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I am home visiting my parents and they have had a majesty palm for few years. It's never really thrived as we live in Canada and are not gardening experts. Besides its yellowing, it also has small brown bumps as shown in attached photo. I would like to know what this is, what to do about it and whether it could be contagious to other tropical plants such as a banana tree. The bumps are mostly just on the branch in the photo but there are some on other leaves too. If anyone has experience growing this plant in a pot in zone 5 I'd be interested to know what worked for you!

thanks,

Rickenter image description here

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Those brown bumps are scale insects, and yes they can spread to other plants as well. You can try to wipe 'em off with a wet cloth, or you can use poison from the store. It is hard to get rid of them completely, but keeping it under control by wiping them off should give your plant a bit of time to recover. You might want to learn more about scale infestation on the internet, there are many ways to treat it, some methods works better than others (and it varies for some people too). I always just try to get rid of them by wiping them off, or even by picking them manually off the plant. Good luck!

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  • I agree -- scale! As suggested, they wipe right off and are easy to remove. A little icky to use your fingers, but that works very well. As does a small stick, cleaned frequently on a cloth or paper towel. After I cleaned off most of the scale, I would spray with horticultural oil mixed with water, to get any that I missed. Spray every week or so for a month and the problem should go away. The oil is not poison, so is safer for kids and pets (and the earth). A little goes a long way, so the oil is cheap too.
    – Greg Hadaller
    Commented Jun 12, 2020 at 20:44

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