sagos. Best that others from Florida provide how they solved this.

Best of luck.

[GDLWyverex]

1 hour ago, Surfrider14 said:

Hello everyone, there are some white spots appearing on my sago, I was wondering if anyone could diagnose them/recommend how to take care of them? They are covering the bulb, which has not opened in 6 months, as well as the fronds. They could be nothing, but I love this sago, and losing it would be awful, as it is in a very prominent location in front of my home. Thank you. 

https://ibb.co/mqLvkq

https://ibb.co/bXTgQq

https://ibb.co/cmM1Qq

Looks like mealy bugs to me. I use diazanon to get rid of them without harming the cycads. If it turns out to be scale as Palm Tree Jim suggests, a sistemic pesticide works real well on those as well as on mealy bugs. Don't use a sistemic on plants whose parts you intend to eat.

Though I do not own a c. revoluta, I often see them at nurseries and they seem to be a magnet for mealy bugs.

Richard

Edited October 27, 2018 by GDLWyverex

[joe_OC]

Looks like armored scale

[Silas_Sancona]

Thinking Aulacaspis yasumatsui, AKA Asian Cycad Scale.. Pretty serious pest in FL. Remember having to toss several dozen 3gal Sagos completely infested w/ this at the nursery i'd worked for back in 2010.

A systemic would likely be the best option for quickest control but i believe use of Coffee Grounds for control has been discussed here before.. Can't remember how effective it was though. 

Good luck..

[PalmatierMeg]

Asian scale is an invasive pest of sagos. I suggest using imidacloprid drench you can find Bayer in royal blue bottles. Follow directions to mix. Get used coffee grounds and spread on the soil. The leftover caffeine in the grounds poisons scale. I've even diluted plain black coffee with water to pour over and around the plants to jump start treatment. Spraying with insecticidal soap helps but for heavy infestations you need the drench. Your plants are badly infested so you need to get to work. 

[GDLWyverex]

From all of the feedback on this thread I am lead to believe that what I have thought to be mealy bugs on the many c. revolutas that I have seen, are in fact Aulacaspis yasumatsui, AKA Asian Cycad Scale.

Learn something valuable every day in these forums

Thanks

 

Richard

[Really full garden]

I have done everything and in my climate I seem to just barely keep it under control. I never get rid of it completely and it always comes back.The Australian Cycas species in my garden seem to be somewhat resistant. 

[Estlander]

Hard to find a Sago in FL that doesn’t look like that. My two Sagos got scale last winter. Got rid of them by spraying coffee on them and leaving coffee grounds in the crown and on the trunk right around the crown. 

So far they’ve stayed clean of scale bugs. 

I now save my coffee grounds and spread them on the soil around my Sagos as a preventative measure and to keep the scale bugs from getting in the roots. 

[Surfrider14]

Thank you for all of these suggestions, I poured my used coffee grounds over the crown and sprinkled some on the trunk, tomorrow I plan to buy some of the supplies mentioned and get to work! Richard, we both learned something new today, it is very true that this forum is very valuable!

[Jupiter1]

13 hours ago, Surfrider14 said:

Thank you for all of these suggestions, I poured my used coffee grounds over the crown and sprinkled some on the trunk, tomorrow I plan to buy some of the supplies mentioned and get to work! Richard, we both learned something new today, it is very true that this forum is very valuable!

These things are a pain! Go get Bayer advanced in the royal blue container as mentioned above. Be sure to look for the granular blend with the little green emblem that says merit. Merit is the ingredient that controls these pests. 

[Jupiter1]

13 hours ago, Surfrider14 said:

Thank you for all of these suggestions, I poured my used coffee grounds over the crown and sprinkled some on the trunk, tomorrow I plan to buy some of the supplies mentioned and get to work! Richard, we both learned something new today, it is very true that this forum is very valuable!

I was also able to find it in a liquid form at the blue big box store

[JubaeaMan138]

That’s what I use also works for agave snout weevil and  also works wonders on aloe mite. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

Keep us updated on your progress with the sago.

[Merlyn]

According to UFL, Imadicloprid does not work on CAS (Cycad Aulacaspis Scale) either as a systemic/soil drench or foliar spray.  Their suggestions are Malathion foliar spray and Dinotefuran soil drench, among others:

https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/mannion/pdfs/CycadScale.pdf

Malathion and Acephate foliar sprays are effective against the "crawler stage" where the infants wander around and cover the fronds with the fine white powder-looking stuff.  Once they have found a spot to dig in and feed then the foliar sprays are ineffective.  The hard covering prevents them from absorbing the pesticide.  To get rid of a bad infestation of CAS like the one on Surfrider's sago, you'll need to do a combination.  I got several 3-6' tall sagos from a friend and three big ones that my neighbors dug up due to a horrible CAS infestation.  They had cut off the fronds and tossed the stumps at the side of the road, so I rescued them.  I only lost 1 out of the 7 I rescued, here's my method:

1. Dinotefuran soil drench, at recommended concentration, 2.5 gallons per sago.  I did this only once.

2. Weekly Malathion or Acephate spray, at recommended concentration, hitting top and bottom of all fronds and a soak for the center.  I alternated Malathion and Acephate.  Acephate has some systemic action, though I don't know how much really gets absorbed.

