Three of my young African violets and four of my mature violets have succumbed to being attacked by a prolific white pest that appears quite suddenly and seems to suck the 'sap' out of the stems and leaves. When I first noticed this a couple of years ago, I took the affected plant to the local University of GA Cooperative Extension Office for evaluation. The pests were not specifically identified but insecticidal soap was recommended to try to arrest the life cycle of this pest without a probability damaging the plant.

I have judiciously used the soap on several garden and in-house pests to great satisfaction of the control of some pests with no apparent impact on pollinators. But the small white vicious pest seems impervious to the application of the soap to the African violets it attacks.

The picture below shows a stem and leaf of a violet being killed by the pest. ANY help in identifying the pest and the eradication of it will be greatly appreciated. I have only one violet left and, because my grandmother taught me, at an early age, to appreciate and propagate African violets, I very much want to find the secret to save any affected plant from this scourge.

Thank you for any information that will successfully control this pest.

Thank you!

Tom from Georgia.

Hey, Tom, kind of hard for me to tell, but whiteflies or aphids? I would use Neem oil and smother the little suckers.

Looks like oystershell scale.
But no matter what it is you can use an insectidal soap, Bayers 3-1 fruit and flower spray, a few drops of dish soap in water from a quart spray bottle, a 50-50 mix of Isopropyl alcohol and water in a quart spray bottle.
All of these would be effective against scales, mealybugs, aphids, white flies etc. Repeated sprays will be needed since any eggs are resistant to sprays.
Spray as often as needed.

Oyster shell scale. A new one to me, gotta look that up. Does this get on different houseplants?

Yes it does but it isn't as well known as other scales.

Hey Lynda,

I do not think it is either whiteflies or aphids, unless it is a type of aphid that I have not identified.

Thanks for your concern.

Tom

Tom, Big Bill to the rescue! Didn't really look like either, but my old eyes aren't what they used to be.

Thank you Big Bill.

I have not heard of Oyster Scale but I will certainly look it up. I have used both Insecticidal Soap and the alcohol/water spray as well as the Q-tip with alcohol touching to no avail. I will do some additional research in the scale and let you know what I find out.

Thank you for your concern.

Tom

Headed to a doctor's appointment but will continue the research when I get back.

Thanks!

Tom

You are very welcome Tom!

Headed to a doctor's appointment but will continue the research when I get back.

Thanks!

Tom