GENERAL SITUATION

Hot and dry conditions continue to persist across the area. Grain harvest is picking up steam. Many growers are cutting grain sorghum. Most of the fields that have been cut were treated with Roundup Ultra as a pre harvest aid. Yields are reported at being good on many of those fields. Much of the cotton is beginning to open this week. Percent open is as high as 15-20% in a couple of the earliest patches. The majority of fields will see open bolls sometime next week.

COTTON

Currently, insect pressure in cotton is relatively light. We have some fields that are past the stage of potential insect injury and the majority of fields are not far behind. Grasshoppers are still causing problems in some fields. Generally, grasshopper levels are still heavier around the edges of fields. I feel that in most fields as the crop is, it would not justify spraying for grasshoppers, unless they are very heavy and causing some boll loss or if the cotton still has a long way to go and the hoppers are clipping a lot of leaves and fruit.

We should get some relief from grasshoppers once the boll weevil eradication program gets kicked off in our area, which should be real soon. Malathion ULV, the product the foundation will be spraying to eradicate the weevil, is a great product to kill grasshoppers with.

Speaking of the eradication program, it is too early to predict what may or may not happen this season, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out. One secondary pest that many are concerned about during a diapause program is the aphid. Aphids have the potential to build up in relatively high numbers in fields once the foundation starts spraying every 7 days with Malathion ULV @ 12 oz/ac. This could lead to problems with getting good coverage with harvest aids and could lead to poor grades because of the honeydew which could lead to sooty mold developing on the exposed ling.

Currently, aphid levels are variable. Most fields have some honeydew, much of which is old. However, about 10% of the fields have light levels of aphids. Aphids are at moderate levels in isolated spots in many of these fields. It would not take much for those numbers to really explode. Therefore, it will be important to monitor aphid levels closely and if levels become heavy, control may be justified to help protect lint quality.

The boll weevil applications will eliminate most beneficials in the cotton fields. This will provide a great opportunity for aphids to begin building up. The question is whether or not the cotton can support an aphid population. Fields with higher levels of nitrogen will probably be more attracted to aphids than fields that have depleted all of the nitrogen, that are opening quickly and dropping a lot of leaves.

Boll weevil levels have dropped off this week. Partly because the cotton is becoming more mature, the high temperatures and that we are in between generations. Weevil punctures are ranging from 0-10 per 100 squares and bolls observed.

Bollworm/Budworm levels have decreased this week. Egg counts range from 2-16 per 100 terminals and worms are ranging from 0-8 per 100 plants. Normally at this point in the season, most cotton does not appear to be attractive to egg laying moths. However, late maturing fields that are still green and actively growing will more likely have a worm infestation develop compared to more mature fields.

Cottonleaf perforators, have been observed in several fields this week. They are not very common in our area. The hot and dry conditions favor perforator increases since the weather conditions tend to toughen cotton plants and that is the kind of plants perforators prefer. Most years, perforators pose no serious threat to cotton, but when heavy, they can cause deterioration of the leaf canopy and reduce defoliant efficacy. No thresholds exist for perforators, but if leaf damage is severe in a large enough area, control may be necessary.