Crapemyrtle Bark Scale

The crapemyrtle bark scale (Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae) is an introduced pest from Asia that initially infested crapemyrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.) in Texas in 2004. It then spread rapidly through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The distant spread of this pest has likely been through the movement of plant material. Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS) was first confirmed in South Carolina in 2019 and continues to spread within the state.

2024 Distribution map for CMBS from EDDMaps.org
https://www.eddmaps.org/distribution/uscounty.cfm?sub=80722

Crapemyrtle bark scale is a new insect pest to the Southeastern US. Above on a branch are the white adults and ovisacs containing their pink eggs.
Helene Dougherty, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Bugwood.org

Crapemyrtle branches can become completely covered with crapemyrtle bark scale.
Jim Robbins, University of Arkansas CES, Bugwood.org

The spent crapemyrtle flower clusters may also be covered with crapemyrtle bark scale and sooty mold.
Mengmeng Gu, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Bugwood.org

The CMBS is a bark or felt scale, which is slightly different from soft scales. However, they have a waxy coating and exude honeydew, as do soft scales. Bark scales are in a different scale insect family (Eriococcidae) than soft scales (Coccidae), and they look very similar to mealybugs.

The CMBS infestations appear as white or gray, waxy crustations on stems, large twigs, and trunks, but rarely on foliage. They especially congregate in branch crotches and at pruning sites. This scale will settle to feed under loose, exfoliating bark of the crapemyrtle, which makes control by both predators and pesticides more difficult.

These bark scales produce copious amounts of honeydew, the sugary waste the scale produces as it feeds on the plant’s phloem. As a result, the leaves, branches, and trunk become covered with black sooty mold, which grows on the honeydew.

Insect Life Cycle

The small CMBS males are winged and will fly to find females and to mate. Once the mated females produce their ovisacs (egg-containing capsules) and lay eggs, they die. The eggs remain protected within the white colored ovisacs until the crawlers (immatures) hatch and disperse onto the branches. Each female lays about 60 to 250 eggs, which may over-winter within their ovisacs, and then hatch during mid- to late April to May. The crawlers are pink, very small, and may not be noticed without a hand lens. A second peak in crawler activity occurs in late summer. Double-sided sticky tape wrapped around small branches can be used to trap the crawlers to see when they hatch and to base the timing of additional contact insecticide applications. These mobile crawlers move out to new twigs and branches to settle down and begin feeding on the sugary phloem layer beneath the bark.

Symptoms

The crapemyrtle on the left was treated to control crapemyrtle bark scale. The tree on the right is infested and shows reduced flowering. A closer inspection of infested crapemyrtles will show copious sooty mold on leaves, branches, and trunks.
Jim Robbins, University of Arkansas CES, Bugwood.org

Crapemyrtles suffer aesthetic damage because of the CMBS infestations. These bark scales may not kill the plants, but there may likely be a reduction in plant vigor, number of flowers, and flower cluster size. Infested plants typically leaf out later than healthy plants. Branches and trunks can be covered in the white scale infestation. Another striking symptom is the extensive amount of black sooty mold that may completely cover the foliage, branches, and trunks. However, do not confuse the honeydew and resulting black sooty mold caused by an aphid infestation with that caused by the crapemyrtle bark scale. Aphids are small insect pests that feed on new tender growth on the ends of branches. With a scale heavy infestation, there may be premature bark peeling. Often there will be more female adults congregated on the lower (and shadier) sides of branches.

Management

Cultural Control: Keep crapemyrtles healthy by properly mulching, irrigating, fertilizing (based on soil test recommendations), and proper pruning. Please see HGIC 1009, Crapemyrtle Pruning for best pruning practices. Crapemyrtles in sunnier sites often have smaller infestations than plants growing in more shade, and plants grown in shade typically have more crawlers (immatures) than in full sun. So, always plant crapemyrtles in the full sun areas of the landscape.

