Owen Taylor, Editor, 888-327-6329
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OVERVIEW
Blooming has started in more cotton.
Plant bug treatments are being made on a scattered basis.
Stink bugs are building in numerous locations, to the point that scouts in some areas are finding thresholds the first time they check for them in blooming cotton.
Corn earworm moths are becoming more apparent in places. A smattering of other worms are being reported in the lower Southeast.
Aphids continue to be light in most areas. We’ve received reports of aphid fungus possibly being found in hill cotton in north Mississippi but have received no indication of it turning up in the Southeast.
Good rainfall totals are being reported in parts of the Southeast, but dry areas remain.
APHID FUNGUS REPORTS
The long-running aphid fungus testing program has been discontinued. The program, operated with checkoff funding and administered by the University of Arkansas, provided sampling kits and lab analysis of aphids collected from fields with potential aphid fungus development.
As a partial substitute for the program, we will post aphid-fungus reports on our web site and distribute them through our regional cotton reports. While aphid analysis isn't possible, enough people in the field have dealt with the fungus long enough to have a pretty good idea about its appearance and the effect on aphids.
To file a report, please email Owen Taylor. Provide a description of what you're seeing, the effect that the fungus is having on aphids and the location of where it's being found. Please include a phone number where you can be reached in case we need to ask any followup questions.
CROP REPORTS
Ames Herbert, Virginia Extension Entomologist: "Cotton is flowering, and we’re seeing some plant bug activity. But, as of the end of last week, I had only heard of a single field that truly required a protective spray. So at least for right now plant bugs don’t look like an issue. I’m hearing speculation south of here that they might be more of a problem this year because of wetter conditions and potential activity coming out of other hosts. But conditions in our cotton areas have been much drier and, in fact, had gotten somewhat drought stressed until we got rain over the weekend. We don’t have the kind of lush environment right now that I think would promote a lot of plant bug development."
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Jim Crawford, Extension Agent, Jefferson County, Louisville, Ga.: "Plant growth regulators are going out on irrigated cotton. We’ve got a late crop, overall, and could use rain on it right away. Some of the earliest cotton should be blooming in another 10 days. But our latest is only at the 4-leaf stage. About 70% of the crop has been sidedressed. One grower sprayed plant bugs but, overall, retention has been pretty good where I’ve looked. Parts of the county got a couple of tenths of rain over the weekend, but bigger amounts lately have been south of us. Rain was in the forecast for the first part of this week. If we don’t get it, there isn’t any to speak of in the 10-day forecast after that. Growers are starting to pull back a little on irrigating corn, and that should free up some water for pegging peanuts and blooming cotton."
Leonard Kuykendall, Regional Extension Agent, East-Central Alabama: "We got some rain yesterday and this morning (7/6), maybe an inch in places and 3 to 4 tenths in others. Some people missed it altogether, but there was a chance for maybe more tonight. It’s very dry. For people with irrigation, that has become a fulltime job between keeping systems maintained and dealing with breakdowns. So far, our water supply has held up pretty good. We have a little cotton planted early, and it’s in the second week of bloom, but most of the crop is just starting to bloom. We can find plant bugs in places. Aphids have been light."
Phillip Roberts, Extension Entomologist, Tifton, Ga.: "We need rain on some of our earliest cotton that’s blooming. Rain did fall last night and today (7/6) over parts of Georgia. Totals ranged from nothing to 4 inches in spots. The crop is progressing. It’s just late, overall, and that’s not going to change, no matter what we do. In some drier places it’s stressed and blooms are in the top. We’re in pretty good shape on insects. They’re around, mostly in small numbers. We do need to be aware of stink bugs right now. Some cotton is in the second week of bloom, and scouts report stink bugs hitting threshold in a number of those fields. Once cotton begins blooming, we need to be checking for stink bugs. Don’t delay doing that. In some early fields, in fact, stink bugs already are at threshold on that first check. These primarily are brown stink bugs, but more southern green are turning up in the mix now. Aphids are being found sporadically, and a very limited number of acres have been treated. We’ve been trying to do a treatment threshold study at Tifton but the numbers just haven’t developed. In other locations, though, aphids have been active, and honeydew is evident. No reports of fungus. Moth trap counts have gone up, too. We’ve had one report of fall armyworms in the southwest corner of the state, and I’ve just gotten my first call about spider mites."
