Volume XXVII No. 1 January 15, 2002 GENERAL SITUATION: This is our first Pest Cast newsletter of the new year and with it we welcome you to the new year and hope that it will be better than last year. We are going to conduct the mailing list update a little differently this year. If you wish to have your name removed from the mailing list, give us a call or write us and let us know. Additionally, if you know of someone who wishes to have their name added to the mailing list, give us a call or drop a note in the mail. We will be happy to add their names to the mailing list. Cotton Pre-Plant Cotton Conference-Weslaco There will be a Pre-Plant Cotton Conference at the Weslaco Research and Extension Center on Tuesday, January 22, registration starting at 8:00 am and the first speaker on stage at 8:30 am. The event will feature topics like the outlook for cotton prices, volunteer boll weevil management zones, controlling cotton stalks with herbicides, cotton varieties for the LRGV, new boll quarantine rules and many other topics as well. There will be CEU's and lunch provided for the meeting, so come on out and join us. Following the recent cold weather which burned some our the newly growing sugarcane fields probably killed some wild cotton plants, expect boll weevil traps, regardless of type, to have fewer weevils than were reported prior to Christmas in your area. Trap counts and maps showing where the traps are located are included with this issue of Pest Cast. Cold temperatures and windy weather are conditions which slow and/or delay weevil movement to traps. But, don't be surprised when the temperatures start to rise or fields start being cultivated for weed control or fertilizer/herbicides that weevils once again are trapped in higher numbers than during the cold weather. In fact, one of the traps with the highest count (trap number 10) was right next to a recently cultivated field. The coldest spots should have been enough to kill some cotton plants which were growing and likely were hosting boll weevils, but may not have destroyed all of the plants and certainly not all of the weevils that could have been associated with the live cotton. We hope we will be able to report low levels of weevils in Valley cotton fields in 2002 as we did last season. However, lower weevil numbers likely will not occur unless we have vigilance on everyone's part to detect and destroy old or new cotton residue. Even after a very cold weather period like we just went through, cotton plants can often be found alive. Unless all cotton on which weevils are reproducing or feeding is destroyed, problems with weevils likely are going to occur. So be on alert for cotton which is still alive and has the potential to produce cotton fruit and boll weevils. If it is alive, it can and likely will eventually produce weevil-reproductive sites.

Educational programs conducted by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.

PEST CAST continued

Weevil trapping continued around the LRGV of late. Boll weevils were being found to varying levels depending on the sites being checked. Boll weevils were being found at most locations with few exceptions. What this means is that all of us need to be prepared to continue the overall voluntary boll weevil management plans with which many of you were involved this past season.

The voluntary plan includes the following general guidelines for weevil management.

1.) Keep all fields and other areas clean of growing cotton residue to prevent weevil increases.

2.) Plant cotton in as narrow a period of time on a community wide basis as possible. Don't try to plant the first day of February and try to avoid planting after the third week of March. Planting too early only results in lower yields and gives boll weevils an excellent chance to reproduce and spread to neighboring fields which may have been planted during the normal time. Planting too late can mean that those fields will be inundated by weevils moving from the earlier maturing fields to the later planted ones. Also, later planted fields will be good candidates for missing the stalk destruction deadline of September 1.

3.) If a history of early and damaging boll weevils occurs in your fields, then consider applying at least 1 to 2 overwintering boll weevil insecticide applications. Timing of the overwintered sprays is critical. Spraying before there are any weevil-susceptible squares on the plants wastes money and does nothing to reduce weevils. Waiting until all of the plants in the field are squaring is too late and achieves much less for overall weevil management. Look at the earliest squaring plants in the field, or the oldest appearing plants to determine if they are squaring. If they are, then begin spraying immediately. Don't delay overwintered weevil sprays until more plants are squaring or more fields are squaring so that you can make it convenient to treat. Waiting for more plants or fields to start squaring only benefits boll weevils and hurts your pocket book.

Plan to have all overwintered weevil treatments completed by the first week of May at the latest. Spraying after that time period may lead to worm problems, especially if moths have laid eggs and beneficial insects have been reduced or destroyed following at least 2 overwintered boll weevil sprays.

4.) Don't allow damaging boll weevil populations to go unsprayed in cotton fields. Many of the recent season's problems in many areas of the LRGV have been traced