Tales of Cotton Insects: June 24, 2026

Overall, the Alabama cotton insect situation has been relatively quite so far this year. This probably has a lot to do with all the rains we have experienced across the state over the past couple weeks. Hopefully we are about to get into a “normal” summer pattern and get some sunshine and heat and get the crop off and running.

Adult tarnished plant bug

Plant bug calls have started to come in over the last few days. In north Alabama, populations have been sporadic, but are really picking up in the earliest planted, most mature cotton fields. Fewer reports are coming from central and south Alabama, but some fields are approaching treatable levels. As a reminder, threshold is 8 adult plant bugs per 100 sweeps and maintain 80% of the first position pinhead squares in the upper 2-3 nodes of the canopy.

Some fields are approaching two weeks after the first adult plant bug spray and needing another application. In these cases, it is a good time to get Diamond out in addition to a knockdown insecticide to help get some residual suppression of immature plant bugs.

We have also seen some pretty heavy infestations of aphids in fields in central Alabama and gotten similar reports from other areas of the state.
Generally, populations are not enough to warrant application alone, but they are getting close. The biggest issue appears to be due to the fact cotton has been stressed and not growing off like we typically see this time of year. Hopefully it will turn a corner soon and outrun the aphids.

Good news on the cotton jassid front: we have not found any more in the state since our initial detection on June 11. Yesterday (June 23) we turned over ≈5,000 leaves in cotton across 3 planting dates in Headland and did not find a single jassid. According to the literature, cooler temperatures (<84F) slow down their growth and development, and heavy rains can knock down populations by up to 70%. It appears that the good Lord is giving us some early season suppression. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as things change.

Things have also been quite in soybeans this year. We have gotten reports of Mexican bean beetle in fields in Northeast Alabama this week. Adult MBB may be confused with lady beetles, as the look similar, but they can cause a lot of defoliation in a hurry. The immatures are yellow, spiney and pill shaped. MBB tend to feed between the leaf veins leaving a lacy appearance. Threshold is to avoid 35% defoliation in vegetative soybeans and 20% in reproductive soybeans.

Adult (L) and immature (R) Mexican bean beetle.
Phot: Eddie McGriff

As always, if we can ever be of any help, or if you would like to provide input on the situation in your area, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your local Extension Agent or myself (Scott Graham: 662-809-3368) and Ron Smith (334-332-9501). 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.