Are you sure it's San Jose? I had to spray about a month ago for European Fruit Lecanium, a larger scale. San Jose is more damaging. For both, the first line of defense is dormant oil. I sprayed dormant oil once and it didn't do 100%. Either that or they came back really fast. Malthion kills the Lecanium now but it doesn't have the reputation of San Jose as a serious pest.

Mcg... There are numerous, chemical insecticides around. I for one do not use chemicals, unless absolutely necessary. I've repeated my experience with scale, GW members are probably tired of hearing.. :) I've sucessfully killed and never again seen scale on my plants for years.. In 1999, I bought an Olive tree from an online nursery. Tree arrived at night. I placed the tree in-between two citrus trees. I 'usually' mist plants daily, but for some reason I skipped the following day.. Two days later, while spraying, I noticed a brown bump on the olive tree. I walked up to inspect and discoverd olive PACKED w/scale. From top to bottom foliage. Not only were scale on the olive tree, but also moved to the nearest citrus branches. I recalled a woman who owns a citrus nursery in Fl telling me she uses Fish Emulsion as a scale preventative. I phoned her, explained the situation..she gave me dosage instructions. 1 capful Fish Emulsion and about 16oz, 'give or take,' water. I mixed FE and water, then sprayed away..I sprayed the olive, citrus and other neighboring plants...in case. Honest to God, within 24-hours, all signs of scale were gone. Erased for good I don't remember if it was 3-days or 1-week later, but I spayed a second applicaton. To this day, I've never found scale on any plant, and I have quite a few. The only problem with FE is it has a fishy odor, but the smell only lasts 2-3 days, 'indoors.' Besides, it's worth the odor if scale appear on a favorite plant/s. Fish Emulsion is organic, and mainly used to fertilize plants. FE won't burn leaves or roots since it's chemical-free. There are other oils, but they don't fertillize..So, I think, spraying with FE as completing two jobs. In autumn, I spray summered, outdoor plants w/FE and other non-chemical items so scale and mites die before bringing back indoors. I also spray with this mix on plants that remain inside year round. Good luck, Toni

Camellia tea scale is a difficult insect to control once it's taken hold. I have found all-season oil sprays work the best, but you have to spray until you see no more white. That may mean putting on a rain suit and getting a hose-end sprayer. Ortho makes a great one that you just pour the oil in, set the dial and go. No measuring required. You have to spray on the underside until the oil penetrates the scale. Also several applications may need to be applied and once it's under control you can spray seasonally spring and fall when insects are in crawler stages works well too. I had a plant about 6' tall that was so badly infested with scale that I just had to prune it severely then started spraying and it's now under control and beautiful.

The best way to control scale is with one of the horticultural oil sprays. Which to use, dormant or superior, depends on the time of year and whether the plant is actively growing, but scale are best controlled bu smothering which is what those oils do.