Over the past fourteen years, plant monitoring has evolved into an important component of crop consulting. This evolution in plant monitoring came as a result of three factors: 1) the introduction of Pix, 2) the introduction of Prep, and 3) a demand for more precise and reliable recommendations for irrigating cotton. The plant monitoring technique, percent square set, is used in making fleahopper and Pix management decisions. The presence or absence of adult fleahoppers, coupled with percent square set data, provide guidelines for making pest management decisions. Pix is used in Texas High Plains cotton production to enhance fruit retention. The plant monitoring technique, nodes above cracked boll, provides a relative index of crop maturity necessary in making Prep application decisions. "Soil probing" is considered to be a plant monitoring technique, even though the environment in which the plant is growing is being monitored rather than the plant itself.