While weeding my garden yesterday, I noticed that a couple of my Blue Lake Bushes were wilting. Upon further inspection, I found that all of the wilting plants had a foamy visitor at the base of their stem. I'm assuming that this is some type of insect chewing on the stems.

Any ideas on what this critter is and how to stop it??


Thanks

That is called a spit bug, or spittle bug. They use their own spit as camouflage. If you feel around and rinse off the spit, you'll find a little green worm-like bug.
I normally don't get severe damage from them as you describe, but I only find a few each year.
The spit is a protective barrier. Get rid of it, and the spittle bug will get his. I find hand picking is fairly easy, but it you are invaded by a horde, try sopping up the spit and use whatever you have for aphids. They aren't hard to kill. Even a hard jet of water can do a nice job.

I get a couple of these every year, too. They don't do much damage here, but my big beef is when I don't see them until the spit is all over my hand! yuckkk X-(

Do you actually see the spittle bug inside the 'foam' ?
It could also be a type of mold(gray?) or root rot if your plant stem seems to be rotting and falling over.
Just an idea, as I have had this happen.

If this is up on the stem it is most likely the spittle bug, the larva of the froghopper, and while kind of disagreeable to look at is seldom really harmful to the plant. An easy control measure is a sharp water stream, sharp enough so both the protective cover (the spittle) and the larva are knocked off the plant. You will know if you got the larva or not if tomorrow the spittle is back.

Once again, you're all here when I need ya. Today is the first time I EVER saw a 'ball of spit' on one of my plants. I was tempted (for about 2 seconds) to wipe it off, but logic won out. YUCK! Spittle bugs, dung beetles, what's next? LOL

Kitt

Until this week, I'd never seen a spittle bug or evidence of them. My only exposure was in one Eric Carle's books (The Very Clumsy Clickbeetle, or maybe The Very Quiet Cricket?) that mentions a "spittle bug." That is until this week, I noticed the stems of my asters and some Coneflowers were surrounded with what look liked spit. I tried washing this goo off with the hose, but it didn't wash off. The plants, so far, don't appear to be suffering. Sure was glad to find this thread and see that they usually don't do any damage. Just wonder why this didn't wash off?

The sticking quality of the spittle bug's juice is altered somewhat by the plant it is feeding off of. The higher the starch/sugar ratio of the plant, the harder it is to get the goo off.
My crop of gaillardia makes for a slimy, but rinsable spit.