Plant Bugs

A few fields have received controls for adult tarnished plant bugs during the past week. However, it appears that most of the June migratory adults have died off and we should shift our focus to their immature offspring in the next 2 to 3 weeks. Unlike the Mid-South, our movement of plant bugs comes primarily from wild host plants around field borders during a one to three week period in June. Thereafter, we only have to control their offspring within fields. This period can extend for several weeks since the June migratory adults deposited eggs over a multi week period. Surveyors should now shift from the sweep net to a drop cloth as they focus on the July immature population in blooming cotton.