Three approaches to managing second generation bollworms (Helicoverpa zea) and tobacco budworms (Heliothis virescens) in southern North Carolina were investigated to determine their impact on major beneficial arthropods and secondary pest populations levels as well as the influence of each approach in affecting the initial establishment of the major bollworm generation from 1989 to 1991 in large plots. A pyrethroid (lambda cyhalothrin at 0.025 lb ai/acre), a carbamate (thiodicarb at 0.25 lb ai/acre in 1989 and 1990; 0.6 lb ai/acre in 1991) and no treatment were compared. Two applications were employed in 1989 and in 1990 and a single treatment in 1991. Although far more disruptive against most beneficial arthropod species than the untreated control or the carbamate plots, because bollworm and tobacco budworm populations were typically at very low levels between the second and third generations and because the pyrethroid treatment appeared to afford some residual control of the major bollworm generation, initial larval establishment on squares and terminal damage were numerically higher in the thiodicarb and non-sprayed treatments. The pyrethroid also provided greater suppression of plant bugs (Lygus lineolaris) and cotton fleahoppers (Pseudatomoscelis seriatus) immediately following and one week after treatment, a situation which is academic due to their present non-pest status in North Carolina. In 1991, both the pyrethroid and the carbamate treatments resulted in the establishment of aphid colonies in approximately 43 and 49% of the terminals, respectively, compared with 9% in the check.