Best Management Practices for Tarnished Plant Bug

The tarnished plant bug is the most important insect pest of cotton in the Mississippi Delta. Management with insecticides has become difficult in recent years and more tools are needed to economically manage this pest. Although it is early March and we are getting over a pair of unusual winter storms in the Delta, it is not too early to start making a plan for managing tarnished plant bugs in cotton. We have done a lot of research over the last several years with the goal of making tarnished plant bug management more economical for producers without sacrificing yield. The link below leads to a detailed description of the Best Management Practices listed below.

Best Management Practices for Tarnished Plant Bug in Cotton

The Best Management Practices include: 

• Plant as early as possible (before May 7)
• Plant an early maturing variety
• Arrange plantings to avoid “edge effects”
• Promote earliness (early season thrips, disease, and weed management)
• Avoid smooth leaf varieties
• Reduce nitrogen rates (Excess nitrogen leads to rank growth and delayed maturity)
• Delay irrigation as long as possible (can cause rank growth and delayed maturity)
• Use optimum application practices (nozzle type, ground vs air, timeliness, etc.)
• Make sequential sprays and shorten intervals to 4-5 days during heavy pressure
• Rotate insecticide classes
• Use Diamond during late squaring/early flowering (when adults are migrating)
• Do not chase a few pounds of lint in the top of the plant with multiple sprays (more research is needed on when to stop spraying for plant bugs).