I would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who have put together this session and for inviting me here to share my views on this subject.

I would like to start off by saying that as a farmer I am keenly aware of the end product of a good insect-control program--good yields of high quality cotton. However, I am not familiar with the day-to-day workings of putting such a program together, so I leave it up to our agricultural consultants. Therefore, before putting my thoughts together on the use of vegetable oil in cotton pesticide applications, I spent considerable time discussing this subject with our consultants. Drs. James Coppedge and Richard Kinzer.

In the area we farm near crystal City, Texas, we grow long-season, picker-type cottons. We normally plant in March and harvest in August and Septemter. We have a very deep, fertile, sandy loam soil. We irrigate primarily from the Nueces River or a lake formed from one of its branches. In a typical year, we receive most of our rain during late April and May. Occasionally, we get heavy rains in late August an September. Our summers are hot and dry.

In our area, the major pests are fleahoppers, boll weevils, bollworms, budworms, and spidermites. We normally start our insecticide applications in May for fleahoppers and overwintered boll weevils. Then we usually begin an intensive program in late June and early July for control of boll weevils, bollworms and budworms. We normally treat 2-3 times for spidermites in late July and early August. Effective insect control is essential for good cotton production in our area.