Persimmon Psylla
Trioza diospyri
A tiny sap-sucking insect whose nymphs feed on the new growth of persimmon, curling and stunting the young leaves. It is mostly a pest of tender spring flushes on wild and cultivated persimmon, and while it rarely kills a tree, heavy infestations distort the foliage and slow the growth of young trees.
🔎 How to spot it
Adults are small, about an eighth to a fraction over an eighth of an inch long, and hold their wings rooflike over the body, jumping readily when disturbed. The nymphs are flat, sluggish, and pale, and secrete white waxy fluff and a fringe around their edges as they feed clustered in the curled leaves. The first sign is usually new leaves that roll, cup, or pucker around the feeding nymphs.
🥀 Damage it causes
The nymphs pierce and suck sap from the expanding leaves at the shoot tips, causing the leaves to curl, cup, thicken, and stay undersized, and the rolled leaves shelter the feeding insects. Damage is concentrated on the new growth, so it stunts shoots and is most harmful to young or nursery trees pushing tender flushes. Established bearing trees tolerate the feeding with mainly cosmetic leaf curl.
🛡️ Prevent it
Tolerate light infestations, since the damage is largely cosmetic on established trees and natural enemies usually bring numbers down as the season warms. Avoid pushing trees into constant soft growth with heavy nitrogen, because the nymphs favor tender flushes. Prune out and destroy badly curled, infested shoot tips on young trees to remove the sheltered nymphs.
🧯 If it is already here
On young trees where curling is heavy, a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap or horticultural oil directed at the new growth knocks down the exposed nymphs, with repeat treatment as fresh flushes appear. Reserve stronger insecticides for severe cases on nursery stock, since the pest seldom warrants them and hot weather plus parasitic wasps often collapse the population on their own.
💡 Good to know
Persimmon psylla is one of the few insects specific to persimmon, so curled, puckered new leaves on persimmon are a strong clue. Because the nymphs hide inside the rolled leaves, contact sprays work best while leaves are still expanding and before they fully close around the insects. Summer heat and natural enemies usually end the problem without intervention on mature trees.
🌱 Plants it attacks
2 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest
For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.