Leafhoppers may be green, brown, or yellow. They can have colorful markings and are usually 1/4" long. They have wedge-shaped wings held in a rooftop position over their bodies. They resemble a small katydid but are not.
Usually a leafhopper will be a potato leafhopper or beet leafhopper. Both do the same types of damage and can be controlled simularly.The only physical difference between the two is that the beet leafhopper is pale green or yellow and only 1/8" long resembling a white fly.
Nymphs and adults suck juices from plant leaves, stems, and buds. They pierce the tissue and suck sap, removing the chlorophyll from the cells. Plants become weak and leaves may drop. Sometimes leaves become mottled with white or yellow markings. Leafhoppers leave behind a honeydew glaze which in turn causes sooty mold.
The beet leafhopper carries viral diseases like tomato virus. Once a plant has the virus, there is nothing you can do but kill it. Leaves become brittle, upward rolling leaves are found, and they turn yellow with purplish veins.
The potato leafhopper slows down production. They secrete a substance that decreases photosynthesis. There can be a 42% production reduction with just one leafhopper for every 3 leaves of a potato plant.
Vulnerable plants include lima beans, green beans, corrots, beets, celery, corn, chard, citrus, eggplant, lettuce, potatoes, raspberries, rhubard, spinach, squash, tomatoes, and most fruit trees.
Controls for the pest include fleece barrier or insecticidal soap and seaweed extract during first month of growth. Later on, use the insecticidal soap laced with isopropyl alocohol.
Use trap crops among your normal crop. Also try pyrethrum, rotenone, sabadilla dust, and Diatomaceious Earth.
Use aluminum foil and aluminum polythylene mulches. Reflections on the foil confuse hoppers and they pass by instead of landing on your plants. Plant resistant varieties such as Fordhook, Great Northern, and Red Mexican limas. Also Delus, Sebago, and Sequoia potatoes.
Attract birds, green lacewings, parasitic wasps, assassin bugs, big-eyed bugs, damselflies, and syrphid flies.
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