With the early planted cotton beginning to square, it is time to be thinking about your plans for managing plant bugs in 2013.

Insecticide Options (UT Cotton Insect Control Guide)

Preflowering, not much has changed.  Centric 40WG (1.5 – 2.0 oz/acre) or imidacloprid products such Admite Pro, Couraze, and several others will still be the most common insecticides used for tarnished plant bug.  Formulations vary considerably among the different imidacloprid products, so be sure to use the right rate.  The suggested rate range is 0.047 – 0.062 lb ai/acre.  Several folks have even experimented with reduced rates of Centric mixed with imidacloprid to help keep costs down and improve control over that of imidacloprid applied alone.  Belay, another neonicotinoid, and is also an option at 3-4 oz/acre.  Intruder, although included in our plant bug recommendations, is typically used when cotton aphids are the primary target.  Carbine, because it has a different mode of action, may be a better choice when primarily targeting aphids because of increasing aphid resistance to neonicotinoid insecticides such as Centric, Intruder, Belay and the imidacloprid products.

Given the way the year as unfolded, I’m getting a number of calls about thrips in spot replanted cotton, and there are plant bugs in the same field on the original stand.  It is very unusual to have a problem with both pests at the same time, but the exception proves the rule.  I normally discourage the use of acephate/Orthene in squaring cotton until after first bloom.  But in this scenario, I think the best choice is to spray acephate at 0.5 lb ai/acre.  At this time of year, that rate should be adequate for plant bugs.

Transform 50WG (sulfoxaflor) is a new insecticide that provides excellent control of plant bugs when used at 1.5 oz/acre.  Rates as low as 0.75 oz/acre should provide good control of aphids.  This product has a fit both preflowering and during bloom, but given the cost, I expect most people will reserve its use until crunch time during peak flowering.

It is too early to go into detail on insecticide options in flowering cotton, but my goal is to avoid the continual use of neonictinoid insecticides throughout the season.  Thus, once flowering begins, I typically start recommending products or tank mixes with a different mode(s) of action.  Your selection should vary depending on what other pests are present, such as stink bugs or bollworm.  Acephate, Bidrin, Diamond or Vydate are common selections for plant bug, either alone or tank mix with pyrethroid insecticides, depending upon what other pests are in the field.