CURRENT CROP CONDITIONS
Cotton is ranging from cotyledon to 5 true leaves in area fields. After Tuesday evening, many acres in the Northwest part of the County will have to be replanted. Rainfall totals ranged from over 4 inches in the Northwest to less than an inch to the East and Southern portion of the County. Therefore, fields are either too wet or are in need of an irrigation.

WHAT THE SCOUTS ARE FINDING
The scouts are finding Thrips ranging from less than one per plant to over 15 per leaf. In fields with four or more true leaves per plant, beneficial insects in particular minute pirate bugs are numerous. Terminal infestations of cotton aphids can be found in small populations in a few area fields.

THRIPS ARE STILL A PROBLEM IN AREA COTTON
Thrips pressure remains high in most program fields. Populations are ranging from one to over 15 per leaf.

In areas around Ransom Canyon that received the hard driving rain last Wednesday, the thrips populations were quite low. I suspect that the same will hold true for the areas that received the hard rains on Tuesday.

The thresholds we are using are as follows. On cotyledon stage cotton the threshold we are using is an average of one to three per plant. On cotton with three or more true leaves per plant we are using two to five thrips per leaf. The foliar applied material giving us the most residual control of thrips is Orthene. Producers that are receiving the most thrips injury did not apply an at planting insecticide such as Temik or Thimet. Producers that did apply Thimet or Temik have not had to treat as often. Once a foliar application has been made, do not base your decision to retreat on the number of adult thrips or damage symptoms. You must search for immature thrips which indicate that reproduction is taking place in the field and, therefor, the lack of residual control.

With the thrips damaged cotton nearing five nodes, producers need to be certain of growth stage when applying Roundup to Roundup Ready cotton. You must realize that many of these fields have stunted plants and that the fifth true leaf will never attain the size of a quarter. Do not add another fruiting problem by applying Roundup off label to cotton that has already been stressed by thrips.

Suggested foliar applied insecticides for control of thrips in cotton.

Leafhoppers are another insect that many growers confuse with fleahoppers. Leafhoppers are also small and can be pale green in color. The only difference as far as far as you should be concerned would be the overall body shape. Leafhoppers are linear and have a somewhat pointed appearance at the head and tail end, and fleahoppers are more round in appearance.

Fleahoppers are usually associated with weed host, especially silver leaf night shade (white weed) and, therefore, weed infested fields should be monitored closely. The adults and immatures are very wary and will disperse by flying (adults) or running down the stalk (immatures), making detection very difficult. Fleahoppers cause damage to the plants by feeding on the small squares causing them to fall off the plant.

The decision to apply insecticide should be based on the number of fleahoppers present, the squaring rate and the percent square set. During the first three weeks of squaring, the economic threshold is 25 to 30 fleahoppers per 100 terminals combined with less than 80% to 90% square set. Remember because of the small populations of aphids present in most fields, abstain from the use of Bidrin to prevent resistance problems later in the year.

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