Several other common landscape plants are susceptible to CMBS infestation. These include pomegranate, persimmon, edible fig, boxwood, American beautyberry, cleyera, privet, and raspberries. These plants should be closely inspected for the CMBS, especially if crapemyrtles are planted nearby.

Natural predators may take a while to build up in numbers, but both lady beetles and mealybug destroyers are very effective in controlling CMBS.

Scraping the soft crapemyrtle bark scales can reveal if the scales are alive or dead. If alive, scraping will result in “bleeding” of their reddish body fluids.
Mengmeng Gu, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Bugwood.org

Chemical Control: The most effective chemical control is a soil drench in the spring with dinotefuran. This systemic insecticide is available in a number of brands as concentrates for use as a soil drench, and in a few brands as granular products to scatter around the plants and water into the soil. These systemic insecticides will move up into the plants and give control for at least a year. They are most effectively applied in spring as new plant growth begins. See Table 1 for examples of products containing this systemic insecticides.

Alternatively, sprays for crawlers are best applied in the late April and May, then again in late summer when immatures appear. Use a bifenthrin spray mixed with 2% horticultural oil (i.e., 5 tablespoons of horticultural oil per gallon of water in a sprayer) added for best crawler control. Follow the label directions on bifenthrin products for rate per gallon. See Table 1 for examples of products containing bifenthrin and horticultural oil.

To determine if the soil drench treatments have been effective, scrape the soft bodies of the CMBS adults on a branch. If the result is the presence of a reddish body fluid of the scales, they are still alive. No “bleeding” will occur if they have been killed.

Table 1. Insecticides to Control Crapemyrtle Bark Scale on Crapemyrtles.

Safety and Insecticide Treatment Notes: Many cultivars of crape myrtles can grow very tall, and some may reach heights of 20 or 30 feet. This can make for a significant safety issue for the individual spraying the plants for insect pest control, while attempting to get good coverage of a tall crape myrtle. Do not spray if it is windy, and wear the recommended protective gear stated on the label, especially if the plants are tall. Minor pruning of the crape myrtle will reduce some height and remove flowers present to lessen the impact of the bifenthrin insecticide spray on pollinators. This will also allow for better spray coverage. Prune, then spray with the bifenthrin and horticultural oil mix. Repeat the spray in 2 weeks and repeat 2 weeks later, which will be before the crape myrtle begins flowering again. Keep in mind that there can be a spray drift from spraying upward, and the insecticide can have an impact on pollinators of nearby flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants. Therefore, the best time to spray is in the very late evening to reduce the impact on pollinators.

For the use of soil systemic treatments (dinotefuran), the amount to apply is based upon the height of the crape myrtle (if shrub-like) or the cumulative diameters of the trunks (if tall and tree form). Therefore, a light pruning, which reduces the height, may reduce the amount of product required to treat the plant. The soil systemic insecticides may have a minor harmful effect on pollinating insects that feed on the pollen and nectar, but this should be much less of an impact than spraying a plant in bloom, which would likely kill pollinating insects. The pruning will delay bloom and lessen this harmful effect. A soil drench is far safer for the applicator and for protecting wildlife and beneficial insects (as these do not feed on the plant), much more so than spraying an insecticide all throughout the plant.

However, if one does not want to spray or apply a soil drench with an insecticide on the crape myrtles, there is another option. If the plant is highly infested, cut the crape myrtle off flush with the ground. Promptly burn the removed trunk and limbs, or cut up and place in garbage bags for trash pickup. Do not place on curb for regular brush pickup. Once cut, the stumps will send up sprouts very quickly. Select three sprouts that are equally spaced around the cut stump. Prune out the rest. Mulch around the plant area to cover the stump. Fertilize the sprout growth twice during the spring (April 1^st and again mid-May) with a slow-release tree & shrub fertilizer, and within 3 years, the crape myrtle will again be a beautiful flowering plant.

Document last updated on 9/24 by Millie Davenport.

Pesticides are updated annually. Last updates were done on 8/24 by Jordan Franklin.

Originally published 02/18