Insect activity has picked up towards the end of this week considerably, especially from of St. Lawrence down to around Styles and over to Midkiff. Lygus bugs have been increasing in areas and I finally made a call to treat a field this week since it has remained above threshold for 4 days and activity was increasing. There are also a couple of other locations that I am monitoring for increased levels. Our scouting program has picked up spider mites this week in a couple of fields with one location having a fairly large number of plants infested throughout the field. Stink bugs are being caught more readily in most all locations throughout the three counties at this time. Both green and Conchuela are being found. As more cotton begins to bloom each week, fields will need to be monitored closely for stink bugs.

Sorghum aphids have finally arrived in grain sorghum this week. For sorghum that has not reached black layer, yield loss can still occur and attention should be payed to the aphids. Headworms and stink bugs have also shown up in sorghum this week in large numbers in a couple of fields in the St. Lawrence and Garden City area. All of our sorghum is irrigated and has good yield potential at this point so scouting needs to continue to maintain the yield.