Cotton
Cotton ranges from 1 to 5 true leaves. A lot of the cotton was sprayed for thrips last week, but sprays only give you about five days of protection. Populations continue to grow as fast as the cotton does, so keep scouting regularly.
Cotton aphids, which range widely in color, have been seen in most fields. It’s common to see aphids being guarded by red imported fire ants, which makes it difficult for predators and parasites to get to them. You can add that to the fire ants’ list of transgressions.
Sorghum
Sugarcane aphids remain in low numbers across the county. Our beneficials seem to be hard at work on what little we have. Like in cotton, fire ants can be found protecting colonies of SCA and harvesting the honeydew they produce. The colony pictured right was able to grow to over 200 aphids because the ants protect them from the predators. The rest of the field was nearly completely clean.
