GRAPE LEAFHOPPER

In our efforts tonight to find and remove as many of the grapeleaf skeletonizers as possible, we also discovered that our grape leaves are infested with what we believe are grape leafhoppers. I thought, at first, they were white flies. However, after comparing pictures online, I am more inclined to go with grape leafhopper. In fact, the grape leafhoppers appear to be far more plentiful than the grape skeletonizers and have caused just as much damage.

Grape leafhopper and damage to grape leaves.

Leafhoppers are among the sucking insects that damage plants by sucking the juices from plant tissues and leaves. The leaves become yellow, wilted, deformed and may eventually die. According to several university agricultural websites, they also transmit disease. What I thought was perhaps just sunscalded grape leaves were in actuality leaves that have had the juices sucked out of them by leafhoppers. There are very few unaffected grape leaves remaining, and you can see the difference in the picture below.

Healthy grape leaves along side damaged leaves from grape leafhoppers.

I like to try the least invasive means of ridding garden pests as my first line of defense. After the sun went down, I hosed off as many of the grape leaves that I could. I let the leaves dry and then sprayed them with a Neem Oil solution I picked up at the local nursery. I made sure to spray both the tops and bottoms of the leaves. I've been told by other gardeners that during the day you never want to spray your plants with water (much less any type of solution) lest they burn your leaves. Thus, I waited until after sunset to hose them down and spray with Neem Oil.