In Virginia, with its northern location and relatively short growing season, a dogma exists that cotton does not have time to compensate from insect damage to reproductive structures and all must be protected in order to achieve maximum yields. This attitude sets the stage for multiple insecticide treatments if any insect damage to fruit is found. With the recent appearance of early-season bollworm/budworm and Lygus spp. infestations and associated square damage and loss, producers may react by making additional insecticide treatments. However, new research has shown that cotton can recover from substantial levels of early-season square damage and still make yields equal to undamaged cotton. Removing 0, 2, 4 or 6 first position squares per plant to ‘simulate' feeding by early-season bollworm/budworm infestations caused the number of first position bolls to decrease as more squares were removed, but number of second position bolls increased. Lint yields at harvest were not significantly different among the square removal treatments with 1128a, 1303a, 1371a and 1207a lb lint/acre for 0, 2, 4 and 6 squares removed, respectively. Similarly, in another experiment, removing 0, 12-15, 20-25, or 30-40% of first position squares in late-June to early-July resulted in no significant difference in total number of bolls at harvest, individual boll weight, percentage lint, or lint yields (1509a, 1544a, 1615a, and 1553a lb lint/acre, respectively). These results show that cotton in Virginia, even at this northern location, can compensate for square loss by adding new squares in time to result in excellent yields.