I’ve had some reports of well-above treatment levels of tarnished plant bugs in cotton that is just beginning to square.  Be advised that plant bugs will often concentrate in the first fields that begin squaring.  There have also been reports of brown and green stink bug Continue reading →

THRIPS continue to plague some cotton, and treatments are still being made and needed on some cotton that is fourth and fifth leaf.  Clearly much of this is due to high pressure and poor weather conditions during emergence nearly a month ago.  Not making timely treatments at the first and second leaf cotton has also resulted in a later than normal need for foliar thrips application. Much of this was to be expected given the tight schedule that growers were on in planting and replanting.  However, there has also been some control “failures” of insecticide seed treatments. In these examples, two or even three applications for thrips have been justified. Most complaints have been on cotton planted May 5-15 and where Cruiser was used. Phytogen 375 WRF was another commonality, but this is not too surprising considering how much of our acreage is planted with this variety.  Continue reading →