Kingsville Boxwood pest

zumbido

Seedling
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Michigan
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6b
Hi all, I recently got started in bonsai and got this Dwarf Kingsville Boxwood from a local bonsai nursery. I started noticing some bronzing in the leaves, and I thought it was because of too much fertilizer, which I removed. However, last week I really started to notice these scale-like things on the leaves. They don't move as far as I can tell, and they're on both the top and underside of the leaves. I think they are on the trunk as well. I can't get a close enough shot to see the fine details, but I'm hoping someone here has experience with it. No other bonsai around it have the same issue. Any ideas for ID or care? Thanks for your help!

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Mellow Mullet

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It is a scale insect. You need to get a good systemic insecticide, spraying won't help much. You can try picking them off, but those are very tiny, if you don't get them all, the infestation will come back. Some will tell you to use neem oil, others milk, mixtures of dawn, alcohol, and oil, etc. Forget all of that, just get a good systemic and be done with it.
 

zumbido

Seedling
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Michigan
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It is a scale insect. You need to get a good systemic insecticide, spraying won't help much. You can try picking them off, but those are very tiny, if you don't get them all, the infestation will come back. Some will tell you to use neem oil, others milk, mixtures of dawn, alcohol, and oil, etc. Forget all of that, just get a good systemic and be done with it.
Thanks, that's what I figured I would do. I picked up some 3-in-1 from the store. They seem to have exploded in a short time frame so I figured it was bad enough to warrant a systemic. Hopefully it works.
 

penumbra

Imperial Masterpiece
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Out of curiosity you might want to go back to the nursery where you bought it and look at there boxwood. There is a pretty good chance it came from them.
BTW, that scale looks very much like euonymus scale. It is probably about the fastest spreading scale insect out there.
 

zumbido

Seedling
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Out of curiosity you might want to go back to the nursery where you bought it and look at there boxwood. There is a pretty good chance it came from them.
BTW, that scale looks very much like euonymus scale. It is probably about the fastest spreading scale insect out there.
I just looked at pictures I took when I first got it 6 weeks ago and you might be right. There are yellow and bronze leaves and what could be the beginning of the white scales, though the zoom gets fuzzy. I'll see about reaching out to the nursery.
 
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