Pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, and, occasionally, yew and cedar. Pine needle scale is a soft scale that is found across the United States but especially in the eastern half. Pine needle scale appears as conspicuous white specks on the needles. Scales feed by sucking sap from needles causing them to yellow and eventually brown. Heavy infestations can kill twigs, branches and even entire trees.
Crawlers are bright red.
Pine needle scale overwinters as eggs underneath female covers. Each female produces about 100 eggs. There are two generations per year in Kansas with crawlers appearing in May to early June and again in mid- to late July. Dormant oil treatments can be applied in early spring to kill overwintering eggs or insecticides can be applied to exposed first or second generation crawlers. Remember, insecticides must be applied to crawlers soon after they emerge.