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I have 2 sago palms and a year ago I got these little white spots all over the branches/leaves. I cut all the branches back, they grew back fine. Now the whute spots are there again. Anyone know what I should do? Anything natural without using pesticides possibly? Thanks!

its cycad aulacaspis scale. Its killed most of the cycads in FL. Once you get it, its almost impossible to control. You can use horticultural oil to slow it way down, but you will need to do back to back applications. Organicide seems to work very well, you can get it at Home Depot.

The problem is it also attacks the roots system, so once you kill them up top they can come up from the roots.

Systemics only work as a preventative.

Sorry about your cycad... make sure you are feeding it properly!

Thanks Buglady,

I did get some oil and two other pesticides that the home depot lady recommended.

Will I eventually need to remove the palms? What I mean is will these scales eventually kill the palms regardless of what I do?

Thanks!

well if you spray it with oil you might have a chance. What else did they sell you, product wise? nothing works better then oils in all the university of Florida research. I don't want you to waste you money on something you don't need to spray out. .

This is pretty common here in Florida, newplanter. Try this site for all the information you might need. I lost three of these 2 years ago.
http://tampa.about.com/cs/community/a/sago.htm

There is good inf at that site...

ok, so, now i'm confused if it is mealy bugs that is infesting my majesty palm.

should i try rubbing alchohol mixed with water?

mealybugs are a kind of scale. and a majesty is very differnt then the sago.. maybe need to start new thread?