My raspberries are dying. The leaves are getting yellow spotting. Some are wilting. Some of the canes are turning a brown slime about 1/2 way down the cane. The leaves are also being munched on. I found a green narrow bug about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long and very thin. It blends in with the canes and leaves. When I tried to catch any to examine them further, they fly away. I couldn't find it described on any of the raspberry pest web sites. Please help!
The only bug I can think of is a spittlebug sometimes called a froghopper because they have a frog face. The adults are usually mottled brown or black 1/4 or 1/2 inch long. The young are yellow to yellowish green they usually live inside a foamy mass of spittle. These bugs will suck plant juices of strawberries and other plants causing a reduced yield or just a weakened plant. I will check into it.
I think you may be right. We caught one, froze it and took a good look. I haven't seen the spittle yet, but I did see this am what I think may be the adult spittlebug. I sprayed a "soap" insectiside, for the last two weeks or so, but they are still there. Do you know a way to kill them without harming the raspberries. They seem to be very destructive. Do they eat leaves and stems too. If not I may have more than one pest.
All I could find out about killing them and not harming your plants was to wash the spittle masses off the plants with a strong stream of water, try to keep some native bugs that would devour these pests by not using pesticides, and try using a row cover. I am not sure about the leaves and stems other than sucking juices from the plants.
I think that it is actually a leaf hopper. I did think I saw an adult spittle bug, but I don't have any spittle anywhere. I read somewhere that a leaf hopper is similar to a spittle bug and the pictures seem to be closer to the bug I have. What's a row cover? I actually just have a small row of bushes. I love raspberries, but have been unsuccessful in producing one single good crop. The previous two years I had something that was making a small hole in the berry and then the whole berry would sometimes be miscolored and miss-shapen. I could never find any bug and the leaves ,stems and canes were fine. I asked so many berry people and no one could identify the problem. Prior to that they produced fine berries in a different location. The yield was small due to lack of sun. I moved them so they could get more sun. Thanks so much for your help with this years problem. I never thought about a forum until my husband suggested it.
