How to Manage Pests

UC Pest Management Guidelines

DESCRIPTION OF THE PEST

Italian pear scale overwinters mostly as a mature scale. The cover is circular, about 0.06 inch (1.5 mm) in diameter, and light gray, but with a brown peak slightly off-center. Underneath the covering, the female's body is reddish purple. The scale is hidden under moss and lichens and cannot survive without this natural shelter.

DAMAGE

This scale does not attack fruit, but feeds directly on the wood of the tree, affecting tree vigor and causing reduced fruit size.

MANAGEMENT

Although widely distributed, Italian pear scale is rarely a pest in commercial pear orchards.

Organically Acceptable Methods
The use of bordeaux sprays is acceptable in an organically certified crop.

Treatment Decisions
Generally, dormant sprays applied for other scales keep Italian pear scale under control unless limbs are heavily covered with moss and lichens. In this case, remove the moss and lichen or add Bordeaux mixture to the dormant spray to kill them. For more information on Bordeaux mixtures and how to mix them, see UC IPM Pest Note: Bordeaux Mixture, ANR Publication 7481.

PUBLICATION

UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Pear
UC ANR Publication 3455
Insects and Mites
L. G. Varela, UC IPM Program, UC Cooperative Extension Sonoma Co.
R. B. Elkins, UC Cooperative Extension Lake Co.
R. A. Van Steenwyk, Insect Biology, UC Berkeley
C. Ingels, UC Cooperative Extension Sacramento Co.
Acknowledgment for contributions to the insects and mites section:
C. Pickel, UC IPM Program, UC Cooperative Extension Sutter/Yuba counties
P. W. Weddle, Weddle, Hansen & Associates
P. Chevalier, United Ag Products, Ukiah; B. Knispel, United Ag Products, Kelseyville
T. Lidyoff, Purity Products, Healdsburg; G. McCosker, AgroTech, Kelseyville
B. Oldham, Ag Unlimited, Ukiah
D. Smith, Western Farm Service, Walnut Grove
J. Sisevich, AgroTech, Kelseyville
B. Zoller, The Pear Doctor, Inc., Kelseyville

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