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Vol. XXIV, No. 6

Cotton looks very good over the area with most fields having pinhead to half grown squares. A few late planted fields have not yet reached the square stage.

False chinch bugs continue to be found in many area cotton fields. In a few cases the field margins have had damage due to feeding by this pest. In heavily infested areas 100 to 200 bugs per plant have been reported. The false chinch bug is very small with adults about 5/32's of an inch and nymphs 1/16 to 1/8 inch. They are gray to dark tan in color and often found in large numbers as they migrate from weeds or pasture into field crops. Pyrethroids and carbaryl (Sevin) have been found to be very effective in controlling many plant bug species.

Fleahoppers and Lygus bug species continue to be found in area cotton fields. So far most cotton has been able to retain high percent square sets. Most fields have 85 to 95% squares set, but these plant bugs should still be watched closely. In the "Lygus Complex" we have four species based on research by Dr. Scott Armstrong of Texas Tech University. They are Lygus hesperus, Lygus lineolaris, Lygus elisus and Polymerus basalis. We generally assume that the biology and damage from these are similar, but additional research will determine if this is true in west Texas.

Beet armyworm traps in Edmonson-Kress area and Cotton Center- Hale Center area are collecting 35 to 70 moths per day in both areas. Larvae continue to be observed in area fields, but remain light overall.

Boll weevils remain extremely low in the 200 area traps we are monitoring. I believe these are the lowest counts since 1995 when we started trapping. Most of our traps were zeros for this past week. They could still build to economic infestations by August.

Spider mites, corn earworms, fall armyworms and European corn borers remain light at this time.

Adult western corn rootworms and Mexican corn rootworms were observed by scouts in area corn fields on June 18. Dr. Pat Porter reported seeing populations of adults at Halfway on June 23.

Corn leaf aphids continue to be found feeding in the whorl. Syrphid fly larvae and lady beetles have been found feeding on these aphids in the whorl.

Sunflower moths need to be scouted for as sunflowers reach the bloom stage.

CORRECTION : Karate ® appears in our Sunflower Guide and was reported for use on sunflower moth in last weeks newsletter. It is no longer labeled for sunflowers But has been replaced by a different formulation known as Warrior ®. They both have the same active ingredient and one should expect the same control of sunflower moth with Warrior ® as we had with Karate ® in the past.