Scales
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Scales
- From: L*@aol.com
- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 01:43:42 EDT
>>On 06/30/99 02:23 PM, Valerie wrote:
Does anyone know the life cycle of the plant pest known as "scale" bugs? I
seem to have an infestation and I'm wondering if there's anything under
those hard scales. How does it get on your plants? Was it a flying bug at
one point?<<
Val,
There are over 42 species of scale insects, some are soft scales, some are
hard. The life cycle varies a bit depending on the species. If you can tell
me the name of the scale, or even the plants affected, I might be able to
give more specific information.
Do they fly at one point? The males do, but they only live a couple of
hours, just long enough to mate. (Not such a bad life, eh?) The females are
immobile most of their lives. Unlike the males, females do not have wings.
They have no visible appendages at all. They get blown from plant to plant
by the wind.
In general, the life cycle for most goes something like this: The eggs
overwinter on plants under the dead female's dome. Mid May to the end of
June (depending on the species) they hatch as crawlers (tiny nymphs), crawl,
and settle to feed. They mature by July and mate. The male dies. The female
settles on a stem, forms a protective dome over her body and feeds heavily
into August. She lays eggs and dies by November. Some species have only
one generation a year, others have up to four. The protective dome makes
them difficult to control.
--Janis
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
