Yes, Bill, you're spot on - when they're in active growth. I've never had the leaf hopper problem that you mention. You might also pot those plants, particularly the Opie, in larger-than-needed pots with large rocks at the bottom of those pots or (my favourite) put the currently-potted plants into larger pots that have soil in them and keep that soil moist a lot of the time - it's worked wonders for my Opie.

Jeff, you mean to leave in original pot which is then inserted in a larger pot and surrounded with soil? This surrounding soil is now what you water to encourage roots to grow into the larger pot?

Imidracloprid is very effective against leaf hoppers since it's systemic. Just don't expect your plants to be insect pollenated this year.

Bill, yes, but I generally water both. This method is particularly effective when the pot's located in a hot area (in my case, on the western side of our house on the deck outside the master bedroom - it gets so hot there in summer I don't go out barefoot until the sun's past the yardarm). You will experience incredible growth. Also effective is if the plant pot is terra-cotta, as that allows more effective absorption.