Thrips Management in Seedling Cotton with Starter Fertilizer and a Single Foliar Application

Thrips are a predictable pest of seedling cotton in the southeastern US.  The recent loss of aldicarb from the marketplace created demand for commercial products that provide inexpensive and lasting thrips suppression.  Under irrigated and dryland conditions, we compared Cruiser vs. fungicide only treated seed, starter fertilizer vs. no starter fertilizer, and no foliar applications vs. applications on one-leaf or two- leaf cotton.  Response variables included weekly thrips counts, visual damage ratings, plant biomass after 42 days, and end of year lint yield.  Results show that plots with Cruiser treated seed always out performed fungicide only treated plots and applications of foliar insecticides were always better than no application.  Although there were no differences in the number of thrips observed in plots containing starter fertilizer, those plots tended to gain more biomass early in the season.  Results were more pronounced under irrigated conditions than under dryland conditions.