Woolly vine or currant scale is difficult to eradicate. Regular applications of a horticultural oil such as Bonide All-Seasons Horticultural and Dormant Oil will help. To get rid of scale insects from your plants, rub their stems with an old toothbrush or a cotton swab dipped in Isopropyl alcohol, which will kill any insects on them. Adult females are almost always immobile (apart from mealybugs) and permanently attached to the plant on which they are feeding. Cryptococcus fagisuga, commonly known as the beech scale or woolly beech scale, is a felted scale insect in the superfamily Coccoidea that infests beech trees of the genus Fagus.It is associated with the transmission of beech bark disease because the puncture holes it makes in the bark allow entry of pathogenic fungi which have been identified as Nectria coccinea var. If you have a heavy infestation outdoors, prune away the stems with the most scales. The Adelgidae are a small family of the Hemiptera closely related to the aphids, and often included in the Aphidoidea with the Phylloxeridae or placed within the superfamily Phylloxeroidea as a sister of the Aphidoidea within the infraorder Aphidomorpha. I sprayed with an organic insecticide until early fall when I noticed they were not getting better. Scale insects may be resistant to some pesticides (read the pesticide label to be sure), but they can’t live if they can’t breathe. There are more than 25 species of scale insect in the UK. It can be worth considering replacing heavily infested plants. Smother the scales. Source: Mick E. Talbot. Since then, two are completely dead and the 3rd is almost dead. For this reason, many people prefer to use some type of woolly aphid treatment to care of these pests. I sprayed with a Bayer insecticide. Scale insects vary dramatically in appearance, from very small organisms (1–2 mm) that grow beneath wax covers (some shaped like oysters, others like mussel shells), to shiny pearl-like objects (about 5 mm), to animals covered with mealy wax. Then, use a garden hose to wash away any loose insects. This spring, they were worse, so I continued with the Bayer and another insecticide (both said they were good for scale). Whilst scraping the insects and egg masses off the stems can help reduce infestations this is unlikely to give good control. Adult scale insects are usually covered in waxy shell-like cover. I found scale insects on my 3 large holly shrubs last spring. Scale insect on leaf. They feed by sucking sap from a wide range of plants, including house-plants, greenhouse plants and many fruit and ornamental plants grown outdoors. Although woolly aphid populations rarely get large enough to harm most plants, the distorted and curled leaves they cause and leave behind can certainly become unsightly.