The Georgia Cotton Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Extension Cotton Team advise growers about aphid management this time of year.
Phillip Roberts, UGA Extension entomologist, provided a pest patrol update and said initial reports of the aphid fungus were observed last week. The reports were limited to spots of fields, located southwest of Tifton, where some fungus, or gray, fuzzy aphid cadavers were observed. Aphid populations in some fields have since crashed.
He added that this crash starts in Southwest Georgia and moves north and east. In areas where growers are observing low levels of fungus, the aphids will crash in about a week or less. But that doesn’t mean producers should not be proactive if their fields are impacted by aphids.
“In terms of aphid management, what do we do? No. 1, be sure to scout and looking for this naturally occurring fungus. There are definitely some hot fields, fields with very high aphid infestations, that would likely benefit from removing that stress from aphids by putting out a good aphid insecticide. But before you make that decision, and it’s just a judgement call based upon the health of the crop and the severity of the aphids, but before you decide to treat a field, make sure there are no aphid cadavers present, which is indicative of this fungus,” Roberts said.
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