What Are Pine Needle Scales?
- Mike Balas
- Oct 17
- 2 min read
The name doesn't even really sound like an insect, but pine needle scales are a common Virginia pest.
Pine Needle Scales can infest conifers of all kinds, including ornamental garden plants. They are all over Virginia and could be in your own backyard.
What Are Pine Needle Scales?
Pine Needle Scales are tiny, tear-drop shaped insects. While they do have darker colors underneath, the appear almost entirely white because of their waxy cover. Males are even smaller than females and have wings. An infestation of Pine Needle Scales can make it look like a light dusting of snow on the tree.
They overwinter as eggs underneath the protective cover and then emerge in the spring. In Virginia, there are usually two hatchings: the first in May and the second generation near the end of July. Pine Needle Scales will stay active until winter, when they lay eggs to overwinter. Females usually lay 5-30 eggs, which are purple in color.
How Are Pine Needle Scales Impacting My Yard?
Pine Needle Scales, as the name suggests, are found in conifers such as pines, spruces, cedars, and a variety of other needled plants and trees. They use the tree as food, sucking fluids from the needles to survive. As such, plants can be weakened as infestations of Pine Needle Scales grow. The needles will yellow and fall early, the branches may die back, the tree may grow slowly or abnormally, and the tree itself will decline in general.
Because the scales are small, they often go unnoticed until an infestation is significant. Wind can blow the scales to nearby foliage, so large groups of trees can become infested at the same time. This is problematic in large-scale operations, such as Christmas Tree farms, but also in smaller ornamental gardens or backyards with several conifers.
How Do I Keep Pine Needle Scales Away?
Start checking for Pine Needle Scales on your trees and shrubs early in the spring and continue throughout the summer. If you find any, prune and destroy infected limbs. Professional grade pest control treatments are effective against Pine Needle Scales and can prevent infestations if applied in a timely manner. Additionally, applying horticulture oils before hatchings will help control populations.
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For information on additional local Virginia pests, check out our other blog posts and our pest library