Thanks Calistoga. I was going to go the Neem oil route but I can't find it at my local big box stores. The horticultural oil I see there is mineral oil and other things. I've heard that if you go the oil route the soap counter acts the effects so I will keep with the soap for the next 2 weeks, clean it up by physically removing the scale and webs and maybe treat with oils afterwards to keep the problem under control long term.

This is something I wrote in response to a question directed to me a little while ago. You might find it of interest. I often see recipes of various mixtures of dish detergents and other ingredients as equal substitutes for insecticidal soaps, but there is a considerable difference between the two. What we refer to as a soap is a substance made by combining a fat with an alkaloid, like sodium hydroxide, which will yield a hard soap, or potassium hydroxide, which yields a soft or liquid soap, like insecticidal soap(s). Of the wide array of fatty acids often used to make various soaps, only a certain few have the insecticidal properties that give them inherent value to gardeners. With that thought in mind, and contrary to abundant rumors, you should realize you can't employ common kitchen/dish soaps and expect effectiveness equal to what you can expect from actual insecticidal soaps, like Safer's, Bonide, and other brands. To be sure, most household soaps/detergents are at least mildly phytotoxic, some to a sufficient degree that they can actually kill plants. Do you know which ones might be safe and which ones dangerous to plants? One of the most fundamentally important chemical properties of soaps used as insecticides are the number of carbon atoms in the hydrocarbon chains. Soaps with many carbon atoms are long-chain (usually potassium) fatty acids and have insecticidal properties. The fatty acids in insecticidal soaps alter the structure and destroy permeability of insect cell membranes. This causes leakage of the cell contents and quickly leads to death of the insect from dehydration. Kitchen/dish soaps are usually formulated for their grease cutting ability and are usually made from a combination of chemicals that yield a detergent, or in some cases from a combination of detergent(s) and a soap made from short-chain fatty acids unsuited to use in insecticides. These soaps are more often than not phytotoxic and can damage leaves and bark by destroying cuticular wax. This puts them more accurately in the category of 'herbicide', rather than 'insecticide'. Even if the detergent or dish soap itself should prove not to be phytotoxic, dyes and perfumes that are added to these soaps usually are. The frequency with which these additives are altered so the words 'new' and/or 'improved' can be added to the label leaves us unsure whether or not the brand we used today will still cause no apparent issues tomorrow. The soaps for pesticidal applications are safe, tested/proven effective, relatively inexpensive, and a better choice than the home concoctions we so often read about. Still, it is good practice to test even commercially prepared insecticidal soaps on a part of the plant before spraying it entirely. They work best when mixed with distilled or conditioned water because a precipitate may formed when the metal ions (e.g., Calcium, iron or magnesium) found in hard water bind to the fatty acids in the soap. A short list of some of the plants known to be sensitive to soaps and detergents are J maple, jade, lantana, gardenia, bleeding heart and crown of thorns. Some cultivars of azalea, poinsettia, begonia, impatiens, ferns, palms, and succulents should also be tested. Al

All of those methods may work but even if you kill them off you still have a nasty film on the leaves. Unless you have a palm so big and heavey you cant move it, it only makes sence to take it out for the summer. months of rain really clean it up. In addition you will get your strongest growth out of it. I have a double roebi that has about a foot of trunk and is ablut 2.5 feet overall. They were languishing in a grocery store parking lot when I got them last October for 8 bucks. I had to cut off quite a bit of the fronds as it was pot bound, under-watered, and getting no sun. I repotted it and it made a SLOW comeback over the winter. It's been outside in full sun since the first week of May and it looks good as new. it has already become one of my most attractive palms.

You're welcome. A clean plant is a happy plant! Remember that plants breathe through their foliage, so clean foliage also is healthy foliage. I mean, it isn't like you're taking your plant to the spa, getting its hair curled and painting its' toenails. The plant is only getting a simple bath. If it is any comfort at all, when it comes to gardening, my family doesn't just think I am crazy, they know I am crazy. It is okay with me. There's worse things to be. Once a gardener's family has decided they are plant crazy, it is liberating. When they are only thinking a gardener might be crazy, then the gardener might rein in some of the garden behavior in order to assure their family that they aren't really crazy. However, once your family knows for sure you are crazy, all bets are off and you don't have to hide your craziness---you can let it shine, front and center, year-round. If you have liquid compost tea or liquid fish emulsion, spraying either one of those on the undersides of the leaves, in particular, also seem to drive spider mites away. I wouldn't use the liquid fish emulsion if you have cats because they'll destroy the plant trying to find the fish. The spider mites could persist on the plant all winter if it is indoors. They often become a problem on plants brought indoors or into a greenhouse because the warmer temperatures allow them to survive. Even if you don't see mite damage this winter, watch the plant carefully in spring as new mites could hatch out. A little neem oil usually helps control them....or a lady bug. When I see a lady bug wandering around (I found one last week crawling around inside the house on an upstairs window in our bedroom), I gently pick it up and let it crawl on my hand while I'm making my way to whatever indoor plant might have pest issues. Then I deposit the lady bug on the plant, and often it stays there for days, devouring whatever small pests it finds.