Hi Cindy,

I'm glad that you realized that those were scale insects on the hawthorn branches, and decided to dispose of the trimmings safely! Those branches cannot be composted, but, depending on the size of what you pruned out, you can wrap them in plastic bags and set them out in the hot sun. The heating inside the plastic will kill the scale within a few days, and then it will be safe to throw them away with your trash. (If your community does not accept yard waste in the regular trash, there may be a drop site locally, and once you have killed the scale it would be safe to drop the branches off there.)

There is more information on this process in a document at this link: https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/C%201186_1.PDF, under the topic heading of "Management".

Thanks for caring about proper disposal, and good luck with your hawthorn!

Best,