Alabama Cotton Insect Situation: May 19, 2023

Planters have been rolling over the past 7 to 10 days, when popup showers haven’t chased them out. We have talked to a couple of folks this week that have had to dodge rains trying to get the crop in. Overall, I think we are in pretty good shape right now.

The biggest question we have gotten this week: What’s thrips pressure looking like? This tells me most folks are in the same shape we are in, most of the cotton we have looked at is still in the cotyledon stage. It can be hard to tell until you start putting on a true leaf and getting some immature thrips hatching out to know what is going on. My best advice is to either consider the rainfall over the past 3 or so weeks and use the Thrips Model to try to predict what is going to happen. Of course, there is no substitute for actually getting out and scouting your cotton to see what is going on.

On that note, I will plug the 64^th Cotton Scouting Schools. We have 4 programs planned across the state this year. You can click the link on Agenda for details on each location. We published a story on the longest consecutive running program in Alabama Extension here.

Southeast Alabama — Cotton and Peanut
June 6
Wiregrass Research and Extension Center
Headland, Alabama

Agenda

Central and West Alabama — Cotton and Soybean
June 8
Autauga County Agricultural Center
Autaugaville, Alabama

Agenda

Tennessee Valley — Cotton and Soybean
June 14
Tennessee Valley Research and Extension Center
Belle Mina, Alabama

Agenda

Northeast Alabama — Cotton
June 22
McCord’s Fire Station #1
1150 County Road 157
Centre, Alabama

Agenda

For more information on thresholds and insecticide recommendations, visit the Alabama Cotton IPM Guide (IPM-0415). To stay up-to-date on the Alabama cotton insect situation, subscribe to the Alabama Cotton Shorts Newsletter, Alabama Crops Report Newsletter and Podcast, and the Syngenta Pest Patrol Hotline.

Alabama Cotton Insect Situation: May 10, 2023

As of Monday (5/8), we have turned hot and dry. In many fields we have walked across Central Alabama this week, moisture is lacking and stands are struggling to make. Some areas caught a rain yesterday, but storms were somewhat localized. Over the coming days, some fields may need to be irrigated up. As our agronomist Dr. Steve Brown says, farmers know their ground far better than we do, so you will know what you have and when it is time to make a call on a stand.

We have seen and heard a few reports of grasshoppers across central Alabama. Nothing too bad but some requiring treatments. Remember that the issue is more tied to the risk of stand loss and not leaf feeding. If grasshoppers chew on the mainstem, that is often enough to lose the plant. We don’t have any thresholds, so treatments are made based on the grower’s acceptable risk. If stands are spotty, risk may be higher. With the number of adult grasshoppers in the field, Dimilin alone will likely not be enough. In our experience, acephate (0.67-0.75 lbs) does a good job on adults and the added Dimilin (2 oz) provides good residual control of the immatures.

Moving to thrips, some things have changed from our last update. Missing those couple of rain chances the past week has altered expected pressure some in Central and South Alabama. Across these areas, now cotton planted through the first week of May is at a higher risk. As previously predicted, Cotton planted starting today (May 9) and later is at a much lower risk overall. When we planted our thrips trials in Prattville on May 2, the model rated the pressure around a “0.4,” which is pretty low. Today, the model is predicting a “0.94.” This is a good reminder that the model can and does change as weather predictions become a reality.

Bottom line: There is a good chance most of our (non-ThryvOn) cotton planted before May 8^th or so is going to need a foliar spray to supplement at-plant insecticides. Keep watching the model and scouting for thrips and injury. For the folks trying out ThryvOn, we do not expect to need foliar sprays to supplement thrips control.

For more information on thresholds and insecticide recommendations, visit the Alabama Cotton IPM Guide (IPM-0415). To stay up-to-date on the Alabama cotton insect situation, subscribe to the Alabama Cotton Shorts Newsletter, Alabama Crops Report Newsletter and Podcast, and the Syngenta Pest Patrol Hotline.