I’m harping on the same subject, but virtually the only question I am receiving is “what should I spray next for plant bugs in cotton”?  Granted, there are stink bugs in the system also, but these are more easily controlled and often handled by treatments targeting plant bugs.  We’ve had high infestation levels at the station in Jackson.  I’ve included some ratings from one of our tests below.  We originally sprayed threshold levels of adults (few nymphs were present).  Note that we saw little impact of the “A” application on immature plant bugs at 8 days after treatment, although we appeared to do a good job of reducing adult numbers.  However, at 4 days after the “B” application, we observed 80-90% control with the better treatments.   This is realistically about as good as you should expect.   It is pretty clear that product selection matters.  For the less effective treatments, populations were still above threshold at 4 days after a second application (threshold = 6 per 10 row feet).   This puts you on a spraying treadmill.

I’ll continue encouraging the use of our “go to” mid-season products, the core of which will be Acephate/Orthene, Bidrin, or Transform, with or without tank mix partners such as a pyrethroid insecticides or Diamond (depending on the complex).  Products such as Vydate (12-16 oz/a) or Dimethoate 4E (8-12 oz/acre) are also worth a mention.  I will be more strongly promoting tank mixes with pyrethroids as we are finally seeing indications of a bollworm flight, although there are no reports of significant infestations at this time.