I brought in two eugenia topiaries to try to overwinter. They were doing fine...then started dropping dried up leaves and I felt some stickiness
on the remaining green leaves. Knowledge told me to look for scale. I did and I found a reddish brown scale, larger than I have seen before and sprayed the plants with a homemade remedy of one quart water, 1 Tbsp detergent soap, and 1 Tbsp Canola oil. My question is now that I have done that and will continue to nurse them thru the remaining winter season, WILL the leaves grow on the tree again come spring?
Answer
Dear Gardener: You are certainly on the right track! Your identification and treatment seem correct. The use of your homemade pesticide is excellent! The leaves should emerge again, and should appear before spring. Since the plant is not dormant, but living in your home, it should put out leaves fairly soon, unless, there is something terribly wrong. Be sure to check to see that the remaining scale are dead (They should easily flick off with your fingernail if they are dead.) and also be sure new scale doesn't appear. Sometimes the small crawlling stage of the scale is missed when spraying as the crawler is hiding in leaf notches etc.