Day 206: Bug War! Introduced into my garden as an unwanted "bonus" on commercially-grown Red Currant stock, the Blue-Green Sharpshooter infestation stripped my plants of leaves last year despite my best efforts with a detergent-based, environmentally safe insect spray. They're back, and I'm just peeved enough to break out something stronger in order to control them if the need arises. Formerly known as Graphocephala atropunctata or by the alternate common name of Blue-Green Leafhopper, Hordnia is related to Cicadas. The significance of their name becomes very apparent if you happen to disturb them, at which point they will spring from infested plants with an audible click and may strike your skin with a crisp impact similar to that of being peppered with small hail. Hordnia is known to carry a pathogenic bacteria which affects grape vines, attacking the xylem and killing the plant. Not on my watch. This ends here.
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