COTMAN is a cotton crop information system that records changes in the fruiting dynamics of the cotton plant as well as plant growth parameters that are useful as a prompter of timely management decisions. This research reports on methods of detecting stress early in order to allow timely management inputs. Treatments of low, medium and high density, with and without insect damage (hand square removal) were compared in a field study. The retention growth balance was calculated from COTMAN data and used to detect stress as well as to schedule plant growth regulator application. The patterns of each growth curve compared to the target development curve show clear early evidence that we can detect stress due to plant density. The research also confirmed that the cotton crop can tolerate a high rate of square shed without undue yield loss. The study also clearly demonstrated that the Aggregate change in Retention-Growth Balance is a very sensitive indicator of stress, and can be exploited in timely management decisions.