Cherry Leafhoppers

Cherry leafhoppers are easy to miss, but they can cause big problems.

I can’t deny that leafhoppers are fascinating creatures. Because they are. I just don’t want them anywhere near my plants.

Cherry leafhopper (Slimguy) CC BY-SA 4.0

Leaf stippling is usually the first sign that leafhoppers are present. Also known as Flor’s leafhoppers or privet leafhoppers, these European natives are well established in North America.

Cherry leafhopper description

Like other leafhoppers, these little guys are tiny and quick. Very often, you won’t know they’re around until you startle one, and it pops out of nowhere, leaving you unsure if you actually saw something or not.

​Cherry leafhoppers (Fieberiella florii Stål) are ¼” long and wedge-shaped. They have wide, flattened heads and narrow, upright rear ends. Depending on what they eat, where they are, and their developmental stage, they may be grayish-brown, green, orange, or tan.

Leafhoppers and spider mites cause leaf stippling (Steven Katovich, Bugwood.org) CC BY 3.0 US

Brown cherry leafhopper (gbohne) CC BY-SA 2.0

Cherry leafhopper diet

Leafhoppers are sap suckers. Cherry leafhoppers feed on a wide range of broadleaf woody shrubs, trees, and vines. Their favorite foods are in the rose family and include apples, apricots, and plums, along with cherries. They also enjoy bay, privet, and service trees.

​Cherry leafhoppers as vectors for disease

As they feed, leafhoppers ingest disease-causing bacteria, fungi, phytoplasmas, and viruses. When they hop over to another plant and start siphoning juices, they leave samples of those pathogens behind in a wake of disease and destruction. Okay, I got a little melodramatic there, but you get the idea. One tiny garden pest can cause a lot of trouble.

Green cherry leafhopper (Cheryl Moorehead, Bugwood.org) CC BY 3.0 US

Here is a list of the many diseases that can be spread by cherry leafhoppers:

• Almond witches’ broom
• Apple proliferation
• Aster yellows
• Cherry X disease
• Eastern X disease
• Grapevine yellows
• Western X disease

They also leave collections of white crystalline frass on apples, pomegranates, and stone fruits.

Cherry leafhopper lifecycle

Leafhoppers lay their eggs in soft plant tissue where they are protected through the winter. Nymphs may also overwinter in tiny hideaways. Come spring, the eggs hatch, and nymphs go through several molts before reaching adulthood. These pests are most active during the hottest months of summer.

Leafhoppers are best managed with insecticidal soap.