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INSECTS AND WEEDS IN FOCUSWeb site: http://entowww.tamu.edu http://agfacts.tamu.edu/~rparker/

VOL. XXIX NO. 1 ENTO/WS January 12, 2004

? TEXAS GULF COAST GRAINHANDLERS CONFERENCE

? AREA CROP PRODUCTIONTECHNOLOGYMEETINGS/CONFERENCES

? RESULTS OF INSECT CONTROLEVALUATIONS ON CORN, SORGHUM &COTTON

? INSECTICIDE UPDATE? 2003 BOLL WEEVIL PHEROMONE TRAP

SUMMARY? SUSCEPTIBILITY STATUS OF BOLL

WEEVILS TO ULV MALATHION? WIND WAKE? INTERESTING INSECTS

TEXAS GULF COAST GRAINHANDLERS CONFERENCE

The annual Texas Gulf Coast Grain HandlersConference is scheduled for Thursday, January29, 2004, from 8:00 a.m. until 3:15 p.m. at theWharton County Fairgrounds at Crescent(intersection of FM 960 and 961). Note that thereis a $10.00 per person registration fee for thosewho pregistered by January 23. The fee coverslunch and some of the program cost. Pleasepreregister by January 23, by calling theColorado County Extension Office at (979) 732-2082 or the Wharton Extension office at (979)532-3310. Registration at the door will be$15.00/person. Texas Department of Agriculturepesticide applicator CEU credits will be offered.

The conference this year will focus on three areas.First, discussions will be held on aflatoxin samplingand exact laboratory procedures. Second,aeration basics and practices will be covered, andthird, various aspects of fumigation will bedemonstrated in hands-on sessions at a grainstorage facility (weather permitting) RDP

AREA CROP PRODUCTIONTECHNOLOGY

MEETINGS/CONFERENCES

Coastal Bend Field Crops Symnposium -Thursday, January 15, 2004, 8:30 a.m., PortlandCommunity Center, 2000 Billy Webb Drive,registration fee $10.00 includes lunch. Makereservations by calling (361) 364-6234 byJanuary 14.

Austin County Row Crop Update -Thursday, January 15, 2004, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.,Wallace, Texas, Brazos High School FFABuilding, call (979) 865-8786 for details.

Upper Coast Feed Grains Conference -Friday, January 16, 2004, 8:00 a.m. - 12:45,Jackson County Fairgrounds, FM 822, north ofEdna, Texas.

Calhoun County Crop Technology Program -Friday, January 30, 2004, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.,Bauer Exhibit Building. Call (361) 552-9748 fordetails. RDP

RESULTS OF INSECT CONTROLEVALUATIONS ON CORN,

SORGHUM & COTTON

Please contact our office for a copy of this report.In addition to insect control experiments on corn,sorghum and cotton the report contains anevaluation of skip-row cotton from ColoradoCounty, report on the susceptibility of bollworm topyrethroid insecticides, susceptibility status of bollweevils to ULV malathion, and Gulf Coast crophybrid/variety comparisons. RDP

INSECTICIDE UPDATE

Bidrin 8E from AMVAC is currently undergoingreregistration in EPA. There will be no changesin allowable uses for 2004, but certainrestrictions, some of which the company has

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accepted, will probably be in place for 2005. Thecompany and others will work with EPA to removeproduction restrictions and proposed restriction ofuse to ground application. There is currently aproposal that a maximum of 0.5 lb Ai/acre is allthat will be allowed by August 1 each season. Forus that is not practical since our season is mostoften over by that date.

Discipline 2EC from AMVAC will be anotherbrand name under which bifenthrin will bemarketed in 2004. Bifenthrin is also sold under thebrand name Capture from FMC.

We expect to evaluate Diamond (novaluron) abenzoylphenyl urea type of insect growth regulator(IGR) from Crompton Corporation in replicatedfield experiments in 2004. The primaryexperiments will be on cotton fleahopper. RDP

2003 BOLL WEEVIL PHEROMONETRAP SUMMARY

Boll weevil numbers continue to decline in TexasCooperative Extension operated pheromone trapsoperated in Nueces and San Patricio Counties(Table 1). These results look good, but there areproblem areas in the South Texas/Winter GardenBoll Weevil Eradication Zone as a whole. Bollweevils continue to be found in relatively highnumbers in southern Kleberg, Jim Wells and Duvalcounties probably due to migration from Lower RioGrande Valley cotton production areas. Calhounand Victoria Counties continue to be infested fromUpper Gulf Coast Counties. The Upper coastcounties completed their first full year oferadication in 2003; hopefully, reduced numberswill be observed in the two counties by the end of2004. Another location of concern has been theWinter Garden area where many boll weevils werecaptured in 2003.

