Growing Conditions

Cotton fields range greatly in both growth stage, moisture conditions and insect pressure. The maturity of the fields ranges from match-head square to mid-bloom. Some fields have adequate moisture and are not wilting in the afternoon and others are wilting in the morning. Insect pressure ranges from fields with no pest insects to fields with very damaging levels of insects.

Table 1. Pest and beneficial insect populations in the Lower Rolling Plains of Texas.

COTTON INSECTS

Cotton fields across the four counties are experiencing problems with pest insects and may need to be treated for these pests. However, in each of these counties, some fields are having no problems and need no treatment. As always, you should inspect each field for pest presence and treat on a field by field basis. Do not treat your field just because your neighbor is treating his cotton. He may have a pest that you don't or the opposite may be true.

Even though they are cheaper now, pyrethroids are not my recommended insecticide for treating worms at this time. Most fields have light to moderate levels of aphids and the application of a pyrethroid will likely have great effects on the aphid populations by reducing predator numbers and increasing their reproductive rate. Other options include: Tracer, Steward and Larvin.

However, in dryland situations, you must also consider your moisture situation. If your underground moisture is good, protect the fruit from worms and load the plants up now. If it is marginal, try to set and maintain an average of 4 to 5 squares per plant. I know this is a difficult time, and turning your head and doing nothing may or may not be the right decision. It all depends on continued rainfall. If current conditions continue, it was the right decision to treat the field; if hot-dry weather returns, not spraying was the right choice. Spraying now will protect the fruit set and the potential you have with current moisture and should give us sufficient time to see what the weather is going to do later.

Lower Rolling Plains IPM Unit Web Site

Check out Weather Station Data, Cotton Pest Update and Moth Trapping Data at: lrpipm.tamu.edu

Producer Turn-Row Meetings
1 hour CEU available
All meetings begin at 8:30 a.m.

Educational programs conducted by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, handicap or national origin. The information given herein is for educational purposes only. References to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Cooperative Extension Service is implied. We will seek to provice reasonable accomodations for all persons with disabilites for all extension programs. We request that you contact Mr. Stephen Biles (915/236-9011) as soon as possible to advise us of the auxiliary aid or service that your require.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1

Table 5. Projected Dates of Crop Growth Landmarks for Various Planting Dates Based on Table 4

Lower Rolling Plains IPM Unit Weather Station Data
Located approximately 7.5 miles north of Roscoe, TX

Posted at this web site by:
texagnet Internet Services.