Whitebacked Planthopper: Hopperburn and How to Prevent It

It lives side by side with the brown planthopper, and farmers often blame both for the same patches. In Asia it also carries the Southern rice black streaked dwarf virus. It matters in the Philippines because early insecticide sprays are known to trigger planthopper outbreaks.

How to Identify Whitebacked Planthopper

Part the hills and look at the base of the plants, near the water. Look for tiny pale brown insects with a white stripe on the back. If the stripe is missing and the insect is darker brown, you are likely looking at the brown planthopper instead. Both hop when disturbed. Check also for the green insects of the green leafhopper, which are wedge shaped and green.

• Small pale brown insects with a white stripe on the back sit low on the plant.
• Plants are stunted, with fewer tillers and lighter grain.
• Patches of plants wilt, dry out and die, which is called hopperburn.
• Eggs sit inside stems and along the midribs of the leaves.
• Natural enemies such as the mirid bug are fewer than the hoppers.

How Whitebacked Planthopper Hurts Your Palay

Both nymphs and adults suck phloem sap. This causes stunting, fewer tillers and a loss of grain weight. In severe attacks, the plants wilt, dry and die, which is hopperburn.

At 400 to 500 nymphs per plant, or 200 adults, the crop can be lost completely through hopperburn. There is also a nursery rule. Use a pesticide on the seedbed only if you find more than one planthopper per stem, or more planthoppers than natural enemies.

How to Control Whitebacked Planthopper

1. Plant together with the farms around you, within about three weeks, so crops do not overlap.
2. Use early maturing or tolerant varieties, and grow no more than two rice crops a year.
3. Split the nitrogen into doses. Too much nitrogen builds up planthoppers.
4. Drain the field for three to four days if the numbers are high.
5. Do not keep a ratoon crop, and plow the stubble in after harvest.
6. Watch the mirid bug Cyrtorhinus lividipennis and the egg wasps of the genus Anagrus. They are the main natural enemies, and broad spectrum sprays wipe them out.

When a Spray Makes Sense

Use no insecticide early in the crop, because early sprays kill spiders and wasps and cause planthopper outbreaks. Spray only when the count passes the nursery rule above or a technician confirms an outbreak. Choose selective products, and do not repeat the same product again and again.

• Cypermethrin: Pyrethroids kill the spiders and mirid bugs that eat hoppers, and planthoppers come back worse after the spray.
• Lambda cyhalothrin plus thiamethoxam and bifenthrin plus clothianidin: The pyrethroid in it kills spiders and lets planthoppers come back worse.

Resistance. Whitebacked planthopper in East and Southeast Asia resists fipronil (IRAC 2B), so do not lean on it. Rotate among groups 4A, 9B and 16, and never use one group twice in a row.

Keep It Out Next Season

• Plant within about three weeks of the farms around you, and grow no more than two rice crops a year.
• Split the nitrogen into doses. Too much nitrogen, often on hybrid rice, builds up this hopper fast.
• Drain the field for three to four days when the numbers climb.
• Do not keep a ratoon crop, and plow the stubble in after harvest.
• No insecticide in the first 30 to 40 days after transplanting unless the count passes the threshold.

Natural Enemies and Biological Help

• The mirid bug Cyrtorhinus lividipennis and Anagrus egg wasps are its main enemies. Broad spectrum sprays wipe them out.
• Wolf spiders and lady beetles eat the nymphs. Count them with the hoppers before you decide.

Not Sure What You Are Seeing?

Take a clear photo of the insect, the damage and the whole plant, then ask Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io, in Tagalog or English. Anee tells you what it most likely is and what to do at the age of your crop. You can also put your scouting days on the cropping calendar, so the team knows when to walk the field.

Questions Farmers Ask About Whitebacked Planthopper