How to Manage Pests

Leafhoppers

Cherry buckskin disease is most often spread by two species of leafhoppers, the cherry leafhopper, Fieberiella florii, and the mountain leafhopper, Colladonus montanus.

The cherry leafhopper is an efficient vector of cherry buckskin and appears to be responsible for severe outbreaks of the disease. The leafhopper overwinters as nymphs on ornamental hosts such as privet, boxwood, pyracantha, etc. and as eggs on ornamental hosts and deciduous fruit trees. There are three periods of adult activity: mid-April through May, during July, and September through October.

The mountain leafhopper is a slender, active leafhopper with a yellow band behind the head and a yellow spot in the center of each wing. The leafhopper overwinters in weedy fields and prefers weeds on the orchard floor. It does not prefer cherry but can infect healthy trees by feeding on infected weeds such as clover.

Cherry leafhopper adult and nymph

Mountain leafhopper adult and nymph