What’s with all these white spots on my tree-pruned Acoma crape myrtles? The myrtle in Pond South had its trunks spotted profusely with white, while the crape myrtle in Pond North only had a few spots. Turns out the blight has a name to it: crape myrtle bark scale.

After surfing for an answer, I used the jet option on my garden hose nozzle to spray off the scale, which seemed to work pretty well. Except that some peeling occurred at the base of the tree. The damage was concerning, but at least the evidence had been washed off. However, I had a hard time locating a natural option for banishing the pests, so I have horticultural oil  waiting in the wings should the insects emerge.