Pine and Spruce Insects

Pine Tortoise Scale

Pine tortoise scale (Toumeyella parvicrnis) attacks mainly Scots and jack pine. It can also be found on Austrian and red pines. Crawlers occur in late June and July. Heavy feeding by this insect on pines produces sufficient honeydew for the sooty mold fungi to grow on. Sooty mold will turn the plant black. The adult female may produce 500 crawlers. The adult males can fly but not feed. This scale has only one generation per year and prefers young trees to older trees.

Check with your local land grant university (Cooperative) Extension Service for recommended insecticide. Spray when Vanhoutte spirea is blooming. Second spray needed when hills of snow hydrangea blooms are turning from white to green and a third spray 7 to 10 days after the 2nd spray. A summer oil may discolor the needles.

Written by James Schuster, Extension Educator, Horticulture, and reviewed by Dr. Phil Nixon Extension State Specialist, Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.