What are these orange-pink bugs on my Hibiscus tree?
Yes, those are “scale” and if those are pics of your hibiscus you have a major infestation going on… There is no need to apply a “systemic” insecticide or wait until spring to apply “dormant oil”. You “need” to get rid of them right away. Scale do not fly or run away when you approach so, this is why you only need to do an application of a “contact” insecticide. The best, safest, and most easily found is liquid “Sevin” (carbaryl). It is available at most any garden center and comes in a concentrate for you to mix yourself or a handy ready to use hose end sprayer bottle for easy application. You can use Sevin on any shrub, tree, vegetable, or turf with confidence and it will control and kill over 100 different insect pests in the garden including “scale”… If I were you, I would head down right away to the nearest garden center at Walmart, or Home Depot and pickup this product and get the first good application started. With that severity of infestation, you will and should do a seco
