As a child , I was grip by the frothy white quite a little commonly found on thestrawberry plantsin my parent ’s garden . I investigate every one of these bubbly spit - like anomalies to get a glimpse of the strange green or yellow creatures that called them home . The worm that captivated my puerility imagination are bonk as spittlebug , an insect tight related to leafhoppers .
Oh, That’s A Spittlebug
unripe spittlebug nymphs and their spittle home are a uncouth raft in many late - spring and former - summertime garden and yard . The froth is formed when the nymphs crunch on plant fool and secrete the excess moisture . The function of this spittle is three fold . It :
The spit hatful can get up to 3/4 in large and tend to occur at the junction between the leafage and stem . Once the spittlebug houri matures , it stops producing spittle and venture out in the wide earthly concern in hunting of a mate and more plant sap .
Adult spittlebug have triangular - mold bodies about 1/4 column inch long and come in a extensive variety of colorations free-base on the metal money . The grownup is often called a froghopper due its hop motive power and its unique brass , which reminds many gardeners of frog .
So What’s That Spittle Doing To My Garden?
There are 20 to 30 spittlebug species found throughout North America . The right news is that most of these spittlebug coinage are not interested in eat up your vegetable garden , though there are a few pest spittle insect species , like the meadow spittle insect , that could affect crops like strawberry , legumesand some grains . Unless spittlebug populations are very high , the damage due to their feeding is no big mint . While feeding nymph can distort the strawberry yield and leaves , plant life likely wo n’t die even though productiveness could go down . Also , while spittle insect are capable of spreading bacterial and fungous plant life disease , they ’re not that good at it , so you do n’t usually have anything to worry about .
Kicking Spittlebugs To The Curb
When dealing with spittle insect , the simplestorganic controlis through strong-arm remotion of the insect either by hand - pick or spray body of water on all seeable spittle masses . If population spring up out of helping hand and become troublesome , deal trying an constitutive insecticidal soap spraying that is rated for spittlebug — but be aware that the nymphs are rather well protected from chemical agent in their saliva habitation .
Kevin Fogle
