Jassids in cotton, okra and brinjal: identify and control leafhoppers

Quick answer

Jassids in cotton are small green leafhoppers (Amrasca biguttula biguttula) that suck sap from the underside of leaves. Their toxin turns leaf edges yellow, then red, and curls them down. They also attack okra, brinjal, chilli and groundnut. Grow hairy varieties, keep fields clean and protect natural enemies. Spray a label-approved insecticide only when numbers cross the threshold.

How to identify jassids in cotton and vegetables

Jassids are also called leafhoppers or green jassids. Farmers call them hara tela in Hindi and pachcha doma in Telugu. Older books name the insect Amrasca devastans. It is the same pest.

Turn a leaf over, gently, in the morning. Jassids sit on the underside, mostly near the veins.

• Adults: pale green, wedge-shaped insects, about 3 mm long. They jump or fly off quickly when the plant is touched.
• Nymphs (young ones): light green, see-through and without wings. They sit between the veins on the underside of the leaf. When disturbed, they walk sideways, like a crab. This sideways walk is the easiest way to know them. Nymphs are the easiest stage to kill with a spray, so look for them early.
• Eggs: laid inside the leaf veins on the underside, so you cannot see them.

Damage signs on the plant:

• Leaf edges turn yellow first, then reddish. The leaf cups and curls downwards.
• Under heavy attack the whole leaf turns brick red, dries and falls. This drying is called "hopper burn".
• Young plants stop growing. In cotton, heavy attack can make buds and young bolls drop.

You will often see the damage before you see the insect. The insects are small and move away fast, so always check the underside of the leaf before you decide.

Look-alikes and how to tell them apart

• Whitefly: tiny white flying insects that rise in a cloud when you shake the plant. They leave sticky honeydew and black sooty mould. Jassids are green and do not leave much honeydew.
• Thrips: very thin insects that scrape the leaf. They leave silvery streaks, and the leaves curl upwards. Jassid damage curls the leaves downwards.
• Aphids: soft, round-bodied insects that sit in groups and do not jump. They also leave honeydew.
• Nutrient or water stress: leaves can turn red in cotton from potassium or magnesium shortage or drought. If you find no jassids under the leaves, check the soil and water before you spray.

Life cycle and when it attacks

The female lays eggs inside the leaf veins. The nymphs hatch, feed on the underside of the leaf and moult a few times before they grow wings. In warm weather one generation takes only a few weeks, so many generations follow each other in one season and numbers build quickly.

Jassids like warm, humid weather. Heavy rain washes many of them off the leaves, so numbers often jump after the rain stops and the weather stays warm and cloudy. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, kharif cotton is usually hit early, in the first two to three months after sowing, from about July to September. Okra and brinjal can be attacked in any season. Across India, jassids are among the most common sucking pests of cotton.

Crops it attacks

Cotton: the main crop. Jassids attack from the seedling stage to boll formation, and the early vegetative stage suffers the most. Hairless, smooth-leaf varieties are attacked more. Bt cotton does not protect against jassids. Bt protects only against bollworms, so Bt fields need the same checks for sucking pests.

Okra (bhendi): attacked at all stages. Leaves curl down, turn yellow and dry. Plants stay small and give fewer fruits.

Brinjal: leaves turn yellow at the edges and curl. Young plants after transplanting are at most risk.

Chilli and groundnut: also attacked, mostly in the vegetative stage. In groundnut, the leafhopper found most often is a close relative, and it turns the leaf tips yellow in a V shape.

Jassid control in cotton: when to spray (economic threshold)

Do not spray as soon as you see a few jassids. A small number does little harm and natural enemies keep them in check. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) gives the economic threshold for jassids in cotton as 50 nymphs or adults on 50 leaves, which is about one jassid per leaf. To check, pick 50 leaves spread across the field, turn each one over and count the jassids.

We could not confirm a published threshold for okra, brinjal, chilli or groundnut from a recognised public source. For these crops, follow the label, which says to spray when the pest appears or crosses the threshold, and check with your local agriculture officer.

Jassid control without chemicals

TNAU advises these steps for cotton. Most of them also work in okra and brinjal.

