This week has been an eventful one for cotton in the southeast. Cotton jassid was documented in Tifton, GA (June 10, okra), Tallassee, AL (June 11, cotton) and Quincy, FL (June 12, cotton). These are the first documented cases of cotton jassid in “the real world” in the Cotton Belt since a single jassid was found on a sticky trap in January in Georgia.
What does this mean for Alabama cotton farmers? For one, it
means your scout is about to get busy. I suspect we are setting up similarly to
2025, but only time will tell. Last year, we also found the first cotton jassid
in Alabama in Tallassee on June 17. As everyone remembers, we did not see
widespread infestations in the real world until mid-August. However, we also
did not start intensely scouting for cotton jassid until around that time. We
will likely find them earlier in commercial fields this year because we are
more actively scouting.
We have already started getting questions about changing
plant bug management plans based on this new information. For now, I would stay
the course. Until we start seeing real numbers of jassids in commercial fields,
I would address plant bugs in the most efficient and economical way possible.
Keep in mind that materials like imidacloprid did provide some suppression (≈56%) of cotton jassids in our
research trials last year. If populations are essentially undetectable, then
this amount of control should be good enough for now.
We are also seeing a ton of what we are calling “jassid
mimics” or “look-alikes” that are other leafhopper species that look similar to
but are not cotton jassids. These species do not cause hopperburn. If you are currently
finding immature leafhoppers easily, I think there is a very high degree of
certainty that it is one of the mimic species. The only way in the field to know
you are dealing with cotton jassid is to see adults with the two black spots on
the wings.
