With summer well and truly here after a couple of weeks of glorious Welsh weather, many of us have been making the most of our gardens and outdoor spaces as the dry spell looks set to continue for several days yet.
As we spend more time outside, we’re more likely to spot some weird and wonderful things. One such things is something known as ‘spittle’ - a strange froth of bubble like substance found on plants. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
You may have seen it clumped on plant stems or in a patch of grass and wondered what it is. It looks like a bit of froth, saliva or foam. Many people have left wondering what exactly it is and is it harmful to people or to other plants?
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According to YorkshireLive, it’s actually made by an insect called a spittlebug, so named because it produces the weird frothy substance that then gets left behind on plants and in long grass. The insect coats itself in a ball of foam for protection as it sucks on the sap from a plant for nutrition. The red and black creature’s offspring, also known as froghoppers, then hatch on a plant which has the leftover ball of foam.
Spittlebug is most active between the end of May and the end of June, so it’s their peak season now. Though the insects feed on the plants, they don’t remove enough nutrition to harm it and they don’t hurt humans, so you don’t need to do anything to get rid of the spittle. Given that insect numbers have reduced by as much as 60% in the past 10 years alone, according to studies in the UK, it’s a good sign to see insects breeding in gardens and really important to allow insects to breed, and not to wash off or interrupt their delicate life cycle.
Scientists are also worried that a plant disease known as Xyella could be spread between plants by the spittlebug as a carrier. If it was found in the UK, all plants within a 100m radius would need to be destroyed, with a 5km plant quarantine for up to five years afterwards because the disease could wipe out native UK plant species. And because the spittlebug is a potential carrier of the disease, scientists are asking people to report any sightings of the spittlebug spittle, just in case, so that any outbreaks that do occur could be linked and tracked to what causes them.
A spokesperson for the Spittlebug survey said: “Please let us know when you see either spittle, nymphs (juveniles) or adults of the xylem-feeding insects (spittlebugs/froghoppers and some leafhoppers) that have the potential to act as vectors of the bacteria. These records will help us build up a picture of where the bugs are found, what plants they feed on and how much they move around. This information will be essential for deciding how best to respond should the Xylella bacterium arrive in the UK.”
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