Conservation of natural enemies is an important part of a comprehensive cotton integrated pest management program. Currently, cotton insecticide development focuses not only on the efficacy of the products on the pest but also the selectivity of the products on natural enemies. The objective of this study was to evaluate three new lepidopteran materials for their impact on natural enemies under different rate and spray frequency regimes.

Each of the newer products had less impact on natural enemies than the pyrethroid standard. Natural enemy populations declined with the first application and the reduction was significant with spiders and Scymnus spp. The second application six days later prevented all the treated plots from recovering to the same level as in the untreated plots. Tracer® had less impact than Steward® and Steward® had less impact than Denim® when natural enemies were considered as a group. Not all the natural enemies evaluated in this study responded the same to the different compounds. Consultants and producers must be aware of the natural enemy complex in cotton fields to assess the impact of these newer products and consider the insecticides selectivity when determining product choice.