Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood, 1870) (Cushion Scale, Cottony Camellia Scale) Mobile crawlers hatch from the eggs, disperse to a suitable leaf vein, and begin to feed. Mix about 5 tablespoons of insecticidal soap or a very mild dish soap into 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water. But this scale insect that attacks our ornamentals at this time of year is anything but that. This insect attaches itself to the bottom of holly leaves and sucks sap. Its cottony egg sac and profuse honeydew production make cottony cushion scale easy to spot in the landscape. It is a polyphagous insect with more than 80 host plant species belonging to 35 families and is considered a serious pest of fruit trees and ornamentals in many parts of the world, especially in countries with tropical and subtropical climate. Cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, can infest a number of woody ornamentals and certain crops ().Common hosts in California are citrus, cocculus, nandina, and pittosporum. Cottony cushion scale females have both male and female sexual organs (hermaphrodites) and can produce female offspring asexually through parthenogenesis.Eggs (600 - 800) are contained within an ovisac attached to the body of the female. Heavy infestations may cause leaves to turn light green in spring (Figure 1). Control measures must be timed to coincide with hatching of the crawler stage which usually occurs in early summer for cottony scales. Cottony camellia scale is a sap-feeding insect that infests camellia, holly, yew, euonymus, and maple. Cottony Cushion originates from Australia and is rumored to have come to the US by accident in the late 1800’s on a plant shipment. Cottony Camellia Scale By Ray Novitske, Fairfax Master Gardener When we see the term cottony camellia scale, we concentrate on the first two pleasant words “cottony” and “camellia.” They evoke ideas of something comforting and beautiful. If there are lots of scale in one spot, they secrete enough honeydew to cover nearby leaves with “syrup” on which black mold will grow. These little buggers are so tiny and sneaky. Q What is cushion scale?. Cottony Camellia Scale preferred: UKSI Classification unranked Biota kingdom Animalia phylum Arthropoda subphylum Hexapoda class Insecta order Hemiptera family Coccidae genus Pulvinaria species Pulvinaria floccifera ... Use our online forum to join the conversation about nature in the UK. Biological studies of the cottony camellia scale, Puvinaria floccifera (Hemiptera: Coccidae) with updating lists of host plants and natural enemies in Egypt. The most important part of scale insect control is timing. Distribution References. Try using insecticidal soap. Pour the soap into a spray bottle and spray the plant, including the undersides of the leaves and stems, until the soap solution begins to drip. 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