It is definitely summertime. Hot, dry and windy sums it up for this week in the Concho Valley. Insect pressure is way down and cotton has really responded to these hot dry weather conditions we have experienced the past two weeks. Many fields are blooming out the top and it's evident that we have way more fruit set on the plant than we can hold. The cotton plants have began reducing their fruit load by kicking off the small squares in the terminal and many 2 to 3 day old bolls. Grain sorghum harvest is well underway and dryland yields are ranging from 2,000 to over 3,000 lbs. per acre. Prices are holding around $4.50 to $4.65.

Cotton has really matured the past two weeks and is continuing to progress rapidly with the current weather conditions. The next bollworm egg-lay is not expected until around the first week in September and, if this holds true, much of this cotton will not be very attractive to oviposition and small larvae will have a tough time surviving in the mature cotton.

One insect pest we do need to continue to watch closely is the cotton aphid. A few fields have required treatment for aphids this week. They can cause us problems right up until harvest. If you have treated any cotton with a pyrethroid insecticide the past two weeks, monitor those fields especially close. Aphids could flare in some of these fields. Bollworm larval counts are way down this week, as were the egg counts. With the cotton maturing out and the persistent hot dry weather, bollworm larvae are going to have a difficult time surviving. Natural enemy numbers are on the increase. This is probably due to cotton aphid numbers increasing and grain sorghum being harvested.

The scouting program scouts have done an excellent job this year monitoring fields in Runnels, Tom Green and Concho counties and providing producers with some valuable information. I want to personally commend them for a job well done. They returned to college this week and I hope everything goes well for them.

I have an opportunity to go on a Professional Development Tout to Bakersfield, California next week so I will be out of pocket. We will be touring the cotton production areas around Bakersfield and the cotton research farm located nearby.

COTTON TOUR dates have been set. The Runnels County Cotton Tour will on September 17 and the Tom Green County Cotton Tour will be September 26. More information will be given as time draws near. Be thinking about attending.

County Tom Green BUDWORM/BOLLWORM MOTH TRAPS

Traps were baited May 16, 2002 - rebait every two weeks

County Runnels BUDWORM/BOLLWORM MOTH TRAPS

Traps were baited May 16, 2002 - rebait every two weeks

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