The larvae are very good at crawling under the female scale coverings and devouring all the eggs and crawlers. Everyone should be certain the target for sprays is actually a pest before spraying. In Columbia County, Fiorinia externa , the elongate hemlock scale, has produced eggs and some crawlers have already emerged and settled on the underside of the needles. This armored scale is a serious pest of hemlock, as the common name implies, and can also cause significant damage to Fraser fir. Look for the scales on the undersides of needles.
Males coat themselves with white waxy powder, a characteristic easily seen in the field.
Cryptomeria scale, the other armored scale pest of true firs, continues to produce crawlers at some locations. In Lancaster County, some females have not started to deposit eggs while crawlers from the first generation have already settled on some needles. Growers are reminded that this pest requires a minimum of 2 applications of a registered pesticide to get the scale under control. The next report will be available after 4 PM on June 30.