Cotton Insect Newsletter Vol. 21, No. 8, July 9, 2003 Call 1-877-629-1474 for Cotton Insect Hotline

Cotton Situation:  Whew! It's hot this week!  Cotton plants like the heat, and they are growing like crazy.  Some varieties are on the verge of breaking away, and vegetative growth will need to be controlled soon or growers will be looking at some tall cotton at harvest.  It has been several years since I have had to get on a ladder to check terminals.  In fact, for the last couple of years, you could check plants on your knees in most fields.    Those of you who remember growing cotton 15-20 years ago (or longer), realize how fortunate we are now to have chemicals that will keep the plants from reaching for the sky.  Rank cotton used to be more the rule than the exception.   Retirement?:  Speaking of the “good old days,” I guess it's time that I mentioned that I have retired from Clemson University.  A few farmers had asked me about a rumor they had heard that I was thinking about retiring.  In this case, I can tell you that the rumor was not an exaggeration.  My official retirement date was June 20, 2003.  There is a good chance I will be able to continue doing some part-time work on grant funds, beginning in late August.  This would make it possible to still conduct some chemicals testing here at the PDREC.  I would also like to keep my Extension program going.  I am presently donating my time to do the “Cotton Insect Newsletter”, the “Hotline”, the listserver-based “Cotton Insect Blurbs” and the Cotton Insecticide Recommendations.  Clemson University is allowing me to maintain an office and they are providing assistance to conduct field work.   We will see how it goes.  It has been a pleasure to serve the cotton growers and other agricultural workers for the past 21 years.  The cotton commodity community is the best in the world.  I still enjoy working with cotton and would like to stay involved on a part-time basis for a while longer.   Insect Situation:  Insects don't retire, but they have been pretty quiet so far this year.  Moth counts from pheromone traps were low on Monday and Tuesday.  I haven't heard of any economic situations with bollworm or budworm this week.  Egg and worm counts have been down from the previous week.  We now have 15 bollworm traps, 7 budworm traps and 15 beet armyworm traps scattered around the Pee Dee area.  I will alert you when we see increased moth activity through the Newsletter, the Hotline and Cotton Insect Blurbs.  I expect to see an increase in bollworm eggs by the end of the week below the lakes, if it's not already happening.  Here at Florence we probably have another 10 days or so before there will be much bollworm action. It would be nice if these traps could tell us a little more about what's actually going to be in the field, but we learned a long time ago not to expect that.  I remember a beet armyworm trap in Lee County that collected about 1200 moths in a week back in the early 1990's.  The trap was located right beside a cotton field.  Scouts combed the field thoroughly and could not find a single egg mass.  Oh well, at least the traps do inform us when there is a greater risk of infestation in an area. One insect species that is unceasingly increasing at this time of year is the cotton aphid.  I have seen some fields with 25% or more of the plants heavily infested with aphids.  You can probably find some aphids in virtually every cotton field that you walk into this week.  Infestations are light-to-moderate for the most part.  As you would expect, fields with aphids will also have large numbers of predators, assuming no hard core insecticides have been recently applied.  Many of these predators will also dine on bollworm eggs.  If you can hold off on insecticides until the fungus shows up, predators will be around to help with bollworm control.  This can be important, even in Bt cotton.  We also have some chemicals that are relatively easy on beneficials.  Trimax, Centric and Assail are three such materials that have performed well in aphid trials throughout the cotton belt.   Scouts should continue to do square retention counts until bloom.  If plant bugs are found, it's important to know how many small squares are being damaged.  We are seeing tarnished plant bugs building up in greater numbers in some fields this week.   For the last couple of weeks, my scouts have been finding beet armyworm eggs masses on the tops of leaves.  In checking back on those fields, no infestations of larvae have been found.  Apparently predators, heavy rains, etc., have prevented beets from getting a toehold.  I'm sure that we will hear more about beet armyworms toward the end of July and early in August.    Boll Weevil Eradication:  This is July 9 and traps are supposed to be up by now.  If you find fields without traps, notify the good folks at the Boll Weevil office in Sumter County.  That number is 1/800-269-9928.     Mitchell Roof  Extension Entomologist

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