Lee Burkhill: Award Winning Designer & BBC 1's Garden Rescue Presenters Official Blog
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I have a wisteria which has brown bumps all over it and when removed has white dust inside. I’ve looked it up and think it’s wisteria scale. Is there anything I need to do about this? I don’t know how old the plant is as we moved here 2 years ago, but it has never flowered and looks a bit weary! I watched the garden ninja video about pruning and that’s when I spotted the scale. I’m wondering if I can hard prune it as it’s growing under the guttering! TIA
I have a wisteria which has brown bumps all over it and when removed has white dust inside. I’ve looked it up and think it’s wisteria scale. Is there anything I need to do about this? I don’t know how old the plant is as we moved here 2 years ago, but it has never flowered and looks a bit weary! I watched the garden ninja video about pruning and that’s when I spotted the scale. I’m wondering if I can hard prune it as it’s growing under the guttering! TIA
What a shame to hear that your wisteria may have scale. Wisteria scale can be a real pain as the infestation of scaled bugs/insects then suck sap from the plant weakening it. Scale insects can affect a number of plants and weaken them by feeding off the sugar-rich phloem of plants. They then multiply and can colonise a plant or group of plants.
Unfortunately, the only real way to get rid of them is with pesticides/insecticides which I'd very rarely recommend. Mainly due to the damage to other wildlife and plants. In particular bees.
The good news is that Wisteria sare tough as old boots. The other good news is that most scale insects can't fly so it should spread other than in high wind. You can manually remove the scales when you see them but this will hardly cull the entire infestation. What may be better is to use a series of prunes to get the wisteria into a better shape. Ie follow my guide for both winter and summer pruning. Clean your tools before and after given the scale infestation., Then give your wisteria a good peat-free mulch to help boost it a bit.
You should certainly hard prune back from the gutters and the wisteria will respond well to a hard prune in lieu of this year's flowers if really harshly pruned.
https://youtu.be/nIy3vFeeHNk
I hope that helps and let us know how you get on!
Lee
Hi,
What a shame to hear that your wisteria may have scale. Wisteria scale can be a real pain as the infestation of scaled bugs/insects then suck sap from the plant weakening it. Scale insects can affect a number of plants and weaken them by feeding off the sugar-rich phloem of plants. They then multiply and can colonise a plant or group of plants.
Unfortunately, the only real way to get rid of them is with pesticides/insecticides which I'd very rarely recommend. Mainly due to the damage to other wildlife and plants. In particular bees.
The good news is that Wisteria sare tough as old boots. The other good news is that most scale insects can't fly so it should spread other than in high wind. You can manually remove the scales when you see them but this will hardly cull the entire infestation. What may be better is to use a series of prunes to get the wisteria into a better shape. Ie follow my guide for both winter and summer pruning. Clean your tools before and after given the scale infestation., Then give your wisteria a good peat-free mulch to help boost it a bit.
You should certainly hard prune back from the gutters and the wisteria will respond well to a hard prune in lieu of this year's flowers if really harshly pruned.
Lee Burkhill: Award Winning Designer & BBC 1's Garden Rescue Presenters Official Blog
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