Pine needle scales are most damaging to ornamental pine plantings. Austrian and Mugho pines may be so heavily infested that these shrubs become chlorotic and suffer premature needle drop. Research performed by Dr. Warren Johnson at Cornell University has shown that pine needle scale insects are susceptible to oil sprays. We recommend using a 4 percent oil spray during the winter and a 2 percent oil spray now and later in the fall. The tea scale is a serious pest of camellias and Chinese hollies in North Carolina, but it has also been reported from bottle brush, dogwoods, euonymus, ferns, mangoes and other ornamental plants as well.
Infestations occur on the leaves, usually on the underside.
Heavily-infested Chinese hollies look unhealthy and may drop their leaves prematurely. Tea scale females lay from 10 to 16 eggs each. The eggs hatch in one to three weeks, depending on the weather. The crawlers emerge and migrate to the newer foliage of the plant and begin to feed. In about two months, the new generation of scales mature and begin to lay eggs.