Back to the other Hotline tapes

This is Jack Bacheler, Extension Entomologist at NCSU with the Wednesday Cotton Insect Hotline tape. Today is Wednesday, June 3.

Although cotton is struggling in some places due to some replants and tough weather, I was surprised at how good the cotton generally looks in some areas of the state such as much of Northampton and Bertie counties this morning. In Bertie, April 30 planted cotton was approaching the 5 true leaf stage and had minimal thrips damage at a test site west of Winsor, and some nearby May 14 planted cotton was at the second true leaf stage and very clean. Even in this dry weather, cotton seems to be “doing it’s best” to grow off.

On the other hand, much of Scotland County’s cotton has been replanted, being battered by heavy downpours along with wind and some hail. Some of this cotton has been replanted in just the past few days.

Although there have been some thrips hotspots reported and observed by us in the past week, over much of the state thrips have been somewhat easier to manage than in the previous 3-4 years.

With much of our cotton now at the 2 to 4 true leaf stage, this would be a good time to see if recent growth in the bud area is without damage or immature thrips. Cotton seedlings can probably tolerate at least one thrips per true leaf. If new are coming out straight and shiny, a foliar spray is not needed. Almost without exception, when cotton reaches the 4-5 true leaf stage, thrips should no longer be an economic problem.

Hopefully, we’ll get this week’s predicted rainfall tomorrow and/or Friday. That would go a long way toward getting our cotton crop through the “thrips season”

That’s it for this week. We’ll have our next cotton inset report this coming Wednesday, June 10. See you then.