Comparison of Sample Methods and Sample Plans for Thrips In Cotton

Currently, thrips in Texas are sampled using a whole plant inspection method where all the thrips are counted.  This technique is extremely time consuming, tedious, difficult and may lead to inaccurate results depending on the scout’s experience.  A binomial, presence or absence, sampling protocol may reduce sampling time as much as 85% and may make insecticide application decision making more accurate.   We are proposing to develop and compare binomial and enumerative sequential sampling plans for estimating thrips in seedling cotton.  Reported herein are the results from the 2nd year of this study.