Many mature orchards now show a bronzing of the terminal shoot leaves, but it does very little harm to mature trees. The peach silver mite is very easily overlooked, and its leaf damage can easily be blamed on something else like potassium deficiency. Peach silver mite is easily controlled by wettable sulfur, or by a number of miticides including oils and soaps. Be sure to carefully identify the causes of foliage symptoms and defoliation now. Next year take measures, if needed, to control these problems.
Leafhoppers cause defoliation in almonds nearly every year.
We can see two different leafhoppers in almond. One is the apple leafhopper, Empoasca maligna which is yellowish green with white dashes, and the other is the rose leafhopper, Empoa rosae, which is yellowish white with dark eyes and tarsal claws. Leafhoppers have two generations per year, but the generation starting now is the one that often damages almonds. Nonpareil seems to be the least damaged. Ruby, Mission, Monterey and Aldrich seem to be very susceptible to leafhopper damage.