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A series of greenhouse cultivations of Aubergine plants were studied for a three‐year period which included the 1981—1982, 1984—1985 and 1985—1986 growing seasons to determine the number of infections produced by S. sclerotiorum and the plant organs infected. A time‐phase difference was detected between the discharge of air‐borne spores and the appearance of infections. The appearance of flowers, the plant organ most susceptible to infection, appeared to mark the end of the latent period and the beginning of infections. The distribution of the infections within the greenhouse was random for two of the three seasons studied and fitted a Poisson distribution (p < 0.01). Analysis of the tendencies of the number of infections and numbers of infected plants revealed a sigmoidal curve that was a function of the accumulated hours in which relative humidity was 80 % or more.

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We studied the influence of two orange tree varieties on the fecundity of two hemipteran diaspidid scale insect species: Cornuaspis beckii (Newman) and Parlatoria pergandii Comstock. Samples of females were taken at 7 -40 day intervals from two orange orchards [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck], one of the Navel Lane Late cultivar and the other of the Valencia Late cultivar. Different categories for the egg stage were considered: preoviposited, oviposited and hatched eggs. Average fecundity in C. beckii was significantly higher than that of P. pergandii. Significant differences between the two orange varieties were evident for some egg categories, with a higher fecundity in Navel Lane Late than in Valencia Late. The temporal pattern of fecundity in relation to accumulated temperature was studied by two methods: (i) comparing the parameter r of a logistic function that related egg-days to accumulated degree-days, and (ii) comparing the parameters b and c of a sinusoidal function that relates the variation egg-days/degree-days to accumulated degree-days. The comparison of such parameters (indicators of changes in the temporal patterns of fecundity) did not show significant differences between orange varieties. Our results suggest that some type of physiological difference between Navel Lane Late and Valencia varieties could be responsible for the differential fecundity of diaspines. Nevertheless, currently we cannot recommend changes in the management of diaspine in citrus orchards.