By Clint Thompson
Georgia vegetable growers must be wary of a new insect pest that could impact a couple of crops this fall.
Stormy Sparks, UGA Cooperative Extension vegetable entomologist, discussed the Cotton Jassid.
“The other thing that has shown up is the cotton two-spotted leaf hopper or Cotton Jassid. (About a month ago) we didn’t even know if it was in Georgia or not. About two weeks ago, it showed up in some okra patches, so it really likes okra, tears them up and you get what’s called a hopper burn,” Sparks said. “When you get big populations it looks like you hit it with herbicide.
“I’ve talked about it at vegetable meetings. We didn’t think it was going to be a problem this year, but it showed up a couple of weeks ago. I was talking with (UGA cotton entomologist) Phillip (Roberts), and they’ve got some fields in multiple counties where they’re spraying for it.”
The Cotton Jassid feeds on the lower surface of cotton leaves, extracting the contents of cells. Symptoms include yellowing, reddening and then bronzing of leaves. The Jassid is also tiny, so it is likely that plant damage will be observed before the insects themselves. It is a pest of cotton, okra, eggplant and sunflowers.
“I’ve seen okra patches just killed. The other vegetable that it reportedly really likes is eggplant. We’re going to have a close eye on our fall eggplant crops and see what happens there,” Sparks said.