There are insects that can feed on a large number of plants; among them, we find a group commonly known as  "chicharritas" or leafhoppers. Many persons have seen them in garden plants, either on ornamental or fruit trees or in smaller plants.

One of these insects, known in the scientific world as Homalodisca liturata, goes jumping from one tree to the other. We frequently see it on the floor at dawn because it is intensively attracted to the light of lamps and light bulbs in public street lights. When these insects feed, they inject needles and suck plant fluids. When they are full, they eliminate fluid as very soft dew as rain, which seems strange because its form and color melts with the tree branches.

Knowledge of  plant-insect interaction is very important because it has been demonstrated that several vector species make plants sick and even kill them because there are many microscopic organisms that are injected to the plants through their mouth in the form of needles. Among these pathogens are mainly virus and phytoplasms.

This problem is particularly dangerous in cultivation fields because when insects jump from one plant to the other they infect them until they create a severe problem for farmers.

In Baja California Sur there is scarce knowledge in this subject, which is the reason for this project whose objective is to support farmers of organic basil, tomato, and chili pepper because they are the most important produce cultivations in the state. How can we achieve this objective? First, we need to know the species of leafhoppers that have this quality because there are species that do not affect plants in this manner; we need to see if they are virus and/or phytoplasms, and then identify their possible natural enemies to fight them avoiding as much as possible the use of pesticides that harm our field, wild species, and the sea.

This project is also being performed on fruit trees, especially citrics to support orange farmers from the valley. This is why we are collaborating with the Comité de Sanidad Vegetal de B.C.S [Plant Health Committee] and with farmers from Constitución.