Glassy-winged sharpshooters

 The Nuisance That Should Provide a Raincoat

🪲 Garden Pests| by Guy Saldiveri | 02/12/2026

Glassy-winged sharpshooters are a pest that I for one place in the nuisance category. They are sucking insects that feed on sap. They show up in abundant numbers in the latter part of the season, and have a nasty habit of—let’s call it “spitting” at you.

But to be honest, I haven’t seen them do major damage to my particular plants. They mostly affect my asparagus beans and crepe myrtles, and I’ve not found any reliable way to keep them away. 

Sharpshooters can be a significant problem with certain crops because they transmit a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa. This bacterium can cause Pierce’s disease. It can, at times be a very serious threat to things like grapes, although I haven’t had any issues with my Muscadines.

They sit on the vines and suck the juice (xylem fluid), and then spit it back out at you. If you’ve ever felt “rain” while walking under a crepe myrtle on a sunny day, it’s likely these guys spitting at you. The spitting is due to the lack of nutrients in the liquid they are consuming. They have to consume an abundance of it, and the excess is expelled. 

OK, here’s a “come-clean” disclaimer: this is a direct quote from one of the search engines on this subject:

“Sharpshooters feed on xylem sap, which is basically plant Gatorade: extremely dilute, low nutrient, and under tension. To get enough nutrition, they have to drink constantly—we’re talking hundreds of times their body weight per day. 

That means they also have to get rid of the excess water constantly.

And here’s the fun part: They excrete it under pressure, in droplets, often flicking them away with a specialized anal stylus. 

This is called “xylem droplet excretion” or, more charmingly, “butt flicking.”

Sharpshooter “pee” is basically filtered sap

Xylem sap is:

• 99% water

• A tiny bit of minerals

• A trace of amino acids

• Almost no sugars

• No fats, no proteins, no waste products in the human sense

So, nothing dangerous, even if it can’t be classified as ‘Evian water’”

OK, since that’s out of the way, I feel better—well, kind of—and yes, I’m still referring to it as “spitting!” [shrug]

They’re quick to play hide-and-seek, ducking behind a stem the moment they spot you. It makes hand-picking them a frustrating game of tag. I find the best way to get around them is to overplant my beans and make sure I have enough for both of us. 

Natural predators include wasps and assassin bugs, but there are usually too many for them to control. I generally try to ignore them and stay away from my crepe myrtles—unless I 'm carrying an umbrella.

Happy Gardening 🌱