IN THIS ISSUE

· TPMA Website
· Upper Coast IPM Program Sponsors
· Cotton Insect Situation
· Nodes Above White Flower and Cutout
· One in a Million

TPMA Website

This newsletter as well as other Extension IPM newsletters from across the state can be viewed at the Texas Pest Management Association website at www.tpma.org.

These newsletters are a cooperative effort of the Texas Pest Management Association, Texas Agricultural Extension Service and the Texas A&M University Department of Entomology.

Upper Coast IPM Program Sponsors

The Upper Coast IPM Program would like to recognize and express our sincere appreciation to the following gins that have provided the financial support for our cotton-monitoring program for the past four seasons. Without their support, we would not have been able to monitor the cotton fields in the Tri-County area. This monitoring program is how we have been able to provide you with information that has been included in this newsletter pertaining to crop conditions and the insect situation as well. The monitoring program has been a valuable tool in helping identify key or important areas of applied research as well.

Cotton Insect Situation

Cotton maturity ranges from cutout (NAWF=5) through fields that have reached first open boll.

In Jackson County, cotton fields are finishing up fast and bolls are beginning to open. Aphids remained light for the past week. Insect pressure was light in the few remaining fields that we continue to monitor in Jackson County. Boll weevil punctured square counts ranged from 0 to 8%. Bollworm/budworm egg, larvae and damaged square counts were all below economic threshold levels. Stinkbugs were found in 50% of fields that were monitored.

In Matagorda County, aphids remained light during the past week. Boll weevil punctured square counts averaged 18% while individual fields ranged from 0 to 60%. Bollworm/budworm egg, larvae and damaged square counts averaged 1%, 3% and 3%, respectively. Individual field counts for egg, larvae and damaged square counts ranged from 0 to 4%, 0 to 9% and 0 to 10%, respectively. Lygus, stinkbugs, creontiades, beet armyworms and fall armyworms are being found in varying numbers depending on field location.

In Wharton County, aphids remained light for the past week. Boll weevil punctured square counts averaged 2% while individual fields ranged from 0 to 8%. Bollworm/budworm egg, larvae and damaged square counts averaged 1%, 1% and 3%, respectively. Individual field counts for egg, larvae and damaged square counts ranged from 0 to 4%, 0 to 4%, and 0 to 6%, respectively. Lygus and stinkbugs were found in a high number of fields. Also, Reed Green who is a private consultant reported fall armyworms in fields around the Louise area. Fall armyworm numbers in some of these fields are being closely monitored.

Nodes Above White Flower and Cutout

A remarkably straightforward measure, nodes above white flower (NAWF) expresses the status of the intraplant competition between vegetative and reproductive growth.

The measure grew out of the observation that the vegetative growth lead enjoyed at early bloom begins to erode as boll loading commences. By following NAWF, a grower can track this shifting balance to modify management inputs.

In practice, NAWF measures the growth of the mainstem terminal relative to the progression of flowering toward the terminal. (See enclosure) It is measured by counting the nodes above a first position white flower. The terminal node will have an unfurled mainstem leaf larger than a quarter (greater than 1-inch diameter). The NAWF is the current measure of the remaining potential boll loading sites. If there is sufficient energy to support continued terminal growth, the progression of flowering toward the terminal and cutout is delayed. If on the other hand most energy is committed to boll development, terminal growth slows allowing a more rapid progression toward the plant's carrying capacity and cutout.

Knowing when a field has reached cutout can lead to economic advantages. (See enclosure) Cutout is when the node-above-white-flower counts equal five (NAWF=5). Research has shown that in most cotton regions, the last effective flowers that need to be protected appear at NAWF=5. Before this stage it takes about 100 flowers to produce a pound of seedcotton. When NAWF=4, this number often increases sharply. The NAWF=5 date, therefore, provides an easily measurable benchmark for timing late season management inputs based upon plant development. In Arkansas and Texas, when NAWF=5 plus 350 heat units, damage by weevils and bollworms/budworms declines considerably and it is not economically advantageous to treat past the 350 h.u. accumulation. Using the information that is provided above could keep you from chasing after those phantom bolls located at the top of the plant. It has also been show that defoliation scheduling can be utilized by NAWF=5. Defoliation should occur at 850-950 heat units after NAWF=5, depending on the type of season that has occurred.

One in a Million!
Really, How Much Is That?

With the increasing level of sophistication of detection devices available today, substances can now be found that were not detectable just a few years ago. Consequently, undue alarm is often generated by reports that a 5 to 10 ppm (parts per million) of some pesticide residue was found in a given produce item. In most cases, these levels are so small that they cannot constitute a health risk. The following, taken from a newsletter of the Associated New York Food Processors, may help visualize just what is meant by these values.

One In A Million!

Think of one part per million as 1 inch in 16 miles; 1 minute in 2 years; 1 cent in $10,000; 1 ounce of salt in 31 tons of potato chips; 1 bad apple in 2,000 barrels. tons of potato chips; 1 lob in 1,200,000 tennis matches; 1 bad apple in 1 million barrels.

One part per billion compares with 1 inch in 16,000 miles; 1 second in 32 years; 1 cent in $10 million; 1 pinch of salt in 10

One part per trillion compares with 1 postage stamp in an area the size of Dallas; 1 inch in 16 million miles (more than 600 times around the earth); 1 second in 320 centuries; 1 flea on 360 million elephants; 1 grain of sugar in an Olympic-sized pool; 1 bad apple in 2 billion barrels.

It is not uncommon today to find a report detecting ppb (parts per billion) of something in a produce item. Considering that there are 1,000 million in a billion. How concerned should we be over foreign residues of the magnitude of 5 to 10 ppb!