Billy McLawhorn, McLawhorn Crop Services, Inc., Cove City, N.C.: "Some cotton is just beginning to bloom, and a lot of the rest is a week from it. The crop is a little on the late side due to the cold snap in May, but we’ve made up for some of the lost time. It is getting dry. We’ve had 3 to 4 tenths of an inch of rain in the last 5 to 6 days. It helped some but was spotty. A few bug sprays have been made here and there, and a little Pix has gone out, mostly in bottoms and ranker spots where we’ve had moisture. Some growers are putting out layby and others are trying to get Roundup all the way through. Some of our guys have glyphosate-resistant pigweed, while others haven’t been touched by it quite yet."
Jeremy Greene, Clemson University Cotton Entomologist, Blackville, S.C.: "Over the holiday weekend we caught pretty good rainfall amounts in several areas. In Aiken where I live we got 3.5 inches, and a couple of inches fell here at the station. A good part of the state got rain, so we’re mostly moist today (7/7). However, this may be too late for some of the older cotton. With these dry, hot conditions, blooms were moving up the plant. Some blooms already were pretty high, plus the plants were short. A consultant this morning said he’s checking a lot of non-Bt cotton that’s blooming and was starting to see stink bugs. I’m finding them, too, in some prebloom cotton. Our last trap report shows bollworm moth numbers way up, over 100 per trap. If the trend follows the one last year, they will continue increasing, although they’re moving a little earlier this year. Corn dried down sooner, and that will push more of them toward the cotton."
Jack Bacheler, North Carolina Extension Cotton Entomologist: "We’ve gotten rain over the last several days. The western part of our production area remains dry, but better amounts fell on the eastern side. In some cases, 5 inches fell in small areas. The Tidewater REC at Plymouth got several inches a couple of days ago, but 45 minutes west of there it was dry and stayed that way. Most of the state, overall, remains dry. About a third of our cotton is just beginning to bloom. We regard weeks 3 to 5 during bloom as the critical period for stink bugs, so we’re 2 or 3 weeks from hitting that point. We’re still getting a more-than-average number of plant bug reports, with some related declines in square retention. To my knowledge, only a handful of fields have been treated. The reports are a little more widespread from areas where there’s more moisture and cotton is a little more lush. So far, no calls about cotton aphids. We have had a few more calls about spider mites. In one case a treatment was made where leaves were falling off in a field in Sampson County. I think this will be an above-average year for spider mites. In an average year, 1% to 3% of our cotton is treated for mites. For us, an above-average year could by, say, 8% to 9%."
Mark Mitchell, Mitchell Ag Consulting, Inc., Bainbridge, Ga.: "A lot of rain has fallen in the last couple of days. I’m pouring 4 inches out of a gauge right now (7/7), in fact, and I’ve been working in a full rain suit for 2 days. Most everybody in our part of southwest Georgia has gotten significant rainfall, I think. I haven’t seen a pivot running in 2 days. Our oldest cotton is in the third week of bloom. We’re making plant growth regulator applications in a lot of fields and are gearing up to make layby applications as soon as it’s dry enough to stand up in the field. We’re in the middle of a tobacco budworm flight, but all of our cotton is Bollgard, Bollgard II or Widestrike, so that’s not a concern. We are seeing corn earworm (CEW) moths and have found a few early instar CEWs and fall armyworms in blooms, but nothing we’ve had to spray for yet. In some younger cotton we’ve also found beet armyworm activity, but nothing to treat there, either. Aphids are all but gone. They were building, then disappeared, and we never saw the aphid fungus. This is the lowest aphid pressure I can remember. We’ve got increased plant bug and stink bug activity and are making applications on several fields for a combination of the two pests. Stink bugs are primarily brown with a few greens."
ALSO AT AGFAX.COM
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Texas: Mystery insect damaging cotton 7-3
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