Seedling Cotton. Photo by S. Biles

Cotton Maturity ranges from cotyledon to 6-leaf cotton with squares beginning to be visible. It has been fairly windy over the past few weeks and we need to be able to distinguish between thrips feeding and wind damage.

Thrips can be sampled either visually by looking closely at the underside of leaves and the plant terminal, or by beating the plants into a white cup or on a black cloth.

Links to two good videos demonstrate scouting thrips and thrips management are at the bottom of this post.

Seedling Cotton. Photo by S. Biles

Crop Scouting Meeting

When: 9 am, Monday, April 24

Where: FM 1679, just south of Sanders Rd.

Fields with plants beginning to square need to be scouted for cotton fleahoppers. We will have a field meeting Monday morning to discuss crop maturity, scouting techniques and insect management.