leafhoppers are sucking bugs, so they won’t make much visible damage other than stippling. They are hard to get rid of because they don’t eat the surface leaf material, so any ipm other than direct application of oils (like neem) or insecticidal soaps will not be very effective.
fortunately they are usually just an annoyance, and won’t stress your plants much unless there is very high heat or very dry conditions. On their own it would take a large infestation to cause serious damage, but it does seem that leafhoppers can make plants more susceptible to other pests.
Leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera = Rhyn-chota: Auchenorrhyncha) are among the most abun-dant groups of insects. Around 20,000 leafhopper (Ci-cadellidae) species have been described but estimates suggest 100,000 species may exist (Dietrich, 2005). In addition there may be around 10,000 planthopper spe-cies of which the most significant pest species occur within the family Delphacidae. Around 200 vectors of phytoplasma are already known but many more are likely to be recognized because there are many more phytoplasma diseases characterised than there are known vectors of the diseases. Most the disease vec-tors will be found among leafhoppers and delphacid planthoppers.
Cicadellidae
Leafhoppers (family Cicadellidae) transmit over 80 known types of plant disease, including ones caused by viruses, mycoplasma-like organisms (MLOs), and spiroplasmas. Examples include aster yellows, beet curly top, blueberry stunt, dwarf disease of rice, phony peach, and Pierce’s disease of grapes.
LINKS
X-Disease of Peach
Aster Yellows
Pierce's Disease
Pierce's Disease and its Vectors
Beet Leafhopper
Leafhoppers
Carrot - Aster Yellows
Fulgoroidea
Planthoppers (superfamily Fulgoroidea) have been implicated as vectors in the transmission of about 20 plant diseases (viruses and MLOs) including cereal tillering disease, maize mosaic, Northern cereal mosaic, oat sterile dwarf, rice hoja blanca, rice stripe, and sugarcane Fiji disease.
LINKS
Planthopper
Planthopper
Management of Rice Insect Pests