Thanks for the response. I emailed my father-in-law and he said the following: He cuts his grass every week He does not cut his lawn short; rather medium to high in his words. He said he waters every other day when there is no rain. I'm assuming he needs to cut more frequently, make sure his blade his sharp, and cut at a height between 2" and 3"? Also, he needs to only water once a week? Total watering plus rainfall should equal 1" for the week?

systemic should kill the scale, but it will remain dead on the leaves: so it will be hard to say if it's gone or not. so cleaning them off helps to monitor for appearance of new ones. if it's just a few you can rub them off with a soft toothbrush or tissue. you can make a solution of 1:1 water rubbing alcohol and soak the paper towel with that and wipe them off. but you have a large plant :) - it'll take while... it's prudent to check after 1 week of spraying if you still see any thrips crawling and if so then spray again. if your scale infestation is bad you might need to reapply systemic say after 1 month. also make sure to apply full dosage based on the size of your pot and try to dig it in with a spoon to mix with soil: moisture activates it. if it is dry on the surface it won't be working, only when you water the plant. since it's a large plant once a week watering might be expected, but it's better in this case to water lightly twice a week to make sure plant is absorbing systemic continually.

Blaah! It sure looks like scale to me. If you can easily scrape it off with a fingernail (or something more hygienic, LOL), then that would be my guess. If it was my plant I'd just rip it out and discard it and trim off the affected parts of your mint, and then use a cotton ball with 70% rubbing alcohol to swap down the rest of your mint (don't do it during times when direct sun is shining on the mint), and then keep an eye open for stragglers. Repeat every week or so until you don't see any more. If it gets out of hand you can always get insecticides (organic or otherwise), but rubbing alcohol and vigilance are a good start. Let's see what the other folks say, but I'd rip it out ASAP so it doesn't act as a reservoir for scale to continue spreading. Let us know what you do and how it works out. Excellent job with the pics, by the way, I really struggle to get closeups as nicely focused as yours. Take care, Grant

Having read some of the comments above I am horrified. Someone commented about putting this nesting house on their patio. A mother hummingbird will abandon the nest, even with eggs or hatched eggs, if frightened by someone coming too close. I also saw someone say to offer pet hair. That should only be done if the pet hasn't been treated with flea and tick spray or shampoo. Yarn shouldn't be offered either as many birds have lost feet and legs due to being tangled in it. On another site I saw someone say to offer dryer lint. That is one of the worst things to offer. Dryer lint has no structure and will fall apart once it's been wet and then dries, plus it will grow mold and has chemicals in it from soap and softener. All of these quick cute make a buck ideas are for humans not hummingbirds. The only safe thing to offer them is cotton balls that they can pull tiny bits from to line nests. All the rest should be kept away from them.