I’ve made a number of comments about controlling plant bugs on pre-flowering cotton in previous blog articles (linked below). Tarnished plant bug infestations continue to remain above average in many fields. Rain is aggravating the spray logistics and Continue reading
I’ve had a couple of reports of cotton fleahoppers, and this pest has also been observed in our neighboring states. The cotton fleahopper is a green colored plant bug (see picture below). The adults are about one-half the size of tarnished plant bugs. The immatures are smaller, lack wings and light green in color. They can cause the shedding of small squares similar to tarnished plant bug.
I dealt with fleahoppers when I lived in Texas where they use a treatment threshold that ranges anywhere from 10-25 bugs per 100 terminals during the first three weeks of squaring. In my experience, 20-25 fleahoppers per 100 terminals is often enough to reduce square retention below acceptable levels. The good news is that cotton fleahopper infestations should be controlled by the typical rates of Carbine, Centric, Intruder and imidacloprid recommended for tarnished plant bug.
Reports continue of well-above treatment levels of tarnished plant bugs in cotton, especially in fields with 8-10 nodes. There have also been reports of necessary re-treatments. Remember, the suggested treatment threshold for tarnished plant bugs during the first two weeks of squaring is an average of 8 or more bugs per 100 sweeps. You should strive to maintain square retention above 80% by the time you hit bloom. If your square retention is Continue reading
Threecornered alfalfa hoppers (TCAH) are being reported in soybean fields scattered throughout West Tennessee. In my experience, populations during the seedling stage are often highest in late planted, reduced tillage fields (often in wheat beans). In soybean less than 8-10 inches tall, this insect feeds in a circular fashion around the plant stem with its beak. This girdling will eventually cause a swollen callus on the stem, but this may not be obvious on small plants. Girdling causes little damage unless plants break over. Continue reading
Japanese beetles are showing up in corn, soybean and cotton. Of these cotton is their least favorite. These showy beetles often hang out in groups and draw a lot of attention. Fortunately, they rarely cause yield loss in field crops. The beetles will feed on leaves, flowers and corn silks. Japanese beetles have a wide host range which includes many ornamental plants. They were introduced into the northeast U.S. nearly 100 years ago and have been slowly spreading south and east ever since. They only have one generation per year, and the adults started emerging last week. Adults will continue to emerge for several more weeks and will persist into July. Larvae are white grubs that feed underground and are sometimes a pest of turfgrass. Continue reading
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
Beginning Friday and continuing over the weekend I received a few calls about false chinch bug infestations in cotton and soybeans. This is an occasional but potentially serious pest of these crops during the seedling stages. They are most often associated with reduced tillage where delayed burndowns allowed certain weeds to persist into the field close to or after planting. My colleague, Angus Catchot, just posted an article about this pest on The MSU Crop Blog site at Continue reading