Pine shoot beetles and pine spittlebugs

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

I am finding the first frothy white spittlemasses on Scotch pine and other pines. Nymphs hatch in May from eggs laid under the bark of shoots. For the next six to seven weeks, they feed on the tree's sap and produce the characteristic spittlemasses. This species of spittlebug really causes little damage to the tree. Don't worry about trying to control them unless you have huge numbers where the tree looks as if it were covered in snow.

white frothy spittlemass on Scotch pine
Photo 1. White frothy spittlemass on

Scotch pine.

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