Not all eggs hatch and some remain dormant in cysts for several years. The majority of juveniles fail to find a soybean root and die of starvation. Juveniles that find a root enter it and begin feeding using a hypodermic needle-like structure called a stylet. Juveniles develop into either adult males or females. Males mate with females, leave the root and die.
Fertilized females remain in the root, and their bodies begin to swell.
About 28 day hatching, the swollen bodies of SCN females break through the root surface. These small white bodies are visible with the naked eye but can be seen more easily using a hand lens. As the white female ages, her body begins to turn yellow and eventually a golden brown. The brown color indicates the death of the female, which is now referred to as a cyst. The feeding and growth of female nematodes in roots damage plants by the removal of essential plant nutrients from root cells and the disruption of the nutrient and water transport system in the root.