- Author: Peter B Goodell
- Year round IPM Program for Cotton: Early Squaring Activities:
- Monitor Cotton Growth – Early Squaring
- Monitoring to Make Lygus Decisions
- Calculate Expected Square Retention
- Cotton Field Check (June 2011) - Why the Cotton plant is the Great Indicator for Lygus Management
For San Joaquin Valley cotton growers, one of the most important production decisions is to get the plant into a vigorous fruiting cycle and to hold the early fruit so the plant is manageable for the remainder of the season.
During the earliest fruiting period, retention of fruit on the first 10 fruiting branches is top priority and the most difficult to interpret. We understand the Acala Upland retention very well but are stretching the data for Pima. However, using the Acala data developed over 20 years ago provides valuable guidelines in evaluating fruit loss and retention.
June is a critical month to manage Lygus but once the initial fruit is set and bloom occurs, greater densities of Lygus can be tolerated. If June treatments are required remember to:
- Make sure the fruit loss can be related to Lygus;
- Lygus are present
- Selective products are utilize to preserve the natural enemies already in the field
- Practice good insecticide resistance management practices and take care to not over use any particular active ingredient