#2 helps a little; looks like ‘cottony cushion scale’. is it only on leaves, or on bark, too?
Better close-up pics would help to ID the crawlers.
I have it on my Blue Hollies in front of the condo, and they’re soon-to-be-goners.
Scale - 74 varieties known - are sucking insects- and will drain plants of sap, excrete sticky substance which will oxidize and turn black on lower leaves and trunk.
I need better, closer pics to see more clearly...
Holly Cottony Cushion Scale:
JMS (Jap Maple Scale) is usually a waxy, white scale casing, in which the female lives and lays purple eggs. The casing is impervious to chemicals, so we have to determine if it's cottony scale or wax scale. Proper treatment will vary with each.
Crawlers are active May-August, and need to be killed in that period, or a return infestation will occur the following spring.
Using an old table knife's dull edge, scrape as many off wo/ injuring bark, and into a plastic bag, wiping-off knife on newspaper. BURN the bag.
Wear eye protection; use rubber gloves.
Spray Malathion and Liquid Sevin, per directions for scale, on alternating weeks to kill crawlers. Females will have laid purple egg masses in protective waxy shells for hatching in following spring. Scrape those off too and dispose. Look closely for any moving insects to spray/drench.
If any sections of leaves are very heavily infested, prune those sections out and put in burn bag. If branches or limbs are badly infested, scrape first, then spray and check weekly for crawlers.
In Jan-Feb, before leaf buds open, apply Insecticidal Oil to entire tree, to smother hatching crawler eggs in May.
Nearby, infested plants may have to be removed to save Jap Maple. Broadleaf Hollies were particularly hit hard by scale late last summer/fall, and again this spring, and must be removed if too far gone.
Appears to be some kind of scale.
Read this.
http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2012/03/dont_be_fooled_by_scale_insect.html
You’ll probably want to use an all season oil spray.
