what's GWS? slugs?

glassy winged sharpshooter = GWS

what a name. lol. i do see a lot of those green little bugs everywhere even on my grape leaves. i might spray some neem oil to see if it helps.

According to several sources that Glassy Winged Sharpshooter is a minor nuisance in its native southeastern US, although it has become an major pest in southern California. It may be nothing of concern in Washington. The most effective control for these wee buggers seems to be Insecticidal Soap which is also quite harmful to the predators. Perhaps this articles will be of some use.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7492.html

I would check with the people at your local Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service office about this insect before doing anything.

About the Fig tree. what kind of soil is that growing in? What is the soils pH? What about nutrients?

kimmq is kimmsr

I finger smash GWS and do not spray soap or anything else. Sprays, even organic ones, will kill good bugs and bad indiscriminately. Better to strive for balance, not eradication.

Unless you find these creatures present in quantity (more than just a half dozen or so) you do not need to do anything. The damage they cause is really insignificant.

And don't worry about soil or soil pH - western Washington soils and growing conditions are close to ideal for growing figs.

btw, insecticidal soap, used as directed, is very restrictive in its targets and DOES NOT adversely effect beneficials. It is only effective against soft bodied insects like aphids, adelgids, mealybugs, thrips, jumping plant lice, scale insects, white flies and sawfly larvae and works by smothering. It can sometimes be helpful against caterpillars and leafhoppers but is seldom very effective alone against these larger bodied insects. Most pollinators and predatory insects such as lady beetles, lacewings, predatory wasps, mantis, assassin bugs, bumble bees and hoverflies are unaffected, although it is not encouraged to spray when these are present. It is also a contact-only insecticide and has no residual effect.

Thanks guys. I do see a lot of these green little bugs on my grape leaves and now they are moving onto fig. But the damage on fig leaves is like burning while the damage on grape leaves are more like from being bite.

I don't know about the ph of the soil. It's 100% compost and I just dumped a lot of used coffee ground and tree leaves few week ago.

I can't see any creatures in that picture. Can you say where we are supposed to be looking?

It's on the bottom of the 3rd picture in the first post

Oh, right. I thought you meant there was something in the last picture.

Not a good picture. But you might be able to see 5 of those on one grape leaf.

Start finger smashing already. ;)

They flying fast. I googled around and found murphys soap might work. I will give it a try.

Not the glassy wing. Instead the bluegreen sharp shooter.

Neither is the cause of the leaf damage. That dry brown tissue is from high heat, probably also low humidity, even though only briefly during a hot spell.