• Hairy varieties: grow varieties with hairy leaves. Jassids find it harder to feed and lay eggs on them.
• Sow together: sow at the same time as your neighbours, so the pest cannot move from older to younger crops all season.
• Nitrogen: use urea carefully. Lush, soft leaves attract more jassids.
• Weeds: keep the field and bunds free of weeds that host jassids.
• Biological seed treatment: TNAU advises treating cotton seed with the friendly fungus Beauveria bassiana at 10 g per kg of seed. Use a registered product and follow its label.
• Protect natural enemies: ladybird beetles, green lacewings and spiders eat jassids. Avoid early sprays that are not needed, as they kill these friends too.
• Yellow sticky traps: useful to see when adults arrive. Traps alone will not control a heavy attack.

Jassid control insecticides, crop by crop

Only the products below have the crop and jassids (leafhoppers) on their official label or leaflet. Doses are per acre, as printed or converted from the label's per-hectare dose. Spray one product at a time and do not mix products in one tank. Spray in the morning or evening and cover the underside of the leaves.

Cotton

Product	Contains	Label dose per acre	Water per acre	Wait before harvest
Ulala Insecticide	Flonicamid 50% WG	61 g	200 L	25 days
Simodis Insecticide	Isocycloseram 9.2% DC	81 ml	200 L	37 days
Bakeel Insecticide	Fipronil 15% + Imidacloprid 5% SC	202 ml	200 L	6 days
Hamla 550 Insecticide	Chlorpyrifos 50% + Cypermethrin 5% EC	405 ml	200–400 L	15 days
Ronfen Insecticide	Pyriproxyfen 8% + Dinotefuran 5% + Diafenthiuron 18% SC	243 ml	200 L	Not printed on the brochure
Mitigate Insecticide	Fenpyroximate 5% EC	300 ml	Not given	Not given
Hogger Insecticide	Dinotefuran 70% WG	35 g	200 L	17 days
Imidagold Plus	Imidacloprid 30.5% SC	24–30 ml	200–300 L	26 days
Kite Insecticide	Indoxacarb 14.5% + Acetamiprid 7.7% SC	162–202 ml	200 L	30 days
Guru Insecticide	Fipronil 10% + Diafenthiuron 30% WG	304 g	200 L	21 days
Mahaveer Insecticide	Fipronil 5% SC	607–809 ml	200 L	6 days
Sapper Insecticide	Dinotefuran 4% + Acephate 50% SG	223 g	200 L	15 days

Timing notes from the labels:

• Simodis, Hogger, Sapper and Ronfen: spray when the pest reaches the threshold. Simodis allows two sprays a season, 10–15 days apart. Hogger and Sapper allow two sprays.
• Ulala and Kite: spray from the vegetative to the reproductive stage, two or three sprays depending on pest pressure.
• Bakeel and Guru: first spray when the pest first appears, then one or two more at 15-day gaps. Guru allows no more than three sprays.
• Mahaveer: first spray 30–35 days after sowing or when the pest appears.
• Hamla 550: spray at any crop stage when the pest is likely to cause loss.
• Mitigate: our dose comes from the brand's product sheet, not the printed label. Ronfen's comes from the brand brochure. Check the pack label before use.

Whitefly warning for cotton: the Government of India's plant protection directorate (PPQS) advises against synthetic pyrethroids such as cypermethrin, and against acephate and acetamiprid, at the flowering and boll stage, because whitefly can come back in larger numbers after them. Hamla 550 (cypermethrin), Kite (acetamiprid) and Sapper (acephate) contain these, so use them before flowering, or choose another product at boll stage.

Brinjal

Product	Label dose per acre	Water per acre	Wait before harvest
Ulala	81 g	200 L	15 days
Simodis	81 ml	200 L	5 days
Hogger	35 g	200 L	7 days
Ronfen	243–334 ml, from about 15 days after transplanting, once the pest is above threshold	200 L	Not printed on the brochure
Alecto Insecticide (Broflanilide 20% SC)	51 g	200 L	1 day

Okra

Product	Label dose per acre	Water per acre	Wait before harvest
Ulala	81 g	200 L	10 days
Alecto	51 g	200 L	1 day

Chilli

Alecto: 51 g per acre in 200 L water. Wait 1 day before harvest.

