Tarnished Plant Bug Considerations in Blooming Cotton

⋅ BY SEBE BROWN ⋅

Tarnished plant bug numbers seem to be all over the board in 2024. Some fields have had one spray since square set and others have had upwards of five. Crop age and what’s neighboring your cotton play a large part of how intense plant bug pressure is over time.

Adult TPB

That being said, keeping an eye on square retention is the best gauge to determine how well your insecticides are performing. Most I’ve talked to have applied Diamond at least once since first bloom. Diamond shines when you catch early plant bug hatches, often after large adult migrations during late squaring, and we see a good return on investment with Diamond around that first week of bloom timing.

Going into bloom, I don’t think neonicotinoids have a fit in any scenario. Every time we test a neonic sprayed after bloom, it’s often one of, if not the worst, treatment in the test.

Once you see a flower, migrate to the Transform, Acephate and Bidrin treatments. Pyrethroids can be added in with organophosphates to help increase control and Acephate plus a pyrethroid can catch a few bollworms in the top of the canopy if you’re close to cut out (although our three-gene cottons are doing a great job of controlling bollworms).

Diamond should be rotated around in the bloom mix also. Overlapping Diamond residual, usually spaced out every other shot, can help reinforce control of nymphs.

I don’t like Diamond followed by Diamond in succession. Diamond’s effects may take seven to even 10 days to notice, and sequential shots may not take full advantage of the residual it provides, but that’s situation dependent.

ThryvOn bloom performance is on par with what we’re accustomed to seeing. Square retention is often better in ThryvOn, and plant bug numbers, especially nymphs, are lower.

Insecticides seem to perform better in ThryvOn for a couple of reasons. Less insects are typically easier to control, plant bug population growth is slower and we think the nymphs don’t settle in bracts/blooms like they do in non-ThryvOn cotton.

Nymphs are constantly moving in ThryvOn, and the more they move, the higher likelihood they’ll encounter an insecticide. Final note: ThryvOn has minimal, if any, activity on stink bugs, and if you’ve gotten by without using a broad-spectrum insecticide mid- to late-bloom, I would add an OP or pyrethroid to clean up any building/lingering populations.


This information is provided by UTcrops News.

 

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