Cotton Insect Newsletter Vol. 17, No. 5,  June 9, 1999

Cotton Situation      Did I say last week "It's getting dry again in South Carolina?"  Well, most of us haven't seen a drop of rain since then.  Corn is really suffering this week.  Soybeans are still looking fairly good where they are up to a stand.  Cotton is still holding up for the most part.  Mike Jones and I looked at several fields below the lakes yesterday.  Growth stages were from 2-leaf to 5-leaf.  We didn't see any cotton squaring, but the earliest-planted cotton should have started squaring by now.  As most of you are well aware, moisture demands will be escalating rapidly as squares are set. Section 18 for Pirate?      EPA is still working on the Section 18 label for Pirate to control beet armyworms.  They now appear to be relaxing the protocol that was explained here last week.  The new standard would allow the use of Pirate on a County level rather than field by field.  If so, confirmation of a beet armyworm infestation in four non-adjacent cotton fields (5 BAW's per 100 feet of row) would trigger the use of Pirate for an entire county.  A Clemson entomologist or a county agent would have to check the fields and notify Don Adams in the Pesticide Regulations Department to make it legal.      This is a much more stringent procedure than we have worked with in the past, but it's still better than going field by field--the worms could eat your cotton up before you could get the paperwork signed.  Don Adams is currently submitting our request for the Section 18 to EPA but stay tuned for further developments. Insect Situation      By Now, I think the majority of fields have outgrown the need for foliar sprays to control thrips.  There could still be some need for foliar sprays where the new growth is showing major damage symptoms, but when new leaves are clean and healthy in appearance, you should be able to forget about thrips until next year.      There will be some double-crop cotton planted after it rains (soon, I hope), but I don't expect thrips to damage cotton planted behind wheat.  Movement of thrips from small grains has ended.  There will still be thrips moving about; however, the numbers will be much reduced compared to the levels seen in May and early June.  Temik should still be applied if you are worried about nematodes, but I would not apply a soil insecticide in June for thrips control. Coming Events      Look out for budworms, plant bugs and you might find a few yellow-striped armyworms feeding on foliage. Mitchell Roof Extension Entomologist

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