White growth on dogwood

White spots could be one or two things - are they fluffy? Is it on the bark of the shrub? Is there a scale insect inside the white deposit? If not, do the spots rub off?

Hi Bamboo, thank you for replying.

The spots are fluffy and are on the bark, they look as though they have come through the bark as there is a little brown part on the very outside as though the bark has been pushed out.

They are woolly in texture and wipe off easily.I have sprayed the bark with an organic bug killer but it hasn't made any difference but I can't see any bugs so it was probably the wrong treatment.

Its scale infestation - the "little brown bit" is actually the scale insect. Shouldn't kill the plant unless the infestation is extremely heavy and there's no spray treatment you can buy - if heavy infestation, you need to get some meths and cotton buds, dip and place on the scale - this might enable you to get them off, or hopefully they'll just disappear. Might need to treat again later.

Thank you, I will try the meths and keep an eye on it but at least I know it won't kill the plant.