Despite the dry weather this crop is starting to make a little progress. A few fields are beginning to bloom and most everything is putting on more squares than it will be able to maintain throughout the season. Fields that are blooming or have just begun to bloom are in good shape with most at or right around 8 NAWF. This will give them plenty of time to set bolls. The down side is that they are trying to set bolls in the terrible heat which may affect pollination and lead to some of those “parrot beaked” bolls that we see. From a pest standpoint things are still relatively light. I have noticed a handful of fields where fleahoppers were a little higher and took at quite a few first position squares, but these fields have been few and far between. Spider mites are starting to show up in a couple of places in very low numbers. I’m actually more concerned about mites after we start harvesting corn and the mites then start moving. They will have to find something green. I have seen a few bollworm moths this week, my trap catches increased slightly and I have found a few eggs in the field. This is nothing that I am concerned about, even on the few non-Bt acres or for the high levels that have broken through our Bt in the past, but I am watching for them. I did start finding some stinkbugs, but even more leaffooted bugs in sorghum this week. As the sorghum continues to mature we might consider spraying it to avoid the stink bugs from moving into the cotton. With the low level of pests that we are seeing at the time our overall beneficial numbers remain low for this time of the year. A sudden increase in any one pest could be hard to control with beneficials alone.