Several diseases pose threats to high yields between the time a stand is obtained and the crop is harvested. The major ones are bacterial blight, boil rots, nematodes, Phymatotrichum root rot, and the wilt diseases--Fusarium and Verticillium. A list of the bales lost to these diseases in 1982 follows: boll rots (241,602), bacterial blight (4,229), Fusarium wilt (24,750), nematodes (161,023), Phymatotrichum root rot (123,562), Verticillium wilt (225,047), others (13,543), total (793,756), all diseases (1,078,262).

While these diseases pose risks involved in producing maximum economic yield, they must be managed in much the same way as the risks in everyday life. That is, by insurance protection. Very few remedial or inseason corrective measures are available to halt the further spread of diseases after symptoms are diagnosed. Of course, this is similar to most other field crops but in contrast to high value vegetable and fruit crops.