Suhas Vyavhare, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Showers over the last week should help cotton that was
struggling earlier to stay alive and catch up with the progress. Most fields
should fairly be safe from thrips at this stage. Many fields have already
started squaring and becoming more attractive to flower feeding plant
bugs such as the cotton fleahopper. Cotton fleahoppers prefer to feed on small
squares (pinhead size) and can drastically reduce the fruiting sites in no time
when in large numbers. When scouting for fleahoppers one should pay attention
to both number of insects in field and the percent square retention especially
during the first three weeks of squaring. I haven’t seen any major cotton
fleahopper activity yet as numbers still remain scarce. This may be due to
earlier hot and dry spell and the unavailability of alternate host plants to
buildup fleahopper populations. However, fleahopper populations are
unpredictable and can rise quickly in spots which is why it is important to keep
a close watch on them. If you are seeing any square loss but no signs of plant
bugs—that could just be the hot and dry weather causing it.
Here is a link to
access our new fact sheet for more information on the management of cotton
fleahopper.
Also, check out our video to learn more about the
cotton fleahopper and how to scout for it:
