Sheltering cotton from wind with slat fences provided a 45% reduction in wind velocity during the early season. Sheltering resulted in an average increase of 0.6 C in average air temperature 20.0 cm above the cotton during the daylight hours. Soil temperatures at 3.8 and 6.4 cm showed a similar response. Sheltering the cotton from wind created more optimum growing conditions causing more vigorous, rapid growth and the cotton was less affected by thrips infestations than non-sheltered cotton. Wind sheltering alone resulted in a 41.8% increase in yield. In unsheltered plots the systemic insecticide Furadan provided a 12.5% increase in yield while systemic treatment for thrips control in sheltered plots resulted in only a 3.5% yield increase.