Leaf hopper control advice

[vtoddw]

Hey all. Every year my vines start out nice and pristine all the way up to about August when veraison is well under way. Then the leaf hoppers descend upon it, tiny little bugs that jump all over my face when I get close to work on the vines and turn healthy clean leaves into speckled damaged leaves like in this picture. My vines still seem to do fairly well from a ripening perspective but I imagine these things are taking away valuable energy from the vines, plus it's super annoying to get these things in my eyes, mouth and nose everytime I work in my vineyard

I spoke to a local grower and he uses Admire Pro, but after looking into it that pesticide appears to be banned here in California (No idea how he gets his). I'd love to know what everyone else uses, if anything, to deal with these pests.

 

[Rice_Guy]

A Midwest point of view, leaf hoppers don’t do much damage I don’t spray for them.

The insects which I have to deal with, japanese beetle, webworm can be controlled with sevin or a pyrethrum.

 

[Rocktop]

Check out this presentation all about leaf hopper control with organic methods.
Spray timing is everything.
Link

 

[NorCal]

Mine show up late in the season. I have been able to get to harvest before they significantly impact the canopy, so I just let them go. If the timing was different, I would be spraying.

 

[vtoddw]

A Midwest point of view, leaf hoppers don’t do much damage I don’t spray for them.

The insects which I have to deal with, japanese beetle, webworm can be controlled with sevin or a pyrethrum.

It does appear they're really more of a nuisance pest than a destructive one, so I suppose I could continue to live and let live. Fortunately, no Japanese beetles here "yet", just Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizers and Horned worms for the most part, although I've maintained organic control with BT Worm Killer or just picking them off by hand.

 

[vtoddw]

Check out this presentation all about leaf hopper control with organic methods.
Spray timing is everything.
Link

Thanks for this, hopefully I can carve out some time tomorrow to watch it.

 

[vtoddw]

Mine show up late in the season. I have been able to get to harvest before they significantly impact the canopy, so I just let them go. If the timing was different, I would be spraying.

That is pretty much my experience as well, they're just so annoying when I remove the nets and do other maintenance this time of year it seemed like a good idea to do something about them, but it sounds like the consensus here is I should just let em live. I suppose that's the right path to take, given that it sounds like they don't do any significant damage to the vines.