Tag Archives: Cotton Fleahopper

Reading the Cotton Plant

Posted on by

The cotton plant can tell us a lot about what has happened and what is coming if we know what to look for.  Some basic notes to take in a cotton field are: total nodes on the plant, node of first square, and the number of squares present and abscised. When the plants first emerge, they tend to grow slowly.  However, once the plant has 4-5 true leaves, it will add new leaves (nodes) every 3 (2-5) days or 50 heat units. When squares are missing on the plant… Read More →

Cotton of the Mid-Coast – May 5, 2017

Posted on by

Cotton fields range from 1-2 leaf to half-grown square.  These fields need to be monitored for cotton fleahoppers.  I am finding cotton fleahoppers in cotton fields in populations ranging from 0-50 per 100 plants.  Most of these are adults moving into fields but some older fields have nymphs as well. Some fields need treatment to prevent economic yield loss or delayed harvest since the fleahoppers exceed the economic threshold of 15 per 100 plants.   Most field scouts monitor for cotton fleahopper by visually looking through the plant terminals for the adults and nymphs. We… Read More →

Cotton Fleahopper in Young Cotton – 4/28/2017

Posted on by

We have squaring cotton on the Texas Coast and that means we need to be scouting fields for cotton fleahopper. While other pests are present, such as aphids and thrips, the cotton fleahopper has the greatest potential to reduce yield or delay harvest. Aphids are substantially below a treatment threshold of 50 aphids per leaf and most cotton is beyond the damage window for thrips. The cotton fleahopper economic threshold I use is 15 cotton fleahoppers per 100 plants.  I do not distinguish between adults and nymphs for… Read More →

Mid Coast Cotton Update

Posted on by

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… Read More →

Crop Scouting Field Meeting – June 20

Posted on by

Monday, June 20,  8:30 a.m. Location: Calhoun County, Cotton field at corner of Hwy 87 and FM 2433. Topics: Scouting Cotton and Sorghum