Leafhoppers

Small, wedge-shaped, piercing-sucking insects, generally under 1/4 inch, that are pale green, gray, brown, or mottled and run sideways or hop and fly readily when turf is disturbed. They are most easily detected by walking across the lawn and watching the cloud of insects flush ahead, or by sweep-netting; both adults and nymphs feed on leaf blades.

A mottled, bleached, or whitish-stippled cast to the leaf blades that can make heavily infested turf look hazy and dry as if drought-stressed; damage is generally cosmetic and concentrated where turf is already water-stressed, with healthy stands recovering on their own.

Leafhoppers are true bugs with gradual metamorphosis — egg, several nymphal instars, and winged adult. They typically overwinter as eggs or adults depending on species and region, and produce multiple overlapping generations through the growing season, with populations building during warm weather. Nymphs resemble wingless adults and feed alongside them.

Noticeable but rarely damaging in turf; visible injury is most likely on already drought-stressed or thin lawns during warm summer conditions. Vigorous, well-watered cool-season turf (Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, ryegrass, bentgrass) readily outgrows feeding once conditions improve.