WHAT’S THE POINT WITH GREENPOINT AG
EYES ON THE BOLL RECENT PLANT BUG INFESTATIONS HAVE COTTON PRODUCERS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS BY M A R K E . J O H N S O N For those not familiar with it, the incredibly innocuous name “plant bug” might elicit a chuckle on first hearing. “Aren’t all bugs plant bugs?” you may ask. But for fruit, vegetable, and row-crop farmers — cotton producers, in particular — plant bugs are no laughing matter, and their name is synonymous with expensive inputs and lowered yields. Increased numbers of the insect, more specifically, the tarnished
22
Cooperative Farming News
plant bug (TPB), are creating big problems within the cotton industry in parts of the southeastern U.S. The TPB (Lygus lineolaris) is a member of the miridae insect family, which also includes the equally noxious leaf bugs and grass bugs, among others. Adult TPBs are a quarter inch long, are usually brown with yellow, orange, or red tints, and display a small, whitish “V” on their backs. Though mainly blamed for damage to fruit and vegetable crops in the northeast U.S., TPBs have developed a taste for cotton in the Delta, Tennessee Valley, and Upper Mid-South regions. TPB populations exceeding actionable thresholds in early growth stages of cotton can result in reduced plant height and boll weight, damaged bolls, swollen nodes, deformed leaves, and delayed maturity. According to the Entomological Society of America, an average of six insecticide applications were made targeting the TPB during the 2013 growing season in Mississippi. That same year, 76,497 bales were lost in the state due to damage from the insect.
