Stop crepe myrtle bark scale before it turns your trees black.
Crepe myrtle bark scale is spreading fast across the Triangle, and it’s ugly. White, crusty scale shows up along the bark, then sticky honeydew, then the black sooty mold that turns whole trees dark and cuts down on blooms.
This is a specialty of mine. The best approach is prevention: a well-timed systemic treatment that stops an infestation before it takes hold, plus treatment and monitoring for trees that already have it.
I treat lawns in North Raleigh, Leesville, Brier Creek and Southeast Durham.
A soil-applied systemic treatment, timed right, that protects the tree from the inside before scale gets established.
The scale is only really vulnerable in its mobile “crawler” stage, so contact treatments like horticultural oil (including a dormant application) are timed to hit it then. Trees that already have it also get the sooty mold cleaned up.
All stages can be on the tree year-round, so I scout in spring, especially the rough bark near branch collars, to catch a new generation before it builds and the sooty mold sets in.
Healthy, scale-free crepe myrtles bloom the way they’re supposed to, without the black film.
Tap any of these to see what it looks like, when it shows up here, and what you can do.
A scale insect that coats crepe myrtle bark with white fuzz and causes ugly black sooty mold on trunks and leaves.
Tiny sap-sucking bugs on ornamentals that leave sticky honeydew and black sooty mold on leaves.
A common leaf disease on crepe myrtles that causes yellowing and leaf drop late in the season.
A common fungal disease that coats leaves and stems with a white, powdery film on shrubs and trees.
Crepe myrtle bark scale rarely kills the tree, but it makes it an eyesore and steals the blooms you planted it for. Getting ahead of it keeps your crepe myrtles clean, bright and blooming, and keeps it from spreading to the rest of your yard.
From $75 per tree. Bigger trees and groups of trees are priced when I see them, and I can usually quote from a photo.
Rarely. What it does is make the tree black and sticky and cut down on the blooms, year after year, until it’s treated.
Once the scale is under control, the mold stops coming back. A soft brush and soapy water on the trunk speeds up the cleanup, and it weathers off the rest of the tree over a season.
No. Cutting a crepe myrtle way back doesn’t get rid of the scale and stresses the tree. Treatment is what stops it.
The young scale (crawlers) spread on wind, birds and ants, mostly to other crepe myrtles nearby, and occasionally to a few other plants like beautyberry. That’s why I treat every crepe myrtle on the property, not just the worst one.
Dormant oil in winter, a soil-applied systemic in April, and treatments timed to the crawler stages in late spring and again in September.
Here’s what happens after you ask for an estimate.
Posted prices, no contracts, and the same person on your lawn every visit.
