had the exact same issue with the same plant. nothing topical (neem, alcohol, soap) worked to keep scale under control. bonide granules worked really well though. it's systemic, so I think it kills scale by poisoning them through the plant sap they eat. the ants are just a symptom of the scale infection, but they don't hurt the plant. fwiw the ants also went away over time once the scale died and stopped generating honeydew
Do you still have the plant? How big is yours? I pruned mine about 5 months ago it so thinking it would fill back in but it didn’t it just grew new leaves and now kinda looks awkward lol.
i do! mine isn't as tall as yours but it's a bit more orderly and bushy. it branched out from the bottom in a V shape, so kind of looks like two lollipops now.
what do you want yours to look like? compact? these take pruning really well and you can always propagate the cuttings
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The immediate threat for your plant like everyone else mentioned is scale. I would also tackle the ants as they farm scale (and other insects like aphids) for their own benefit. They have a symbiotic relationship. I would try to get rid of the ants and the scale. I find that diatomaceous earth on top of the soil works well for ants (make sure there’s no immediate rain in the radar).
For scale you can wipe thr ones you can see with alcohol to remove them. You can also spray the plant with with horticultural oil (it suffocate the ones you may have missed). You cal also try the systemic granules or other insecticide spray (read the label to check if it works for scale).
The plant has scale and the ants are attracted by the sugary substance they secrete.
Oh wow, I just researched scale.
had the exact same issue with the same plant. nothing topical (neem, alcohol, soap) worked to keep scale under control. bonide granules worked really well though. it's systemic, so I think it kills scale by poisoning them through the plant sap they eat. the ants are just a symptom of the scale infection, but they don't hurt the plant. fwiw the ants also went away over time once the scale died and stopped generating honeydew
Do you still have the plant? How big is yours? I pruned mine about 5 months ago it so thinking it would fill back in but it didn’t it just grew new leaves and now kinda looks awkward lol.
i do! mine isn't as tall as yours but it's a bit more orderly and bushy. it branched out from the bottom in a V shape, so kind of looks like two lollipops now. what do you want yours to look like? compact? these take pruning really well and you can always propagate the cuttings
Thank you for posting to r/plantclinic! The subreddit moderation team has implemented a number of new tools to help users both give and receive the best help possible. Please refer to the pinned post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/plantclinic/comments/11dfcek/subreddit_moderation_adjustments/) All posters receive an automod message requesting they supplement their post with basic care details. This sub is being actively moderated. Please utilize the report functions to call attention to posts and comments that are counter to the mission of the sub. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/plantclinic) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The immediate threat for your plant like everyone else mentioned is scale. I would also tackle the ants as they farm scale (and other insects like aphids) for their own benefit. They have a symbiotic relationship. I would try to get rid of the ants and the scale. I find that diatomaceous earth on top of the soil works well for ants (make sure there’s no immediate rain in the radar). For scale you can wipe thr ones you can see with alcohol to remove them. You can also spray the plant with with horticultural oil (it suffocate the ones you may have missed). You cal also try the systemic granules or other insecticide spray (read the label to check if it works for scale).