THRIPS Thrips may delay maturity if heavy damage occurs at the 1 to 5th
true leaf stage.
Use seed treatments or insecticide applied in-furrow at planting.
Make foliar spray when the first true leaf is just emerging if
cotton is planted before
May 10 and the minimum nighttime temperature is below 65⁰
F.
PLANT
BUGS Monitor cotton for pinhead square
set
when squaring begins
(about
6th true leaf).
Continue checking pinhead square set until about first bloom. During this same time period use sweep net (can be purchased
for
about $75 from Gempler’s , www.Gempler’s.com) to sample for adults. Spray for adults
if 5-8 per
100 row feet (33 sweeps) are found.
PLANT BUGS After
first bloom check for immature plant bugs
(small, green with
long antenna) with a drop cloth spread between two rows. Beat plants briskly to dislodge immatures from inside of the square bracts. Spray at threshold of one immature per
row foot.
Continue surveys for about 3-4 weeks.
APHIDS Only treat when over 50% of
the plants have aphid clustering under leaves, honeydew is present, and cotton is under drought stress.
ESCAPE
BOLLWORMS For about 10-14 days,
beginning July 20 in Central
Alabama monitor squares and
white blooms for small bollworm larvae. Move this date 10 days earlier for
South Alabama
and
10 days later for North Alabama.
If the field has not been
sprayed multiple times
for plant bugs,
fire
ants will also be searching white blooms for these small larvae. Spray pyrethroid at a high labelled rate if 5 to 10 or more larvae about quarter inch in
length are
found per 100 plants. You may look at fewer than 100 plants but express the
number on a 100 percent basis. Tobacco budworms
do
not escape genetic cotton, therefore, even large bollworms can
be controlled
unless they are already imbedded
in a boll.
STINK BUGS Begin looking for
stinkbug damage on field
borders (first 5-10 rows) about the third
week of
bloom. This would be about July 20 in an average plant date year. Pull 10-25
bolls
that are the
size of a quarter in diameter and still
soft
to the touch. This boll
would
be
about 10-12 days old. If you find internal
damage on the border, search further into the field and collect more bolls. Treat border and/or the entire field when 10% of these
bolls
have
internal damage from stinkbugs. Damage will appear as
warts in the boll wall
or dark areas around the seed. Continue scouting for stinkbugs until
the top bolls
you
hope to harvest are about 25 days old and hard. Scout for 5-6 weeks beginning the third
week of
bloom.
SPIDER MITES Observe for the presence of spider mites underneath
leaves. Mites will move when the leaf is pulled, inverted,
and the mites
are exposed to the sun. Treat when mites are detected over much
of the field and the weather outlook for the
next
7-10 days is hot and dry. Mites do not reproduce or
spread as fast when weather conditions
are not favorable. Rainfall does
not
kill mites, they just do not reproduce ad spread as rapidly.
