IN THIS ISSUE

· Cotton Insect Situation
· Boll Weevil Trap Counts
· County Row Crop Tours
· Did You Know

Cotton Insect Situation

Growth stages of cotton in the Tri-County area of Wharton, Jackson and Matagorda counties ranged from two true leaf to one-third grown square stage during the past week. So far, insect pest pressure during the 2001 season has been very quiet compared to the previous four seasons along the Texas Upper Coast. Ample rainfall has been received during the past two weeks in the area. Rainfall amounts have ranged from two to six inches depending on the location.

Aphid numbers remain light. An abundance of lady beetles, minute pirate bugs and spiders can be found in most fields with relative ease.

Fleahopper numbers have been very inconsistent in numbers when comparing fields throughout the area. Field counts ranged from 0 to 19 fleahoppers per 100 plants with the average of all the fields being 5%.

Overwintered boll weevil applications in the area are in full swing at this time while most of them will be completed in next week to ten days.

One-third grown boll weevil punctured squares were found in five percent of the fields that were monitored this past week. Punctured square counts ranged from 0 to 7%. Live boll weevils were found in 17% of the fields that are being monitored.

Low numbers of bollworms and damaged squares were found in eighteen percent of the fields that were monitored. One to two percent bollworms were found and zero to one percent damaged squares were found in these fields.

Occasional pests, that were found during the past week in very low numbers included loopers, brown stink bugs and salt-marsh caterpillars.

Boll Weevil Trap Counts

Boll weevil trap counts increased during the past week. Weekly boll weevil trap counts for May 7th and 14th were 4.03 and 5.94 weevils per trap, respectively.

Table 1. Number of boll weevils captured per pheromone trap per month, thirty-two mile trap line, 1998-2001, Wharton County, Texas. TAEX operated traps.

County Row Crop Tours

Listed below are the dates for county row crops tours for some of the surrounding counties. More information and details on these tours will be included in later newsletters.

Did You Know

Common Green Lacewing

Species: Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae)

Distribution: Green lacewings are found as larvae and adults throughout North America on the leaves of many species of plants including the cotton plant. Adults are especially attracted to lights at night.

Importance: Green lacewings larvae are important predators of a wide variety of small insects and their eggs. The larvae are very active and feed on almost any prey their size or smaller. Although many species of adult lacewings are predaceous, common green lacewings adults feed on honeydew.

Appearance: Adults have green cylindrical bodies with light green veins on large transparent wings. The antennae are of long filiform type, and the eyes are golden colored. Pale white eggs are oviposited at the ends of long stalks that elevate them above plant surfaces. These stalks offer protection to the eggs from predators. The pale larvae, often called aphidlions, have pronounced, hollow sickle-shaped jaws that they use to capture and suck the contents of their prey. When larvae are preparing to pupate, they spin white parchmentlike coccoons from which adults emerge.

Life cycle: Adults overwinter in dry, dark areas, such as leaf litter, abandoned wasp nests, barns and stables. The adult life-span is from 4 to 6 weeks. Females oviposit from 100 to 200 eggs, which hatch after a 3 to 6 day incubation. Lacewing larvae undergo three molts, which total approximately 14 days. Prepupal and pupal stages last about 8 days.