Source: Dominic Reisig, NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 7/9/19


Folks have been noting a fair bit of stink bugs in cotton and earlier than normal this year. Below are tips for scouting and treating, including insecticide choice:

Scouting
Stink bugs don’t damage cotton until it has bolls on the plant. They prefer small bolls about 10-14 days old so start scouting as soon as bolls of this age are present. If you want to find stink bugs, go to the field edge. However, don’t base a treatment decision on this, since they are spotty and generally more prevalent there. Be sure to cover the field thoroughly and check the middle.

It’s good to identify what species are present for proper insecticide selection (described below). However, treatment decisions should be made on the presence of internal boll injury and not the presence of insects. Note that plant bugs can also injure small bolls and the internal injury is indistinguishable from stink bugs. Count any stained lint or warty growths as stink bug injury. Simple punctures without warts should not be counted.

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