The following program will be presented at Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech. room 118 on June 8 and at the Pee Dee REC Auditorium on June 9. 

8:00 - 9:00 AM....Registration

9:00....Cotton Production: Mike Jones, Extension Cotton Specialist, PDREC
    * How a cotton plant grows
    * Production techniques

9:30....Insects that Damage Cotton: Mitchell Roof,  Extension Entomologist, PDREC
    * Growth and development of insects
    * Identifying common insect pests
    * How insects damage the cotton plant 

11:00....Weeds and Herbicide Injury to Cotton: Ed Murdock, Extension Weed Scientist
PDREC
    * Identifying the most troublesome weeds in cotton
    * Characteristics of seedling plants useful in identifying weeds
    * Symptoms of herbicide injury

11:30....Diseases and Nematodes: John Mueller, Extension Plant Pathologist, EREC
    * Symptoms of common diseases and nematodes of cotton
    * Handling diseased plant specimens for diagnosis 

12:00....Lunch on your own

1:00....Beneficial Insects and Spiders: Don Manley, Extension Entomologist, PDREC
    * Identifying the common beneficials
    * Protecting honeybees

1:30....Scouting Methods: Mitchell Roof
    * Techniques used to scout for insect pests 
    * Determining threshold levels for control of insect pests
    * Equipment needs

2:15....Pesticides and Safety: Mitchell Roof  

3:00-4:30....Summary and Field Training 

Individuals with a broad range of experiences generally attend our Cotton Scouting Schools.  Consultants, farmers, county agents, aerial applicators, chemical company representatives, high school kids, college students, housewives and others may all be present.  Some will be there for the first time, and others will have attended numerous schools. 

There will be a fee of $10 assessed at registration.  This will cover the cost of training materials, including the Scouting Manual.  Refreshments will be provided during the registration period from 8:00 to 9:00, and at morning and afternoon breaks.  Lunch will be on your own. 

THRIPS were already infesting cotton in some fields in Lee County as early as last week.  The early-planted cotton had two true leaves, and damage symptoms were already showing up.  Adult tobacco thrips, as well as a few immatures, were feeding on true leaves and in the tiny terminals.  To complicate matters there was also some signs of frost injury on the cotyledons in some of the same fields.

Cotton plants that have been in the ground long enough to have two or more true leaves could be like sitting ducks for thrips.  Temik is a fine soil insecticide, but keep in mind that we had some pretty heavy rains and it has been over a month since it was planted.  There may not be sufficient residual remaining in the root zones to adequately protect against thrips.  This means that foliar insecticides may be needed for supplemental control.  Pull up some seedling plants and look for thrips and damage.  If most plants have one or more thrips plus damage, a foliar insecticide will be needed.  See IC-97 Cotton Insect Management for recommended materials.

Most of our cotton will have been planted after the first week in May.  These later plantings should have adequate thrips protection from the soil insecticide applied at planting.

BT COTTON:  There is a lot of 96:4 Bt cotton being planted this year.  Please comply with the refugia requirements (4 acres of conventional cotton for every 100 acres of Bt cotton).  That means controlling weeds and protecting the refugia plants from damage by insects such as thrips and stink bugs.  Of course you can’t spray it with materials that will control bollworm or budworm. 

The primary use for the refugia is to grow cotton plants to produce a supply of bollworm and budworm moths that are susceptible to Bt toxin.  These susceptible moths will then be available to mate with resistant moths that might develop in the Bt cotton.

Just don’t give up on your refugia, because it has the potential to produce cotton.  It probably won't be great cotton, but it could at least pay for a lot of the production costs. 

CUTTING COSTS OR INCREASING RISKS?

I know there are some farmers that will be trying to cut costs by cutting back on scouting and consulting services.  This is a potentially risky proposition.  You will still need reliable field observations to properly time insecticide applications in Bt cotton just as you will in conventional cotton.  Last year we probably averaged at least 1.5 insecticide applications in Bt cotton for bollworms.  Then there is the matter of stink bugs (usually more of a problem in Bt cotton), and of course the armyworms, that will not be adequately controlled by Bt toxin.

As I have said before, if a cotton scout can save you one insecticide application, or properly time one insecticide application, that will generally more than pay for the cost of the service.

Mitchell Roof
Extension Entomologist