Many factors must be considered when choosing an insecticide, such as cost, efficacy, risk of resistance, and safety to non-target organisms. This Cotton Insecticide Use Guide summarizes the diverse risks of insecticides used to control three pests, helping you make well informed pest management decisions.

Cotton insecticide target efficacy, impact on non-target arthropods and other pesticide risks.

Cotton fleahoppers are present in cotton during early squaring but rarely require chemical control. These piercing-sucking pests feed on small squares and new terminal growth. Cotton at early squaring is at risk for losing fruiting sites due to blasting of small squares, which can delay timeliness of fruiting, however, yield loss is rare.

False chinch bug nymphs, not adults, contribute to significant early-season stand loss in cotton. Best management practices include timely removal of weeds from surrounding fallow or wasteland areas.  Chemical control of nymphs should only be considered during mass migrations when abundant false chinch bugs occur per plant, only where they are entering the field plus 50 feet further into the field, and usually only as a banded application over the crop.

The companion visor guide to “Making Whitefly & Predator Counts”. This portable guide provides instructions for sampling both whiteflies and their predators. Tables provide a guide for making spray decisions to effectively manage whiteflies. English version.

This publication summarizes best use practices and label requirements for auxin herbicides.

Off target movement of the auxin herbicides, 2,4-D and dicamba, will cause substantial injury to downwind, sensitive crops such as cotton, grapes, melons and other broadleaf plants. This publication provides guidelines for preventing off target movement.

Understanding levels of key predators in the field can help you make more confident whitefly spray decisions. New research has identified critical levels of predators that impact economic spray decisions for whiteflies. By monitoring the number of key predators in the field when whiteflies are at or approaching standard whitefly thresholds, pest managers may confidently defer sprays, or alternately, may wish to advance a spray prior to reaching threshold, based on predator population levels. 

Biological control can be incorporated into whitefly management by sampling 4 key predators and comparing them to whitefly populations. High ratios of predators to whiteflies indicate control and may defer a control spray. Low ratios indicate a lack of control and may advance a whitefly spray.

Learn more about the relationship between 4 key predators and whitefly bio-control in the cotton system.

Orius spp. (Family Anthocoridae) are valuable natural enemies in cotton and abundant throughout the season. These predators have a large impact on various cotton pests and can be used as an indicator of the natural enemy community's ability to suppress whiteflies.

Spiders can play an important role in Arizona crop fields, contributing to the biological control of pest insects. Crab Spiders, Misumenops celer, are particularly good indicators of the natural enemy community's ability to suppress whiteflies.
Archive: July 2011

Root knot nematode is the only economically important nematode pest of cotton. This IPM Short describes how to sample soils for the presence of this pest.

A probable case of glyphosate (Roundup) resistant Palmer Amaranth was discovered in an Arizona cotton field where glyphosate was the only herbicide used. Seed collection and testing later confirmed resistance. This short provides important tips to delay the spread of resistance.

A guide to the proper use of a sweep net for sampling key pests in cotton.

A guide to protecting young and emerging cotton from flea beetle damage and the factors to consider in determining control options.

Different types of harvest aids are available to defoliate cotton and prepare the plants for a successful harvest. This guide identifies the types, rates and seasonal limits for various harvest aids.

While several methods may be used to determine the best timing for application of defoliants, efficiency can be enhanced by using a combination of these recommended methods.

Assassin bugs are "apex" or top predators in the cotton food web contributing to biological control of pests, including Lygus and whiteflies. Two common genera are Zelus and Sinea .

This guide describes "selectivity" and the role that selective insecticides can play in conserving natural enemies while still controlling our two key pests of cotton, whiteflies and Lygus bugs.