ABSTRACT

Because stink bugs continue to pose a challenge to current and future efforts concerning cotton insect management, we continued investigations into alternative monitoring strategies and management tactics for the pest complex. Pheromone trapping of stink bugs was again useful in following in-field populations of stink bugs, but the reduced availability and considerable expense of currently available lures and unavailability of lures for other important species continues to make potential pheromone trapping prohibitive. Research with treatment thresholds for stink bugs, based on monitoring internal feeding injury to bolls, supported treatment at the 10-20% injury to mid-sized (ca. 14-d-old) bolls. In laboratory bioassays concerning insecticide efficacy, methyl parathion (Methyl 4E) and dicrotophos (Bidrin 8), standard organophosphates used for control of bug pests, provided superior control (94-100% mortality) of field-collected fifth instars and adults of the green stink bug (GSB), Acrosternum hilare (Say) and the brown stink bug (BSB), Euschistus servus (Say), at 0.5 lb (AI)/A. Pyrethroid insecticides alone provided variable results (11-100% 24-hr mortality) due to considerable tolerance by BSB. Results from studies addressing simulated mechanical injury to bolls, terminals, and squares suggested that losses from bug feeding injury to young cotton and to small-to-medium-sized bolls could be significant under certain circumstances. In caging experiments, the ability of GSB to damage cotton bolls and reduce yield decreased as bolls aged, and yields from bolls that accumulated 583 HU at 27 d following anthesis were not significantly reduced.