The supply, availability and price of popular plants, shrubs and trees for landscaping and back yard use are threatened. The combination of Pierce's disease with a highly mobile vector creates a dynamic and dangerous situation for Californians. Agricultural crops are the most visible and quantifiable targets, but decorative plants, landscaping, highway medians and other non-agricultural plantings are also at risk. The threat to the urban environment is real. A shady spot in the backyard is a nice retreat on a hot summer day but it could be a nuisance because of the sharpshooter.
Sharpshooters excrete water droplets when they feed on plants.
These droplets eventually wet people, cars, backyard play equipment, pools, cars and sidewalks. Sharpshooters filter out minerals and amino acids from the liquid sucked from plants. They filter so much water to get adequate nutrition that it excretes a sizeable droplet of water about every three seconds. When dry, the watery excrement leaves trees and shrubs with a white-washed appearance. Favorite residential host plants for the sharpshooter include ash, bougainvillea, camellia, citrus, crape myrtle, eucalyptus, loquat, magnolia, mulberry, oak, privet, umbrella tree, apple, most stone fruits, blackberry, Chinese elm, oleander, philodendron, pine, sycamore, trumpet flower, wisteria, willow and yucca.