Protect Your Cotton Investment from Late-season Pests
Few people understand more than a cotton grower how capital intensive putting a crop in the ground and nurturing it to harvest is each season. It is an investment that faces threats from erratic weather, at times seemingly never-ending insect-pest pressure and fluctuating demand for the final commercial product from end users. Protecting that investment from planting to harvest is fraught with variables — some controllable to a degree and some not controllable by the farmer at all.
Once a young stand of cotton gets established, insect pests will come. They will require control to protect that substantial investment you have growing across your various farms. You know that effort to protect the crop must continue throughout the entire season. All farmers are aware the year is not over until harvest is complete and the bale receipt is in hand.
Protecting Your Late-season Cotton
Scientific research has led to the creation of crop protection products with improved target specificity. These newer chemistries are significant improvements over broad-spectrum insecticides that eliminated both target and non-target insects present in the field.
“The importance of beneficial insects should never be overlooked for their natural control of damaging insects that target cotton,” says Hunter Bowman, market development specialist, Corteva Agriscience. “There needs to be a balance in use of insecticides that do not reduce beneficial populations, thereby minimizing the risk of flaring secondary insects.”
When it comes to managing thrips in cotton, the best option for optimum control is Intrepid Edge® insecticide. It delivers fast knockdown, often within 24 hours. As one of the few Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) Group 5 insecticides, it provides a distinct mode of action in pest control rotations.
“As many insecticides previously used to control thrips become less effective, consultants are leaning to applications of Intrepid Edge insecticide to provide needed control,” Bowman says. “But just as important as the control it provides to those targeted pests, it remains soft on beneficials.”
Insect pests will continue to attack the crop during a majority of the growing season. Intrepid Edge insecticide will provide reliable control of a broad range of pests, including cabbage and soybean looper, cotton leaf perforator, fall armyworm and tobacco budworm.
“Few things are as important late in the growing season as continued and thorough scouting to stay abreast of insect populations moving into cotton as it matures out,” Bowman says. “Using Intrepid Edge to target early-season pests helps maintain beneficial insect populations, so that late-season pests do not flare.”
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