I wonder how well the scale insects fare in freezing rain when ice covers everything?
I wonder how many of the insects succumb to the cold when the temperature drops to well below zero Fahrenheit?
I think the lighter-colored ones - the reddish brown ones - are ones that have died. Unfortunately for the trees it doesn't look like a very high percentage, does it?
If that's the case, right now it looks as if this coming summer there will be another bumper crop of scale insects in this particular woods.
I suppose I'll find out how well the scale insects handle a hard winter when, come spring, they settle down and grow large like they did last summer. Now, really, there are so many scale insects on some trees that more than a harsh winter is needed to rid them of these sap-sucking pests.
Oh, now I hope you don't mind the unpleasant thought of these ugly scale insects covering the branches of the bare winter trees... isn't their winter survival strategy at least a little interesting?
See my posts about adult Oak Lecanium scale insects and some predators of the scale insects and also the scale insect's honeydew droplets covering everthing.
Not unpleasant at all Dana. Fascinating as always. Sybil
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