Groundnut

Simodis: 202–243 ml per acre in 200 L water. Spray when the pest reaches the threshold, and repeat once after 10–15 days if needed. Wait 48 days before harvest.

Bakeel, Hamla 550, Kite, Guru, Sapper and Ronfen hold two or three active ingredients in one pack. These are ready-mixed products approved on the label. They are not tank mixes.

Rotate to avoid resistance

Jassids breed fast. If you spray insecticides that work the same way again and again, they soon stop dying. Insecticides are grouped by how they work, using the IRAC code (from the international Insecticide Resistance Action Committee). Change the group from one spray to the next.

IRAC group	Active ingredient	Products in this article
1B (organophosphates)	Chlorpyrifos, acephate	One part of Hamla 550 and Sapper
2B (phenylpyrazoles)	Fipronil	Mahaveer; one part of Bakeel and Guru
3A (pyrethroids)	Cypermethrin	One part of Hamla 550
4A (neonicotinoids)	Imidacloprid, dinotefuran, acetamiprid	Imidagold Plus, Hogger; one part of Bakeel, Kite, Sapper and Ronfen
7C	Pyriproxyfen	One part of Ronfen
12A	Diafenthiuron	One part of Guru and Ronfen
21A	Fenpyroximate	Mitigate
22A	Indoxacarb	One part of Kite
29	Flonicamid	Ulala
30	Broflanilide, isocycloseram	Alecto, Simodis

Group 4A is in six of these products. Using 4A spray after 4A spray is the quickest way to make jassids hard to kill. In cotton, for example, if the first spray was Imidagold Plus (4A), the next could be Ulala (29) or Simodis (30). Alecto and Simodis are both group 30, so do not use one straight after the other. Keep to the number of sprays each label allows.

Safety and waiting period

• The waiting period before harvest (PHI, pre-harvest interval) for each product and crop is in the tables above. For okra, brinjal and chilli, which you pick often, choose a product whose waiting period fits your picking days.
• Bees: Hogger, Guru and Sapper labels warn that they are toxic to honey bees. The Imidagold Plus label says not to use it on crops where bees are pollinating or foraging. Do not spray these when bees are active on the flowers.
• Fish: the Guru label warns that it is very toxic to fish. Keep spray and washings away from ponds and canals.
• Re-entry: labels ask you to keep people and animals out of the field for 24 to 48 hours after spraying, depending on the product.
• Wear gloves, a mask, full-sleeve clothes and boots while mixing and spraying. Do not eat, drink or smoke while spraying. Wash well afterwards.
• Read the label and leaflet before use.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know my cotton has jassids?

Look for leaf edges that turn yellow, then red, and curl downwards. Turn the leaf over: small pale green insects that walk sideways are jassid nymphs.

Which insecticide controls jassids in cotton?

Use one whose label lists cotton and jassids. On our store these include Ulala, Simodis, Bakeel, Hamla 550, Ronfen, Mitigate, Hogger, Imidagold Plus, Kite, Guru, Mahaveer and Sapper. Doses are in the cotton table above.

When should I spray for jassids in cotton?

In cotton, TNAU advises spraying when you count 50 nymphs or adults on 50 leaves, about one per leaf. Below that, natural enemies and good field care can keep them in check.

Does Bt cotton protect against jassids?

No. Bt cotton is bred to protect against bollworms. It does not stop jassids or other sucking pests, so check the underside of the leaves in Bt fields too.

Can I spray the same insecticide every time?

No. Change the IRAC group from one spray to the next. Many jassid products share group 4A, so check the group before you buy the next one.

My cotton leaves are red but I see no insects. Is it jassids?

Maybe not. Red leaves can also come from potassium or magnesium shortage, or from drought. If there are no jassids under the leaves, get a soil test and check your watering before spraying.

Related reading

• Whitefly in cotton, brinjal and okra: how to identify and control it
• Thrips control in chilli, cotton and onion
• Aphid control in cotton, chilli and vegetables
• Pink bollworm in cotton: symptoms, when to spray and control
• Red spider mite: how to identify and control it
• Products for cotton and all insecticides

Sources

• Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, TNAU Agritech Portal: Leafhopper of cotton
• Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (DPPQS), Government of India: Management of whitefly in cotton
• Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC): Mode of action classification
• Product labels and leaflets of the insecticides listed above.