[Viv_Logan]

I've got six nine tomato plants, three in a hanging basket and six in troughs in the greenhouse, also got a sweet and a spicy pepper in there. It's looking like the first two black Russians as you enter the greenhouse have curly top which seems to be caused by leafhoppers...anything I can do? Remove them immediately? Anyways to save the others from possible infection? Help immensely appreciated!

[mumofstig]

Squish as many as you can with your fingers, would be my advice but there are sprays that you can use on them according to the RHS on their advice page

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=515

[arh]

It would appear to me, (although I am nowhere near an authority on plants etc. and anything I say should be taken with a large pinch of salt), that the answer would be Pyrethrum, which is an Organic pesticide. It can be purchased from ebay, (search Pyrethrum), for £13 odd. Which seems to be a relatively cheap solution, (no pun intended, ). arh.

[sunshineband]

I'm in the "squashem" camp, which is always worth a go 🙂

[snowdrops]

Squish from here too or if you think the tops are too far gone allow a side Shoot to become the leader & take the top out

[Dr_Pepper]

The problem with controlling leafhoppers with a contact-acting pesticide like Pyrethrum is actually hitting the insects - the juveniles don't jump so you have more chance of hitting them but the adults are incredibly hard to hit in my experience.

If you can get hold of some yellow sticky traps, hanging them up around the plants before spraying with a contact-acting pesticide - say Pyrethrum or a detergent-based product will catch the adults that jump clear of the spay.

I have visited organic pepper growers in Spain who hang red sticky traps all through their crops when they spot leafhoppers. These work really well at suppressing the populations without spraying. Also red is much less attractive to other flying insects than yellow and so you don't end up trapping all the beneficial insects.

One word of warning, the co-formulants in some Pyrethrum products are quite harsh and can burn the plants if you apply too liberally (my experience is with the Pyrethrum 5EC product on peppers)

[arh]

Thank you for that info, DR Pepper.Perhaps that is what happened to my R/beans when I sprayed them and some of the leaves curled up somewhat, a bit later. We live and learn.

[Yorkie]

One word of warning, the co-formulants in some Pyrethrum products are quite harsh and can burn the plants if you apply too liberally (my experience is with the Pyrethrum 5EC product on peppers)

With some pesticides, it's also worth making sure you're familiar with the maximum number of sprays you can do on a plant (particularly a food crop) and the spraying interval.

[Viv_Logan]

Sorry for the late reply,was a bit off colour for a few days. Going to read he replies now, thank everyone!