3. Coffee grounds around the base of each sago, with a small amount on the top.  I'd be careful about putting grounds on top, as you can end up rotting the caudex.  I used a good bowlful on each sago over a period of a few weeks of daily espresso.

It took about 2 months to get rid of the adults and new baby CAS, and the only on that I lost was the one I used neem on.  It was too hot and sunny on that one and it burned too many of the young leaves.  The leaves slowly died and the trunk rotted on that one.  I don't know which part was the most effective out of the 3 treatments, but the coffee grounds sure made the sagos a super strong dark green!

[Merlyn]

As a quick followup, I found some updated testing on CAS.  Neem and Orange oil were ineffective on CAS and killed basically 100% of Cycas Debaoensis under test, and coffee mulch was basically ineffective here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256843207_Spent_Coffee_Grounds_Do_Not_Control_Cycad_Aulacaspis_Scale

The Hodges 2003 study on Imidacloprid showed that it did not work, cited here "A commonly used soft, root-absorbed, systemic insecticide, imidacloprid (Merit) has been reported as ineffective (Hodges et al., 2003):

https://fshs.org/proceedings-o/2003-vol-116/347-350.pdf

 

[Palm Tree Jim]

1 hour ago, Merlyn2220 said:

According to UFL, Imadicloprid does not work on CAS (Cycad Aulacaspis Scale) either as a systemic/soil drench or foliar spray.  Their suggestions are Malathion foliar spray and Dinotefuran soil drench, among others:

https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/mannion/pdfs/CycadScale.pdf

Malathion and Acephate foliar sprays are effective against the "crawler stage" where the infants wander around and cover the fronds with the fine white powder-looking stuff.  Once they have found a spot to dig in and feed then the foliar sprays are ineffective.  The hard covering prevents them from absorbing the pesticide.  To get rid of a bad infestation of CAS like the one on Surfrider's sago, you'll need to do a combination.  I got several 3-6' tall sagos from a friend and three big ones that my neighbors dug up due to a horrible CAS infestation.  They had cut off the fronds and tossed the stumps at the side of the road, so I rescued them.  I only lost 1 out of the 7 I rescued, here's my method:

1. Dinotefuran soil drench, at recommended concentration, 2.5 gallons per sago.  I did this only once.

2. Weekly Malathion or Acephate spray, at recommended concentration, hitting top and bottom of all fronds and a soak for the center.  I alternated Malathion and Acephate.  Acephate has some systemic action, though I don't know how much really gets absorbed.

3. Coffee grounds around the base of each sago, with a small amount on the top.  I'd be careful about putting grounds on top, as you can end up rotting the caudex.  I used a good bowlful on each sago over a period of a few weeks of daily espresso.

It took about 2 months to get rid of the adults and new baby CAS, and the only on that I lost was the one I used neem on.  It was too hot and sunny on that one and it burned too many of the young leaves.  The leaves slowly died and the trunk rotted on that one.  I don't know which part was the most effective out of the 3 treatments, but the coffee grounds sure made the sagos a super strong dark green!

Some great info.

[Tracy]

8 hours ago, Palm Tree Jim said:

Some great info.

Hopefully something we don't have to use here.  I haven't heard of it being a problem as of yet in Southern California, although I've been aware of the problem elsewhere.

[Merlyn]

Here in FL it's still killing huge numbers of sagos, and has turned them from a "no maintenance" plant into a "inspect every other week" plant.  I've seen ones that are so coated with CAS that it looks like they've been sprayed with fake snow!  They still sell them in the big box stores (sometimes infested at the store!!!) but a lot of local nurseries quit growing them or selling them.

I have a Dioon Edule and a Spinulosum, and a hybrid Rev x Deb from TexasColdHardyPalms, I'm hoping that these will be less attractive to the little buggers!  I read on another forum post that the Rev x Deb might be a CAS magnet, so only time will tell!

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Merlyn2220 said:

I read on another forum post that the Rev x Deb might be a CAS magnet, so only time will tell!

  While I'm not growing that hybrid, that it is going after any other Cycas species or hybrids is a major downer!  Cycads of all genus are my back up plan for the invasion of Rhynchophorus palmarum (South American Palm weevil), which are working their way north into San Diego.