Spittlebugs puts gardener in quandary

P The bugs feed on the juices in pine trees and can destroy the tree if left untreated.

A lot of people wanted me to go to medical school when I was growing up. But I was sure that I wanted to spend time outside instead of inside, so I opted for forestry and horticulture.

I wasn't always sure that I had made the right decision until I spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Institute of Research. My lab work with mice, rats and occasionally baboons and people confirmed that I was right. Plants don't bleed, sweat, throw up, defecate, blow their nose or urinate. They are much cleaner than sick animals and people. So after my tour was up, I went back to graduate school confident that my work with plants was the right decision.

After graduate school I became involved in the plant maintenance business and continued to feel that the career path I had chosen was the right one until I was introduced to the pine spittlebug. A customer called and was hysterical. The junipers, white pine and Scotch pine in his yard were covered with slimy globs, of what I can only describe as spit. The customer wanted to know what was happening, what was causing the problem and what I would do about it.

In the back of my mind, I pictured a group of urchins all suffering from sinus and bronchial infections, congregating on this customer's lawn the night before, clearing their throats and continually spitting phlegm all over his shrubs. Unfortunately, I was expected to approach the shrubs, look at the globs very closely, and see what was causing the problem. My stomach almost turned upside down.

After looking for gloves, taking lots of deep breaths and praying, I finally began to look into the glob of "spit" for the cause. What I found was 1/4-inch long nymph of the pine spittlebug.

The winged adults of spittlebug mate in late summer, usually July or August. The females then lay eggs in the terminal buds of pine trees. The following spring the eggs hatch into nymphs that begin feeding on the twigs of the pine trees. Their feeding consists of inserting their hypodermic-like mouth parts into the succulent new twigs and needles, withdrawing plant juices.

Although most of the plant juices are digested, some pass through the digestive system of the bug in a somewhat unaltered state and are eliminated from the body in the form of "spittle." The spittlebug nymph completely covers itself in these secretions.

This spittle has two very important functions for the spittlebug. The spittle protects the bug from desiccation and from natural enemies.

As the nymph feeds, it slowly moves along the branches and needles of the infested pine tree. Each time it moves, it forms a new mass of spittle.

When the spittlebug matures, it no longer secretes spittle. It can then fly around and find a mate. The life cycle begins again in July or August.

Normally an infestation of spittlebug is not a problem. On the other hand, a severe infestation results in mortality of succulent new pine shoots. Unsightly dead branches cover the tree. In extremely severe infestations, tree mortality is the result.

If you find spittlebug on the evergreens in your landscape, simply make an application of diazanon, malathion or cygon. You must use a sprayer with enough pressure to wash the spittle away from the nymph. Otherwise the spittlebug nymph would be protected from any insecticide spray and no control would be had.

Now that I have discovered spittlebugs on plants, I am in a quandry. I chose horticulture as a career field because I thought plants were really clean to work with. Now I know better. I guess I'll have to start all over again and figure out what I want to do when I grow up.

Send your gardening and landscape questions to Paul Schnare at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-0699 or by e-mail to news@semissourian.com.