Scales (Melanaspis glomerata)

Symptoms

• After selecting a suitable feeding site, the young ones, known as 'crawlers', settle and develop into dark encrustations on the internode

Management

• Select insect free setts for planting.
• Avoid repeated ratoons in the same field.
• Drain excess water from the field.
• Detrash 150-210 days after planting.
• Release coccinellid predators.