White peach scale

Description and life cycle. The female scale is 1 to 2.5 mm in diameter, oval in shape and white to yellowish in color. The female is immobile on the host plant, with a protective shell which is created by incorporating the cast skins from her previous molts with newly secreted wax. The male adult scale is a small, two winged insect that looks similar to a gnat but has two tail filaments. Male white peach scale coverings are elongate, snowy white, commonly found in clusters.
Generations. Eggs are deposited under the scale covering, on the surface of plants, ranging in color from orange (female) to white (male). Each female deposits up to 150 eggs, which hatch within five days. Upon hatching, crawlers immediately move to new sites. Female crawlers are generally more active and disperse throughout the tree. Within seven to nine days crawlers molt and begin forming their own scale covering. After multiple molts (3 to 5), adult males emerge from under the covering and mate. Usually two to three generations of white peach scale are observed per season. White peach scale overwinters as fertilized females beneath scale coverings.