Once established, most scale insects are difficult and expensive to control. Description and life cycle Female scales are very prolific and over a 6-week period can produce approximately 400 young. Crawlers move around for a short period in search of a suitable place to settle. It takes 25 days for males to mature and 31 days for females. There are two to three generations of the San Jose scale each year.
Males emerge and mate at petal fall.
First-generation crawlers begin appearing in early June in southern areas and continue for a month. These crawlers develop into mature adults by late July. The life cycle is completed in about 37 days. Crawlers can usually be found from early June until a hard frost in the fall. When they settle, they secrete a waxy substance that produces a grayish-yellow scale covering which becomes darker with age.