Article by Jack Bacheler.
We’ll report soon on the results of our damaged boll survey and find out how bollworms and stink bugs treated our cotton producers in 2012. With this survey, every year brings some surprises. Last year I had evaluated several counties and found very little (sometimes 0%) stink bug damage. Just when I was beginning to think stink bugs were giving everyone a break, I encountered two consecutive cotton fields with 43% and 18% boll damage. This was simply an example of two late maturing, wet-natured cotton fields that were apparently not scouted for stink bugs. Fortunately, stink bug damage to Bollgard II and WideStrike cotton averaged less than 3% across the state in 2011. At this point, yield prospects generally look excellent in many areas of the state, pending the continuation of a hurricane-free fall.