Thank you for the inquiry. Leafhoppers are small soft-bodied insects with a piercing mouthpart used to suck out and feed on plant juices. There are an estimated 2,500 leafhopper species, and some specific to vegetable and ornamental plants. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension offers 'Field Guide to Common Texas Insects' online with an overview of leafhoppers, including their life cycle and feeding habit. Some may cause fruit discoloration or vegetation curling, and they do have the potential to transmit diseases through saliva exchange.

Critters in the garden can make for a frustrating experience, and I offer using a holistic approach to working in your garden and thinking of cultural practices you can implement to reduce pest populations using EarthKind Landscaping principles (https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/). Earth-Kind Landscaping uses research-proven techniques to combine the best of organic and traditional gardening and landscaping principles to create a horticultural system based on real world effectiveness and environmental responsibility.

Texas A&M Aggie Horticulture provides a FAQ article on insect control from their website: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/easy-gardening-series/. Look for the link on the right-hand column entitled ‘Insect Control’. Monitoring and properly identifying pest species is key to making a decision on how best to approach management. The article also offers a few more management tools and chemicals that you may consider appropriate for your gardening. If you do choose using pesticides, always explicitly follow application directions and warning indicators to protect your and your environment health.

Thanks for again for the inquiry, and email me directly if I can be of further assistance. See you in the garden!