Category Archives: Pest Management News

Grain Sorghum IPM 5/30/25

Posted on by

Grain sorghum fields range from bloom to soft dough. We are still finding stink bugs in sorghum fields, average fields have 1 stink bug per head but some are higher.Treatment thresholds are low at bloom and increase as the grain matures.  Some of the fields have leaf footed bugs. These insects can be considered as stink bugs since they feed in a similar manner. Sugarcane aphid numbers were low this week.  Continue to monitor for aphids when scouting for stink bugs and headworms. More Grain Sorghum pest management… Read More →

2025 South Texas Crop Tours

Posted on by

Below are dates and additional information for crop tours in South Texas. San Patricio County Tuesday, June 3, 2025 Jackson County Monday, June 9, 2025 Flier Dewitt County Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Flier Refugio County Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Flier Matagorda County Thursday, June 12, 2025 Victoria County Tuesday, June 17, 2025 Flier Calhoun County Tuesday, June 17, 2025 Flier Fayette County Thursday, June 19, 2025 Colorado County Thursday, June 19, 2025

Grain Sorghum IPM Update 5/25/25

Posted on by

Sorghum field maturity ranges from pre-boot to post bloom milk stage. Much of the area has blooming sorghum fields. While the field blooms scout for midge every morning between 8:30 and noon.  After noon, the adult midge have completed their life cycle and die.  Use the table below to determine your economic threshold for managing midge. We began to find rice stink bugs in sorghum fields this week from Refugio to Victoria. Rice stink bugs can be very damaging to sorghum at bloom and their damage lessens at… Read More →

Cotton IPM Update 5/25/25

Posted on by

Cotton maturity ranges from early bloom to pinhead square. Squaring cotton should still be monitored for cotton fleahoppers.  Once cotton begins to bloom, we tend to consider the field safe from cotton fleahopper.  The field can be considered safe if fruit retention is sufficiently high to meet its expected yield potential.  The reason I think the field is safe is cotton fleahoppers cause fruit shed to small squares, pinhead sized or smaller and the plants should have enough fruit matchhead square or older. When the crop begins to… Read More →

Cotton IPM – Cotton Fleahopper and Aphids

Posted on by

Most of the cotton fields in the Mid-Coast are squaring and the Cotton Fleahopper is the primary insect pest of squaring cotton. Early this week, we started finding more adult fleahoppers in cotton fields.  Some of these fields had 6 to 8 adult fleahoppers in 20 plants (30-40 per 100 plants).  This is well above my treatment threshold of 10 per 100 plants. Interestingly enough, adjacent fields had much fewer cotton fleahoppers.  This difference between fields demonstrates the importance of scouting each field and making treatment decisions on… Read More →