This past week, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) emergency external quarantine for cotton jassid (Two Spotted Leaf Hopper) that prohibits the shipment of plants or materials from cotton jassid infested areas into California effective immediately.
 
Cotton jassid is a pest with reported hosts in at least six plant families including cotton, grapevine, tomato, okra, eggplant, sunflower, and hibiscus.  It has recently become established in the Southeastern United States and was intercepted in October of 2025 in California of a shipment of hibiscus from Alabama.  Cotton jassid is native to Asia, and the first detection in the US was in Florida in 2024.  It has spread quickly and is now found in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.  It is believed to be spread by the movement of hibiscus, as it was detected in a shipment of hibiscus from Florida to Texas, and now in a shipment of hibiscus from Alabama to California.
 
CDFA believes the cotton jassid to pose significant economic and environmental harm if it were to become established in California and is why they are establishing the emergency external quarantine. CDFA has assigned the cotton jassid an “A” pest rating, which places the pest in the highest risk regulatory category.  Cotton jassid has piercing sucking mouthparts and feeds on phloem from host plants.  It is believed to inject toxins during feeding causing “hopper burn” and the browning and curling of leaves, defoliation and the loss of flowers, fruits, and bolls, and sooty mold.  Damage in cotton has been known to progress from minor to severe in less than two weeks. 
 
Of particular concern to California cotton growers is the fact that two of the recommended pesticides, neonicotinoids and Dicrotophos (Bidrin), are prohibited in California. However, flonicamid (Carbine) has been shown to be effective.  The goal of the emergency quarantine is to prevent cotton jassid from ever becoming established here.  The Association pushed for the emergency quarantine, and is working closely with CDFA, USDA and the National Cotton Council to fight the further spread of this devastating pest.  The Association is also working with the California Plant Council as we believe that the movement of hibiscus could also be helping to spread the cotton seed bug (CSB) based on the most recent finds of CSB on hibiscus in nurseries in San Diego.