Tobacco budworms (TBW) are consistently major pests of cotton in the Mid-South. The development of transgenic Bt cotton enhances management of TBW and helps ensure maximum economic cotton production. Insect control costs were often $150/acre or greater in regions of the mid-South where TBW outbreaks occurred in 1995. Because of the rapid dissemination of Bt cotton from laboratory to the farm, less knowledge was available to consultants and producers than with any previously introduced technology. Therefore, Bt cotton planted in 1996 was essentially an experimental crop that cotton consultants had to manage while working behind blindfolds - blindfolds being lack of data generated under many different conditions.