Can a plant repair scale damage

[ArronOB]

I grow mainly cattleyas and Oncidiums. The only insect pest that bothers them in this district appears to be boisduval scale. When the scale feeds on the leaf a small yellow spot appears around it - which I guess is the nearby tissue stopping photosynthesising for some reason.

My question is - does the plant repair this damage, or does the yellow spot stay for the life of the leaf?

For the record, I think the plant does repair the colour-changed area but I’ve never set out to get a definitive answer so don’t really know for sure.

Cheers
Arron

[Ray]

Scale insects suck the juices out of the plant, which I imagine kills some cells. I really don’t think they can grow back, except to a very limited extent, but maybe the reason the green seems to recover is restoration of chlorophyll once the tissues become rehydrated.

That said, in my experience with boisduval scale, I find the plants tend to lose those leaves faster.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I feel like no. In my (limited) experience they keep those marks until the leaves drop

[SouthPark]

Nice and interesting thread topic. I've only seen leaves yellow a bit (eg. dehydration) and change back to full green. I haven't seen leaves revert to original pristine unblemished form after structural damage due to insects etc. But portions of leaves can at least dry out and keep functioning - provided the damage isn't so bad, and provided that wounds didn't start something else, like bacterial/fungal growth.

[Roberta]

I have never had the yellow spots due to a scale attack go away. If the leaf is attacked at its axil, it tends to die faster - probably because it was attacked at the narrowest point, where the scale likely damaged the "channels" between the leaf and the rest of the plant. But where it's on the middle of the leaf, it just looks ugly for a rather normal leaf lifetime. I am particularly thinking of Catts. Did I mention that I detest scale?

[Ray]

I've only seen leaves yellow a bit (eg. dehydration) and change back to full green.

You obviously haven’t been in denial, ignoring the infestation long enough...

[DirtyCoconuts]

I am with Roberta....I really hate scale.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Ray

You obviously haven’t been in denial, ignoring the infestation long enough...

haha. True Ray. My first ever catasetum type plant had a bit too much water on the roots, and the leaves started to yellow. And after pulling the sphagnum apart a bit, and airing out the internals (the roots within), then packing it all back into the pot ...... surprised me with how relatively quickly the leaves went back to normal green.

But anything else - like structure damage due to biting insects or sucking insects. Definitely haven't seen regeneration --- where the leaf does any perfect repair restoration.

[hypostatic]

I believe the general strategy for plants is that if they have diseased/damaged tissue, they will try to wall of the affected area, and focus on growing new tissue/organs. I don't think plants generally "repair" any tissue. Like, if a tree limb is damaged enough, it'll just drop that branch and grow a new one.