![]() ![]() Other than looking unsightly, spittlebugs do very little damage to a plant. Their faces look a bit like the face of a frog, thus they are sometimes called froghoppers. Spittlebugs are related to leafhoppers, and the adults are 1/8 to ¼ inch (3-6 mm.) long and they have wings. ![]() The young go through five stages before reaching adulthood. The eggs hatch in early spring, at which time the young attach themselves to the host plant and begin to feed. The spittlebug lays eggs on old plant debris to overwinter. The spittle protects them from predators, temperature extremes and helps keep them from dehydrating. Once the spittlebug has formed up a nice group of bubbles, they will use their hind legs to cover themselves with the foamy substance. They get their name due to the foamy substance looking like spittle. The spittlebug nymphs make bubbles out of a liquid they secrete from their back ends (thus not really spittle). In fact, the tell-tale sign of spittlebugs is plant foam, and will normally appear in the plant where the leaf attaches to the stem or where two branches meet. The protective covering they make looks like someone placed soap suds (or spit) on your plant or bush. Spittlebugs are very good at hiding too, so they’re not really easy to spot. Most probably have seen the protective covering or nest they make, wondered what it was (or if someone had spit on their plant), and then blasted it off with a hard stream of water. There are around 23,000 species of spittlebugs (Family: Cercopidae), yet few are the gardeners that have ever really seen one. Never heard of spittlebugs? You are not alone. If you are reading this, you probably asked yourself, “What bug leaves white foam on plants?” The answer is a spittlebug. ![]()
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