The experiment presented here was designed to document the impact of early season thrips injury on cotton growth and yield using COTMAN plant mapping techniques, and to evaluate the ability to improve performance of thrips-injured cotton by enhancing plant growth with N fertilization during the season. Thrips populations were manipulated with applications of Temik 15G, and N was applied either preplant incorporated (PPI), at PPI + at pinhead square (PHS), or at PPI + PHS + at first flower (FF). Temik 15G resulted in significantly less thrips injury compared with untreated plots. Temik 15G treated plots tracked the TDC more closely than non-Temik 15G treated plots, which had a lower apogee and a 14-day delay in nodal development. The highest lint yields occurred in plots where thrips injury was minimized with insecticide. In both the insecticide treated and untreated plots, N fertilization increased yields. N application at the middle (25 lb PPI + 45 lb PHS) and highest (25 lb PPI + 33 lb PHS + 32 lb FF) rates resulted in yields not significantly different from the Temik 15G plot treated with 25 lb N PPI, only. These results, albeit somewhat preliminary, indicate that although N application cannot substitute for thrips control, N supplements can aid cotton plants in recovery of some of the yield loss associated with severe early season injury caused by thrips feeding.