I believe the entire zone would have had as lownumbers as our traps (in the middle of the zone) ifthe original established zones had all been inoperation (Lower Rio Grande Valley and UpperGulf Coast). Unfortunately, that was not the caseand our zone continues to experience areas wherenumerous treatments are required each year.Some thought is being given to establishment of abuffer area along the southern edge of the zone.Increased emphasis must be given to early harvestand stalk destruction. Lack of effective stalkdestruction continues to be a problem in the entirezone. RDP

Table 1. Boll weevils per pheromone trap per

month, Texas Cooperative Extension operatedtraps, 1998-2002.

Month1977-82

(6 yr avg)a 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Jan 5.3 0.22 0.22 9.93 0.00 .05 .00

Feb 5.5 0.27 0.00 1.60 0.00 .00 .00

Mar 7.7 3.00 0.33 1.72 0.11 .10 .00

Apr 7.4 30.94 0.00 1.27 0.11 .05 .00

May 2.8 22.00 0.00 0.83 0.17 .05 .00

Jun 4.9 5.10 0.06 0.67 0.00 .00 .00

Jul 188.9 49.50 2.06 11.33 0.35 .00 .00

Aug 645.7 48.40 45.00 14.04 0.94 .17 .04

Sep 309.7 2.28 40.90 1.39 0.11 .00 .00

Oct 165.4 1.39 5.72 0.72 0.06 .00 .00

Nov 55.3 0.28 28.30 0.50 0.11 .00 .00

Dec 15.7 0.22 13.67 0.03 0.00 .00 .00

Average 117.9 13.60 11.40 3.67 0.16 .035 .0033a Traps operated by Segers et al.

SUSCEPTIBILITY STATUS OF BOLLWEEVILS TO ULV MALATHION

LC50 and LC95 (lethal concentration to kill 50%and 95% of individuals tested) values for bollweevils collected in Nueces County in 2000 andin Victoria County in 2003 are provided in Table 2.In 2000, Nueces County had been under bollweevil eradication for nearly three full seasons;whereas, in 2003, Victoria County had been in theprogram for six full seasons.

There has not been an increase in toleranceby the boll weevil to ULV malathion during theperiod according to this data. Concentrationsfor the LC50 and LC95 values and resistanceratios are actually numerically lower than 2000data indicated. This finding is important since bollweevils have been exposed to ULV malathion inVictoria County for 6 full seasons plus the falldiapause programs in 1996 and 1997. It shouldbe noted that at least some of the previousgenerations of the boll weevils tested fromVictoria County were most likely from outside theSouth Texas/Winter Garden Boll WeevilEradication Zone. They were collected within 16miles of Jackson County which did not enter intoboll weevil eradication until late season 2002.RDP

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Table 2. Comparison of boll weevils forsusceptibility to ULV malathion after a 48-hourexposure period, Coastal Bend of Texas.Weevilcollectionyeara

LC50 ug/vial

LC50resistance ratio

LC95ug/vial

LC95resistance

ratio

2000 4.97 2.55 43.64 5.35

2003 2.83 1.45 9.32 1.14a Boll weevils collected in Nueces County (2000)

and Victoria County (2003).

WIND WAKE

A poem by E’Lane Carlisle Murry from her bookThe Lace of Tough Mesquite (printed bypermission).

The barren branches scraped across the roofas January’s wind tore at the treesand whirling in a circle through the yardit swept along a swirl of russet leaves.

Awakened by the fury of the sound,she rose to make a banging door shut fastand feeling all the winter’s icy chillher shoulders tensed against a bitter blast.

A cold white moon hung brilliant in the sky, lighting the patterned tiles outside the door.She tightly pushed the latch and darkness fellacross the old hooked rug there on the floor.

RDP

INTERESTING INSECTS

More than 3/4 of the 1,150,000 known species ofanimals on earth are insects. Beetles alone makeup 30% of all animal species. At any givenm o m e n t t h e r e a r e a n e s t i m a t e d100,000,000,000,000,000 live insects on earth.RDP

For more information contact:

Roy D. Parker Stephen D. LivingstonExtension Entomologist Extension Agronomist

10345 Agnes, Corpus Christi, TX 78406(361) 265-9203, Fax (361) 265-9434

View our newsletter earlier on the internet on the TPMA website (http://www.tpma.org/) by selecting “IPM newsletter” on the drop-down menu by going to “CoastalBend” and “go”. Another site is http://agfacts.tamu.edu/~rparker. Also pest management information is available at www.txaac.org.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Educational programs conducted by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex,

religion, handicap or national origin. The information given herein is for educational purposes only. References to commercial products or trade names is madewith the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Cooperative Extension Service is implied.

The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating