Cotton maturity spans the gamut.  Field maturity ranges from 1/3 grown square to near cutout.  Monitoring for stink bug and Verde plant bug is important in cotton fields in bloom.  We have not found a field with economic populations of stink bugs yet.  Most fields have less than 10% evidence of feeding and many are 1-3%.  The economic threshold for stink bugs is 20% evidence of internal feeding.  Treat for verde plant bugs when finding more than 20-25 bugs per 100 plants.

Up the coast, I have received reports of increased worm survival on some of the Bt cotton varieties.  These reports indicate some fields have 5-6% of the plants with a surviving bollworm.  Treatment may be warranted in Bt cotton when more than 5000 worms (>1/4 inch) are found per acre.

Cotton Fleahopper

In later planted cotton which has yet to bloom, cotton fleahoppers may still be an issue.  We are finding low numbers of cotton fleahoppers in most fields, with a few fields exceeding the economic threshold of 15 bugs per 100 plants.