I use this stuff and it kills the scales DEAD. You spray it all over the plant tops and bottoms of leaves and stems and spray the dirt in the pot to kill young ones hiding in the soil and let the plant dry with the spray all over it. This stuff stays on the leaves for a while I use it 3 time during the winter until spring. After using this I have never had mites again either.
They sell it at home depot and lowes. This stuff is super concenterated. I think its 1oz. to a gallon of water. I spray all the plants at the same time and the same way wetting the plant and the soil, so no bugs jump from plant to plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scale killer

Thank you Mike, I will pick some up this week. Luckily the scale just seems to be picking on this one palm.

Can that malathon be sprayed inside ?
Andy ive joined the club !! I think my royal has scale
I am seeing black sticky spotty residue coming from the center of my new frond .

The big thing is when you spray it it has and oder while its wet. Once its dry there are no problems. I completely soak the palms and bananas and all of the dirt out on the back porch. It drys fairly fast then you can bring the plants back in.

Go to Starbucks and pick up some bags of their used coffee grounds and put it about an inch thick in you pots it will kill the scale.

In the summer, I would use systemic spray: (Makes the plant poisonous to scale)
Systemic Spray

I would try something more potent and spray the dirt thats probably where there hiding.I would bring it outside and spray it good.

Mike I went to the link, they seem pretty serious about not using it inside. I wouldn't use this stuff inside if you have small children or pets Andy

Jeff

I have all of the above small children and pets and if you spray it on outside and let it dry its fine. The fumes when its wet are the only problem. I have been using it 2nd year now no problems but the choice is yours. I had a bird of paradise so infested with scale it made me sick to look at it but this stuff killed it all. Andy if you love your palms like I know you do you owe it to them lol!!

Yes malathion is good. Mike has the right idea.

I think I will spray the plant inside my bath tub. It's only 20 outside so I can't take it out. No signs of 40s anytime soon either. Thank you all for the suggestions. Childers thank you for the heads up on the coffe grounds.

I agree with Mike about using the Malathion outdoors only. It is very toxic.
I, too, have had great success using coffee grounds indoors. Always nice to use biodegradable, nontoxic alternatives..... dl

Can anyone tell me how scale works. Are they in the soil AND on the plants? I love the idea of the coffee grounds but will that help the effected leaf tissue as well?

I personally would keep going with the neem oil. I don't trust things that are so toxic. Neem has worked on every type of scale that I've tried it on, but you have to stay on top of it. First I wipe off all plant surfaces with rubbing alcohol, the drench it in neem oil. Sometimes it takes 4-5 applications, but I've found it to work excellent.

I wouldnt worry about it now, just wait until spring and spray it. It will be ok.

andy, way more than you want to know about scale.

Here is a link that might be useful: scale

Thank you everyone for all of the usefull information and links. I bought some cheap Maxell House Coffee last night and brewed a bunch of it. I placed all fo the grounds on the soil of all of my palms (in the effected room)I'll keep minitoring because it seems to be spreading to other plants. I will take more agresive steps if it doesn't stop.

I been using the Bayer,tree and shrub,poor on the soil and the bayers complete granular insecticides,been working great on all bugs.
Have used the malathon and neem in the past,which also worked,but the bayer stuff is a lot easier to work with,no mess and no bad smells.

I just sprayed all of my trees yesterday with Expert tree
and shrub from wal-mart and I am happy to report that my scale and all the other critters is gone I highly recommend this stuff it's $ 9.99 a bottle.