Immatures and adults produce much honey dew that serves as a medium for the growth of sooty molds. These fungi inhibit photosynthesis and make infested plants unsightly. Obnoxious insects such as ants and wasps are also attracted to feed on the honeydew. Females retain their eggs in the body until hatching. Brown soft scales are born as active crawlers but remain under the body of the female for a short time before emerging and selecting a feeding site to settle and complete their development.
Females molt twice before reaching maturity.
Males undergo four molts before emerging as winged adults, but are rarely seen. All stages are found throughout the year in warmer regions and in greenhouses. Brown soft scales can complete three to seven generations per year depending on temperature. It takes about 60 days to complete a generation. Control Brown soft scales are surprisingly difficult to control even though there is no external egg stage, and only the body of the mother protects a few very young nymphs at any one time.